half doors 2.0

[clifford97]

with the summer heat upon us i decided to fab up some half doors. i say 2.0 because i started a set a few years ago an they mysteriously disappeared last summer. no worries, i can Re-build them, BETTER, STRONGER, (probably wont make me go) FASTER!! anyway picked up a set n finally got to work.
started sanding down for future paint

gotta get rid of the inside guts. be sure to get same style controls in your normal doors for the extra parts inside!

*notice i didn't get rid of EVERYTHING
now last time i tried to make doors i just cut them and didn't have any tools to go any further and they just looked something like this. and yes i know that cut is horrible! lol

*not actual photo of previous door
but i still got some compliments on them from time to time. also if you want to just gut and cut your doors quickly, save the rubber window trim along the top then you can flip it around and attach it to the cut metal so you don't slice yourself or anyone else on them.
threw these suckers on

not bad right? well my girlfriend is kinda short and its hard enough for her to get in without having to figure out how to open the door.
how bout some door handles..

cool! well i don't like the fact that she could cut herself of the thin sheet metal even though its deburred still dangerous. lucky for me i got this freebe from the scrap pile at work!


closing up the front

while shes looking at them she says arent the speakers going to get wet? i tell her that its a half door there are no speakers, just for fun in the mud (her)
then i thought about it, n sure what she wants she gets


the previous owner the donor truck must have installed these after market speakers so SCORE!
tack and weld the new piece into place

this is my first time welding sheet metal together so don't be too harsh, took a little bit to get the settings right but a little more practice and ill be the best grinder around!
i've got a little bit further on them but just no pictures atm. more to come. also i started with the passenger door because my drivers door is having problems with the regulator again and its dented n beat up and missing some paint i decided to repaint the new door that is in better condition with a perfectly working window and cut the one on my truck now. this is how that door is coming

just got one more coat of red n then a few of clear, put the internals back in and i can start cutting the old one.

 

[Kayakcrazy]

Looking good so far. I love the half doors but love driving my toy and I don't like weather limiting me. That why I went with the half cab on my latest b2. Still toying with the idea of doing some.

I look forward to watching your progress for pointers

 

[clifford97]

still lots to be done, including hinged lid for center portion of door, insulated cupholder, and clear vinyl snap windows. a lot of these ideas i've took from others on here.

 

[RockRanger]

Why the interior handle on outside instead of lowering the outside handle? Following cause I want to do this for my truck soon.

 

[clifford97]

did some more work today but got lazy with taking pictures but here ya go
salvaged these hinges from a cabinet my buddy was getting rid of.
notched out

cut and welded the piece to cover up the rear part of the door, unfortunately i didnt have any harware that would fit these hinges on me and my rivets were too small so i had no way to get them to stay in place for me to mock up the lid piece. then i realized i have tools! so i made these crude plates with holes just big enough for the rivets to clamp down on the other side.

with them in place i could get the length and angle set up and tacked

welded up and bolted on

there are a lot more gaps than i wanted/expected but thats what i get for lack of proper planning. also im limited to only my 4 1/2" grinder with grinding, cutting, and flap discs, cordless drill, dremel, and 110 lincoln flux core welder.
door on

and in jersey and other states you'll get pulled over if you don't have mirrors so be sure to save those and don't cut into the mounting holes.


still got a good amount to go...

 

[clifford97]

multiple reasons actually, the interior handle is just a flexible cable unlike the linkage on the outside handle so it is easier to move around, doesn't need to be aligned and i didn't want to try and figure out how to recess the metal to mount the handle so it wouldn't stick out further than stock and look awkward. Also on the last set of doors i made, i left the outside handle on and cut just round it. turns out it was exactly where my body needed to lean out when getting a better view of terrain when on the trail, so i would have to lean forward then over and just wasn't comfortable when negotiating a bouncy trail. but if your making them to just get more air in on the street i would go with leaving the handle so you have a little something to keep your body inside incase anything happens. its all up to your application. ill see if i can dig up some pictures of the old doors

 

[clifford97]

here are some pictures of the old style i cut. you can see the window trim long the bottom edge what worked pretty well.

but like i said where the handle is, is exactly where i would be leaning out so i got rid of it this time around

 

[country0001]

I dig this. Just picked up a gen3. I have an extra door, I'm going to expieriment with.