Half doors, tube doors or soft doors

[snakeater]

Lets see what ya'll have come up with. I need some inspiration on which way to go. One of my trucks will be getting a 4bt swap for trail use and the doors are pretty bad off. Anyone made soft half door? I'd like to see some examples with a little explanation of construction please. Thanks in advance. Snakeater

[snakeater]

i was thinking of bending some 1/2 inch conduit up to make a template then using 3/8 round bar to make a half door frame. Using a surplus shelter half for the covering. Should be heavy enough to shut good and keep the mud out. Pretty cheap too. Use a torch to form the round bar to the conduit template, then weld it up. Snakeater

[Barrman]

I made cut down roadster doors for mine back in 2006. They work great for hot weather. I don't have much time for searching right now for my build thread. Here is a thread that I know how to get to and know has pictures of the doors:

http://m715zone.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9834

I will look for more tomorrow, including the build thread.

[brute4c]

I found this one...not the best but has some build pics and info:

Roadster Doors Again

[Barrman]

Yes, that is probably the best thread on this site still around. I know I did a bunch of pictures and post while making them, but that was 3 sites ago.

[brute4c]

Yeah...not sure if they got lost or are on the temp site...but I dont see them there offhand...

[snakeater]

Barrman, after you gutted and cut your doors, how heavy were they? Could you take them off by yourself? One of the reasons i am looking to do this is so that I can remove them if needed, and store them in the bed. Snakeater

[snoopy]

I usually take the doors off of my J-10 in April and put them back on in November, They're not too heavy but it helps to have a friend around if you don't have an import car scissor jack to support the back end of the door.

[Barrman]

Very easy to pick up and move. The problem is the hinges. You have to open the door all the way to get the hinges out of the hole they are in. You get about 1/4 inch clearance from a nicely painted fender. I learned the hard way that pvc pipe insulation on the door seam edge just smudges the fender paint compared to making big scratches. I never have come up with a good way to do this without some damage to the paint. That is why my full doors stayed on this past summer.

The 1/2 doors are super easy to remove and install with the pipe insulation. Using an air impact gun I can have them on or off in about 5 minutes per door. The full size doors with the roll up glass in them are heavy and hard to take off and on.