Making Jeep Cherokee Doors Removable
Removing the doors on a Jeep Cherokee not only add to the open air feel of the Jeep Cherokee of road but it also greatly increases the visibility. Making the doors easily removable and replaceable can be accomplished by modifying the door hinges. Because this modification reduces the strength of the door hinge in a crash, it should only be done on off road vehicles.
At least a few hours before you begin, remove the inner door panels and spray penetrating oil on the bolt threads inside the door. This will help get them loose with the torx bit and reduce the chance of stripping a bolt head.
Remove the speaker from the door and disconnect the wire. If you have any other electrics in the door also disconnect the wires to these.
Remove the rubber tube that covers the wires. Remove the pin from the limiting strap on the door. You may want to remove the limiting strap entirely from the door or just push it in out of the way.
There are six bolts that hold the door to the hinge. They have a T40 torx head. They are often very tight and you will need a quality torx bit to get the out. I have twisted quite a few bits removing door bolts.
The outer single bolt on each hinge is accessed with the door open. The other two bolts will require either a very short torx bit or you can access them from inside the fender well if the fender liner is removed and the door is closed. There are two holes in the hinge for this purpose. (Thanks to Brian Klotz for teaching me this trick.)
Support the door and remove the bolts. Take care to keep the shims and backing plates in order so they can be put back in the proper places. Set the door aside in a safe place.
Now, use a grinder and a cut off wheel to cut off the lower ear of the hinge. Knock it off the pin with a hammer. I use a heavy open end wrench to distribute the blow to both sides of the pin. If you can’t drive it the entire way off, knock it down enough to get a cut off wheel in the slot and cut the pin.
Discard the lower part of the hinge. Pull the upper part of the hinge off. If, the lower pin came out intact, cut it to the length of the hinge so that it no longer sticks out the bottom. If you had to cut it to get it out it is already cut at the right place. Cut the upper pin at an angle so that it is shorter than the lower one. Make it about an inch long.
The backing plate has a flange on the bottom that will interfere with putting the doors back on. To make it easier, cut the flange off of the bottom just below the pin. Make about a one inch wide opening.
Put the backing plates and shims back in their original positions and bolt the hinges back where they came from. Use the paint marks to help line it back up in its original position. If you have trouble putting the door back on, move the hinge toward the outside to give more maneuvering room. Use a ¼ inch drill to open up the hinge holes to allow them to slip in and out easily.
To make hooking up the wires easier you can add quick disconnect plugs to the lines. Reinstall the speakers and inner door panels.
To put the door back on, hold the door from the inside so you can see the hinges. Drop in part of the longer lower pin. Then maneuver the upper pin in place. Be careful because the door is heavy.
Make sure the door opens and closes properly. If not, adjust the hinge mounting as necessary.
Enjoy the open air feel. Enjoy being able to see where your tires are. Be careful of the limbs and mud in your face!
See my earlier article on Jeep Cherokee door removal here.
Note that the dome light fuse may have to be pulled and the door chime removed as the striker will not be depressed with the door removed.
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Hello Mike or to whom may it concerns;
I want to say THANK YOU for posting those pictures with descriptions about the xj door removal. I been looking for long time like this. This is so simple!
Thanks again!
Jeff
Do you have any issues with the doors not seating correctly, ie. water leaks when it rains? I’ve got a ’97 that is my dd and I don’t wanna screw it up too much but i do like the Wrangler feel of no doors.
I have other leaks but the doors still seal fine. I think the 97 has different door hinges so you can’t do the same mod I did. The open air feel is terrific however.
Mike
hi mike.. thanks for posting this, been thinking of a way to make removable doors for my cherokee for a while now definately gonna be doing this ASAP, or as soon as i get my tcase and running gear put back under my cherokee, i had a bad day acouple of months ago driving to work about 5am one morning and the next thing i know the rearend locked up and when it did it exploded the tcase broke the pinion gear, and busted the bellhousing in about 4 different pieces needless to say it made a big mess lol, got everything to fix it all but the bellhousing
Hope you get your XJ running again soon.
Mike
oh yeah hopefully in the next week or so..you wouldnt happen to know if a 5 speed bell housing will mount up to my automatic trans ??
I don’t think it will. I have an AW4 transmission I could pull the bell housing from.
Mike
hi mike sorry i didnt write back sooner i got my doors finished and are now removable…thanks for the info…..what would you want for the bell housing and where are you located?
i just need my xj running asap,its my only way of going, im a single dad with 2 kids and ive been driving my dads small 2 door car so any help would greatl appreciated
where are you located , and what would you want for the bellhousing, im a lil crunched for money right now with xmas, and im a single dad of 2 kids , and ive been driving my dads small 2dr car and is getting really aggervating gtting them in and out and going places ,really need to get my cherokee back running any help would be greatly appreciated…thanks for the info on the doors , got them all finished up and was fairly easy considering i had to do 2 sets, 1 set of my everyday doors , and another set of old doors that i cut down to make som half doors
usefull information, thanks. hope you add some more posts soon.
send an email to contact@mikestrawbridge.com with the parts you need. I am located in CLEVELAND, Tn
hi mike sorry my email is down for some reason , but all i need is a bellhousing for a 4×4 95 cherokee
Hey Mike, thanks for my mod. I have a 98 XJ an i know its a little different. Worth trying. Not ready to dump 500 on a set of tube doors. With my xj being my dd and huinting and fishing machine this mod is great plus my 4 year old loves it!
thanks for the writeup. got my doors off thanks to this. also found out if you undo the lower kick panel you actually can unplug them from the door side, you have to cut the rubber grommet that holds all the wires in and you can get the door off without taking the speakers etc out. makes it a little easier and since theyre lower kick panels you dont notice it…in less than 5 mins i get my windows and locks and speakers hooked back up no issues.
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