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How To Effectively Remove The Doors from a Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator?

ByMatsumoto Naoki-April 15, 2022

Curious about the process of refreshing the appearance of your beloved Jeep with the Jeep doors off? Change it up today with this short Car From Japan tutorial below. With just a few easy-to-remember assembled and disassembled steps, you will be able to get your next auto renovation in no time. The Jeep will thank you very much for bringing it a fresh appearance with all your heart and attention.

Jeep Doors Off: Grasp The Basics Before Getting To The Business

Jeep is one of the most unique and practical vehicles in the auto world. The versatility of the Jeep, compared to other vehicles, is what makes it so attractive. Despite all the years, the name of this vehicle still resonates and attracts a lot of attention.

A Jeep Wrangler or Gladiator is always a great companion for your every exciting off-road trip. And it is common for car enthusiasts to refresh the appearance of a Jeep by removing the doors or its hood. You can experience driving a lovely pink Jeep Wrangler with the inherent aggressive look of the unique American-origin brand.

With a doorless Jeep, you will be able to get an exceptional travel experience and immerse yourself in nature. Not only that but taking doors off Jeep can also reduce weight and increase its fuel economy. If you often use or get in and out of the Jeep to get work done, you can think of this type of refurbishment as one way to refresh your working style.

However, before taking any door-off project, you should learn more about the local or national restrictions on the right to use a vehicle without rearview mirrors and doors. It can cause you many troubles regarding the legality of the no door – no hood – no mirror Jeep.

Needed Tools For A Better Process

In general, removing the door of a Jeep looks quite simple on the cover. However, to make your Jeep door refurbishment project as simple as said without encountering any time-consuming problems, you need to prepare the necessary tools in advance. The tools for this door-off project are easy to find and buy in any local tool store. Some can even be found in your old toolbox.

First, you will need a multi-purpose screwdriver kit or a Torx wrench set. If you don’t own a set, buy one for your tool cabinet. Prepare one general, one specified-purpose kit, and a screwdriver type that can be adjusted to fit multiple sizes of furniture, objects, or items. On the market, they are available at a variety of prices on store shelves. You can choose the kit that best suits your purposes and pocket as little as $50.

Second, you’ll need gloves or a rubber mallet. These are not the too-essential items for the door disassemble process. But they will be necessary if you want to fully protect your hand when working with a heavy door. You should get a lightweight soft hammer to handle things safer and more effortlessly.

After preparing all necessary items to take the Jeep Wrangler or Gladiator door off, arrange the tools in order so you can get them quicker and easier. To maximize the effectiveness of the Jeep door removal, you also need a flat, airy, and low-traffic area such as a garage or parking space to run the project.

Pay attention to local laws regarding the permission for personal activities on the common road. If it is not allowed, you must not use public places to carry out your private projects. As you and your Jeep may be dragged to the police station then and undergo a series of problems.

How To Take Jeep Doors Off: Guide For Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator

If you are exploring a simple yet effective process of taking doors off the two famous Jeep models, our instructions may help fill your desires. Longing for a money-saving disassemble time or a flexible doorless Jeep with a shining appearance that makes everyone admire? With just some tiny screwdrivers, all can be fulfilled in a minute or more.

Here are a few basic steps to renovating the perfect Jeep Wrangler with doors off for your every off-road trip now and forever.

Preparing For The Jeep Door Removal

With any kind of process, it is quite important to arrange the tools and perform a few procedures ahead to prepare for the smooth following steps. Below are some small steps you need to do before getting the Jeep doors off its body.

Fold the mirror

To remove the entire bulky door frame from the car, first, you need to fold the rearview mirrors on both sides. The rearview mirror of a Jeep is attached to the vehicle and can be opened and closed in a flat direction. You can easily fold the mirror and face it towards the window by hand. By doing it, the mirror’s arm will not be broken or bent during the Jeep door removing process.

Pull the window glass all down

Having the glass door retracted will help protect the whole door from breaking and limit accidents. In addition, it can also enable you to put your arm around the glassless door to perform easy operations.

Remove safety straps off the car doors

The safety strap is a cord designed with one end attached to the car door. And the other attached to the car body located under the dashboard. Its purpose is holding and not letting the door open too far or get out of reach of drivers. Disconnecting this strap and the car door is rather easy. You only need to detach the wire connected to the body inside, and your Jeep door will be able to open as large as you want.

Unhook the wire connected around

In some cases, you probably own a Jeep with electric-connected doors or have an auto door lock installed within. Before disassembling a door with non-manual connections, you need to disconnect the wires of those electric systems connected to a car part below the dashboard. Press gently on the pins of the plastic wire connector. Then pull them out to disconnect the power line and the Jeep door.

Find the bolts holding the door and the car body

On the inner side of the car door, some nuts keep the door attached to the car and always in place.

In this step, you should close the door without locking and adjust its opening range to the point that you can access the door nuts holding the bolts. You can find these two flat nuts in the connected part of the door and the car body.

Taking Jeep Wrangler or Gladiator Doors Off

Let’s start with the main task, removing the Jeep door. After preparing tools and completing initial small steps, all you need to do now will be more complicated and require full attention and focus.

Disassemble the bottom nuts holding two bolts

At the place of the nuts lying at the bottom of two bolts that connect the door and body of the Jeep, find the nut that holds the bottom bolt and remove it with a 13-millimeter (six-point pocket) socket or wrench. Remove them carefully to avoid scratching the paintwork.

If you accidentally scratch the paint, you can use an automatic touch-up paint machine to repair it. And this is also the reason why we recommend using a 6-point socket to avoid affecting the car paint covering the nuts.

Lift the door to detach it

After carefully removing both nuts, you can now remove the door. With the window glass that has just scrolled down, put your one hand through the doorway, clinging to the inner handle of the door. Use another hand to hold on to the door side, and slowly lift it. Remember to lift the door vertically upwards to avoid the bolts being broken.

If the window glass cannot be rolled down fully into the car body, you can hold the sides of the door to lift it. This act will make it more difficult for you to lift the door, but it is also a potential option to get the Jeep doors off their place.

Another point to pay attention to is that you should be careful with your hands. Do not let them get stuck in the gap between the car door and the car’s body. Tons of accidents such as bleeding or bruising have happened just because of this kind of negligence. So it’s best to put your hand on the inner side to remove the door.

Turn off the door lights or the alarm ajar

After removing the door, you need to do the following:

1. Disconnect the car battery: Before taking any electrical car project, you should always disconnect the car battery. Use an appropriately-sized wrench to loosen the nut holding the black cable on the negative terminal. Attach the cable to the side of the battery to prevent it from coming into contact with the cathode. You do not need to disconnect the positive cable.

2. Turn off interior lights and door ajar alarm: When you remove the jeep door, the interior light will be on. Here’s how to turn them off:

  • Find the fuse box in the car. Normally, the fuse box will be located near the emergency brake. You can refer to the vehicle manufacturer’s instructions if the box is too difficult to find.
  • Find and remove the Door Jam Defeat fuse from the fuse box. Use fuse clips or pliers.

3. Reconnect with the car battery: Start the Jeep and make sure the door ajar alert does not ring.

Store The Removed Jeep Doors

When you cover the Jeep doors with clothes or soft blankets, they will prevent the doors from being scratched. Moreover, if you want to store the doors for a long time, you can wrap a blanket outside, place them inside down to keep them safe and dry, and avoid rusting agents. Being kept in a locked space will help the Jeep doors be more durable and prevent unwelcomed impacts from external factors.

Before storing the door in a safe place, you need to keep all four pieces of nuts in an easy-to-see and equally safe area. So that whenever in need, you can take them out without wasting time searching.

Above are the guideline we want to present to you to perform the Jeep door removal. The steps shown may be quite simple at first see. However, to start the real process, you will have to keep in mind a few basics. From neatly arranging tools to the safety notices to protect your body from unwanted physical impacts caused by heavy car doors.

Closing Up

If you’d love to ride a Jeep Gladiator door off for once, check out our Jeep doors off steps above or take your car to a skilled mechanic. Whether you do it yourself or see a professional do it, these experiences are all exceptional fun and worth your try.

For more car maintenance tips, visit Car From Japan today.

Matsumoto Naoki is senior car blogger at Car From Japan. Having background in mechanical engineering, he has a unique perspective on a lot of new car innovations. Prior to Car From Japan, Matsumoto was Mechanical Design Engineer at Yajima Plant, Subaru Corporation. His articles provide detailed DIY instructions and how-tos to help you get your new car on the road. If you want to save money and feel more confident when working on your cars, you should not ignore Matsumoto’s sharing posts. He presents driving tips and tricks for everyone through easy-following steps and mechanically but friendly writing.

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