Door options

[Gubachoo]

I'm repairing my rusty bits and looking to get some junkyard doors. Mine is an 88 with the stupid useless fixed vent windows. Did any years come with either full windows or movable vent windows or were they all these useless fixed panes? Would like to keep the old style door panel if possible. Also, any ideas on what years the tow mirrors were available? In a perfect world, I would retain the old style door panels, get either a full window, or usable vent, and tow mirrors. Thanks for any help. 

[Eagle]

The operable vent windows were available as an option in all years of the MJ, and on the XJ through the 1996 model year. The Cherokee changed to a full window in 1997, but the latch location was shifted slightly so the 1997+ doors require relocating the strike on the door post to use them.

 

Tow mirrors were an option, and I believe they were available in all years of the MJ.

[Pete M]

someone recently posted up a plan for putting the full windows into the old doors.  drawing a blank though on how long ago.   hopefully someone will remember better than me.

 

tow mirrors come from the factory with a special brace inside the door.   97+ mirrors are bigger than the old ones and bolt right in.   

 

be careful with the wing windows.  they like to leak air and water.   be very picky about which you buy and install. 

[SteveW155]

97+ mirrors are bigger than the old ones and bolt right in.   

Thanks! You just answered a question I had!

[Gubachoo]

 

10 hours ago, Eagle said:

The operable vent windows were available as an option in all years of the MJ, and on the XJ through the 1996 model year. The Cherokee changed to a full window in 1997, but the latch location was shifted slightly so the 1997+ doors require relocating the strike on the door post to use them.

 

Tow mirrors were an option, and I believe they were available in all years of the MJ.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll just have to comb the yards. 

[Gubachoo]

9 hours ago, Pete M said:

someone recently posted up a plan for putting the full windows into the old doors.  drawing a blank though on how long ago.   hopefully someone will remember better than me.

 

tow mirrors come from the factory with a special brace inside the door.   97+ mirrors are bigger than the old ones and bolt right in.   

 

be careful with the wing windows.  they like to leak air and water.   be very picky about which you buy and install. 

 

That would be a great mod, I'll have to look into it. I wonder if you can still buy the seals for the vent windows? I've got some research to do now, thanks. 

[schardein]

12 hours ago, SteveW155 said:

 

Thanks! You just answered a question I had!

 

I have 97+ mirrors on my XJ and MJ.  I had to remove the metal trim around the door and clearance it with a grinder.  Tedious work to remove, clearance, and replace.  Bolts on, other than that.  I also had to do some wiring work to retain the power adjust function in my XJ.  In the end, happy with the larger mirrors.

 

Pics of the trimming.  Red is the XJ, white is the MJ.  Did the XJ first, got a little better with practice.  Last is a screen shot of wiring the power adjust function.

[schardein]

Also, the movable vent windows were on my 91 XJ when I got it.  They were sealed shut with clear silicone, and still leaked.  I replaced them with the fixed window and never looked back.

 

I love the wing windows in my old square body Chevys, but unlike the XJ MJ versions, they did not leak.

[SteveW155]

I have 97+ mirrors on my XJ and MJ.  I had to remove the metal trim around the door and clearance it with a grinder.  Tedious work to remove, clearance, and replace.  Bolts on, other than that.  I also had to do some wiring work to retain the power adjust function in my XJ.  In the end, happy with the larger mirrors.
 
Pics of the trimming.  Red is the XJ, white is the MJ.  Did the XJ first, got a little better with practice.  Last is a screen shot of wiring the power adjust function.

Thanx a mil for the info! I love the Sportruck decals on your MJ - dumb question - is that factory, and if so was it a particular year?

[Pete M]

4 hours ago, Gubachoo said:

 

That would be a great mod, I'll have to look into it. I wonder if you can still buy the seals for the vent windows? I've got some research to do now, thanks. 

 

it's not necessarily the rubber, but the weak pivot hole that wollows out and doesn't allow you to pull it fully shut.  sometimes you can shove a penny in there to help out, but even that didn't work with my drivers side.  eventually swapped it for a solid.

[schardein]

21 minutes ago, SteveW155 said:

 

Thanx a mil for the info! I love the Sportruck decals on your MJ - dumb question - is that factory, and if so was it a particular year?

 

Factory, and I believe 1991 only. 

[SteveW155]

Ah ok, thnx!

[Minuit]

SQUIGGLE SQUAD, ASSEMBLE!

 

Yep, '91 only to my knowledge, but they came in a variety of colors. I've seen blue and red/black, and I think there may have been an all red version too. There's a few of them on the MJ registry under the 1991 year.

[Gubachoo]

2 hours ago, Pete M said:

 

it's not necessarily the rubber, but the weak pivot hole that wollows out and doesn't allow you to pull it fully shut.  sometimes you can shove a penny in there to help out, but even that didn't work with my drivers side.  eventually swapped it for a solid.

 

I see... I love the vents on my CJ7, but if the leaking is a tough problem to solve I'd rather skip it. I'll have to find the info on the full window swap. 

[rynoshark]

My vent windows leak I don't want to replace with fixed window.  Is there any source for the seals?  Anyone selling a non-leaking window set with vents?  ;)

[Eagle]

2 hours ago, rynoshark said:

My vent windows leak I don't want to replace with fixed window.  Is there any source for the seals?  Anyone selling a non-leaking window set with vents?  ;)

 

Forget a source for the seals -- the problem is the design of the window, and the seals. When I bought my original 1988 Cherokee -- new -- it was a factory special order. The operable vents were an option in the 1988 model year, and I paid extra to get them. They leaked from Day One. I complained to the dealer about it, they had me talk to the factory service rep, and he cheerfully told me they had a fix.

 

The "fix"? Remove the operable vents and replace with the fixed windows. And they wouldn't refund me the money I spent to get the operable vents. So I sealed them with silicone, and 30 years later they still don't leak. But they also don't open.

 

Bottom line -- you can't fix them. They leak by design. If you must have operable vents, be prepared to accept that they WILL leak.

[rynoshark]

Eagle, great background on the vent windows!!!  Ok, I will not worry about those for now and fix the main window seals first.  Then either seal with silicone like you did, or live with it.   Thanks for sharing your experiences from new.

[SatiricalHen]

someone recently posted up a plan for putting the full windows into the old doors.  drawing a blank though on how long ago.   hopefully someone will remember better than me.
 
tow mirrors come from the factory with a special brace inside the door.   97+ mirrors are bigger than the old ones and bolt right in.   
 
be careful with the wing windows.  they like to leak air and water.   be very picky about which you buy and install. 

Gjeep Son of a Stink build thread. He used Chinese regulators for his 1 piece windows. I would love to put some 1 piece windows in my Comanche with a manual crank


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Minuit]

I can confirm that the pivoting vent windows are a pain in the @$$. I have air conditioning in my '91, so their only real use to me is as a novelty. But that novelty is not worth them leaking all over my carpet. I pulled mine from a '93 and the passenger side was fine, but the driver side dripped a little water every time there was anything more than light rain.

 

The gaskets don't make a positive seal at the front corner of the window, and I've always wondered why they designed them that way. A friend in college had a '93 Toyota with a similar design of window, but they didn't leak on his truck.

[rynoshark]

I wonder if there is any way to shim the seals from behind (for instance, using expanding foam in the channel for the seals) so the seals expand slightly.  

 

I love idea of having pivoting vent windows...but may have to replace with fixed or just silicone seal shut.

[Eagle]

11 minutes ago, rynoshark said:

I wonder if there is any way to shim the seals from behind (for instance, using expanding foam in the channel for the seals) so the seals expand slightly.  

 

 

No.

 

Look at an XJ that has the operable vents. There's a metal track along part of the lower edge of the glass. That's the problem. Where the metal track/frame ends, there's a step. It isn't possible to mold the rubber seal with a step that perfectly aligns with the step from the metal track to the exposed glass edge. This is where they leak -- at the point of that step.

[Minuit]

I can think of two ways to make them seal while leaving them operable. I haven't tried either of these, so do with them what you will.

 

- Use some type of pasty sealant at the step where the window channel ends. This would work right up until it wears away, you forget to reapply the sealant, and the windows leak all over your carpet, door panels, and speakers.

 

- Replicate the metal track along the rest of the window somehow. I don't have a set of windows nearby right now to check, but this might just move the problem somewhere else depending on the shape of the gasket.

 

Replacing the pivot pin if it's worn may help, but obviously won't fix the problem since they leaked when they were new. You'd be correcting a faulty design, not repairing them to original function.