k1500 Tube doors? Possible?

[andfern97]

Youll have to pull the pins every time you want to take the factory door off, theres no way around that. But you could make it so the tube door just drops onto the stock hanger. The only problem i see with tube doors is you will lose your speakers unless you have speakers in the dash.

Yeah, the speaker thing crossed my mind. I had some big box speakers under the back seat of my old truck, I think I could hook up a similar setup to compensate for the door speakers being gone when the doors are off. I'm really set on making this work sometime this summer hahah

 

[Biggershaft96]

Yeah, the speaker thing crossed my mind. I had some big box speakers under the back seat of my old truck, I think I could hook up a similar setup to compensate for the door speakers being gone when the doors are off. I'm really set on making this work sometime this summer hahah

Hell yea. If your game ive actually thought about this before and I've pretty much come up with a plan to make the doors more easily swappable.

 

[andfern97]

Hell yea. If your game ive actually thought about this before and I've pretty much come up with a plan to make the doors more easily swappable.

Sweet! Yeah I'd love to hear it! As far as the actual doors go, I'm gonna try to keep it simple since I'm not the best welder. But yeah, let me know what you got

 

[mars2878]

if your doors are power, you will also have to w/ pulling the kick panel undoing/reinstalling the harness plugs.
if manual, just delete the door speakers & reroute somewhere else.

another option for tube is half doors. when my buddy still his Grand Cherokee, we cut down stock doors for off-roading use. we got 4 spare doors & gutted them, minus the latches. cut the tops off. sectioned a section of the inside out, then folded part of the outer over & in, then tack welded in place. grabbed some scrap metal to use as fill in pieces where needed. drilled a small towards the dash end of the door. took the latch rod & looped the handle end. inserted the latch end through the hole & reattached to the latch. the hole keeps the rod located 7 the looped end gives you a finger pull to open the door. the doors were now light enough to install by yourself. would still need help w/ the loaded doors.

could try this: if your good w/ welder, cut the hinges off your doors & body. install a set from a newer vehicle. you lower the doors onto a pin, fold a flap over & install a 10mm bolt to secure the door in place. go to a j/y & look @ newer gm vehicles & you'll see what I mean. the question becomes, if placed in the exact same spots as the old hinges, will the door still open the same # of degrees?
it's a thought that's been bouncing around my mind for a few years, but don't have the tools or better knowledge to attempt.

hope something of this helps or @ least plants a seed for thought

 

[Bob L]

I don't recommend trying to redesign the door hinge system on these trucks as they have some of the heaviest doors I have ever dealt with. It would be far easier to come up with a fixture that would hold your doors in the correct position to take them off and put them on. Such as a dolly with padded holders to allow holding and moving the doors.

 

[Biggershaft96]

I would just throw all of the wiring on a weatherpack connector, make the pins on the tube door like a jeep so the door just drops in place with the stock truck side door brackets. As far as getting the stock door on and off i feel like its pretty easy to just knock the stock pins out. I usually just set a block of wood on my foor jack and have my fiance steady the door. Btw shes 5'1 and 105lbs. She handles it just fine until i get up to grab it and set it on the ground. The door has some weight to it and i dont think there is any room for improvement on taking it off and on aside from making the wiring more easily disconnectable, but once its off the tube door will just drop into place and your off.

 

[andfern97]

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't know if I have the ability to modify the hinge, but I'll look into it. I'm sure I can find something at a salvage yard to work

 

[98sierra4x4]

Ive always wanted to do this. Would you use round tube?

 

[1500z71]

Anything is possible with enough cold beer.

 

[andfern97]

Ive always wanted to do this. Would you use round tube?

I was going to use square metal pieces simply cuz I feel like they'd be easier to weld, but I think round would work.