The other day UPS delivered a pair of slider windows...



I'm going to testing them with the retrofit kit I've come up with for installation in a factory hardtop. I'll also be molding another set of JK Safari Cab side panels to install them in. Stay tuned.

 

The JKU is awesome tool, having something different/functional is part of the mod game…being unique and standing out is what makes this tool so f’n awesome….would love to receive more info!!!!

 

The logical entity to buy the rights, licensing, whatever, to the the hardtop mods is Mopar.
There are a million hardtops out there, who will be begging for these functional and unique improvements.
If the redesign coming in 2017 keeps the hardtop the same, thats a huge OEM option market.
Here's hoping .

 

A kit to fit these in the factory top would be fawesome! cant wait to see how it works out.

 

If only you lived a bit closer so I could attempt to bribe you, looks awesome!

 

If anyone is wondering why you can't just mount an RV-style window in a JK factory hardtop, here's why. The other day I made up a test fixture that has the same curves as the JK hardtop window and window mounting surface. The photo shows a window sitting on the surface, it hasn't been fastened in yet. You can see how much gap there is in the corners due to the curves. If you crank down the screws in the mounting ring on the inside, the window frame will probably bend a bit (the fiberglass will bend a bit too). Curving the window frame will result in the sliding glass either not moving at all, or binding and being hard to move.



The reason I built the test fixture is to test the retrofit kit design which will deal with the curves so this window can be installed in a factory hardtop. It's much easier to do the experimenting on a test fixture in my workshop than by removing the window from an actual hardtop, at least for the initial testing.

 

I was wondering, and now I See. I need and want this, as do at least half of the salivating dog owners on the thread.
Please make it happen !

 

I understand the problem of mounting a flat window to a curved surface. However, would it be possible to remove the glass from the sliding window, and put in slightly curved glass or plexiglass? Would it work, and would it be difficult to do?

 

The factory glass has compound curves (curves in both directions), so it's not as simple as putting slightly curved glass in. The window frame would also have to be pre-bent to accommodate the compound curves in order to guarantee smooth operation and good weather sealing. To make the curved glass (or plexiglass), tooling would have to be made for forming the proper curves on the glass/plexiglass, which would be expensive, especially amortized over the small number of these that I could imagine might be produced.

Adapting flat RV-style windows to the hardtop the way I'm planning to do it means that there are no tooling or setup costs to have the windows manufactured, so they can be done very inexpensively, and if some company decides to work with me to bring these to market, the kit can be very affordable.

 

Thanks for the info! Just wondering if it would be difficult for m to try at home.