by Mike Gardner
Quadratec Channel Correspondent
So it’s time to order a new set of upper doors for your Jeep. Maybe the material is fraying away, or the plastic window zippers are just not performing well. Perhaps your vehicle doesn’t have upper doors at all and you need to get something to protect against the elements.
Whatever the reason, it seems like grabbing a new set of upper doors should be a pretty easy decision, right? That is, until you discover you may need to know if the Jeep has a factory soft top frame, or something aftermarket, as well as knowing if those lower metal doors are factory style, aluminum or tubular.
Now, if you are the original owner, these questions should be easy to answer. But if you purchased the Jeep used, then you may have no idea what is really on the vehicle.
Luckily, no matter which Jeep you drive, it is not terribly difficult to understand what hardware system you may have on the vehicle—factory or aftermarket—or what kind of half doors are in place.
Jeep CJ (76-86) and Scrambler (81-86)
Let’s start with the CJ7 and Scrambler. Technically, these vehicles did not come from the factory with half metal doors like the Wrangler. Instead, the vast majority had full metal doors and a hardtop, while a small percentage did have a soft top. But even these came with full doors or upper and lower canvas ones.
So, as a CJ owner, if your vehicle does have a soft top with upper and lower canvas doors (both with clear plastic windows), then you’ll either need to check around on Jeep forums to see if anyone is selling matching upper doors, or purchase an entire replacement top that includes doors—assuming the hardware is still in usable shape.
Now, if the vehicle has lower metal half doors with a soft top or upper and lower canvas doors (no plastic on lower door), then someone purchased a replacement top in the past with all new aftermarket hardware. This means, when you look to replace the upper doors, you’ll want either YJ Bestop Supertop/Sunrider upper door replacements or new complete 2pc Bestop Soft Doors, which will get rid of your lower metal door or replace the current two-piece doors.
The visual identification of these is easy. You’ll notice the top rear corner of the half door is round; pretty much identical to a hard metal door. Please note to steer clear of any upper doors that come to a point at that corner, as these will not work on CJ tops. Also, if your vehicle does not have any upper doors, and you have hardtop, then avoid any soft doors at all. They will not seal correctly and expose your interior to the elements.
Wrangler YJ (1987-1995)
Moving on to the YJ-series Wrangler vehicles, and this is where things can start to become more confusing because of a few different door options.
See, the YJ originally came with two factory soft top configurations—one a half metal door with soft upper zipper window, and the other full hard doors with a soft top.
The YJ factory top and soft upper door version has a very different style compared to the CJ, as this edition contains an upper door rear corner that is almost a 90-degree squared end. This allows it to rest tight and secure against the metal soft top frame, and was engineered this way to reduce leaking as well as wind noise.
If your upper soft doors resemble this configuration, then there are new replacement skins that attach to your current hardware, or new replacement upper doors with a glass sliding windows.
These glass sliders have really become popular over the years simply because they eliminate zippers—which do not always work the best in wet or cold weather—and instead allow you to simply slide the glass window open when needed. This really comes in handy at, say, a drive-in window or tollbooths. Simply just pull the latch and slide the glass forward or back to open. Plus, the upper doors easily slide into the lower door attachment points with no additional modification needed.
The second factory option for Wrangler YJs was full hard metal doors with a soft top. Over the years, however, many people switched those full doors for either lower metal doors or two-piece soft doors. So if you are not the vehicle’s original owner then you really need to pay attention, as new factory upper door replacements will not fit correctly with this combination. Instead of a pointed rear corner, you will need an upper door replacement with a rounded edge—similar to a full hard door.
This particular set up also gives you two options—the standard traditional canvas upper door with zippers, metal framework and plastic window, or the canvas glass slider upper doors. You could also choose to replace the entire door set up with a two-piece soft door set.
In my case I went with full Bestop Supertop soft doors. These doors are a great mild-to-warm weather option and give great protection from the elements when driving down the highway or on your favorite trail.
Wrangler TJ (97-06) as well as TJ Unlimited
Choosing the right upper door for your TJ Wrangler is quite a bit less involved than it is for YJ owners. That’s because Jeep decided to fully return to the rounded upper half-door design in the TJ, as well as giving it an improved factory door jam (rail kit), which provides a superior fit over the factory YJ doors.
This means you don’t need to know if the vehicle has a factory top or aftermarket, as all replacement upper doors will fit either version. All you really need to do is make sure you do have the factory metal lower half doors, and then decide if you want upper door replacements with plastic windows and zippers to fit on the factory framework, all new upper doors already attached to framework, or upper doors with glass sliding windows. Boom. It’s that easy.
JK Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited (07-18)
The JK Wrangler made things even easier for owners looking to replace upper doors—mainly because about 90 percent of those vehicles rolled off the lot with full metal doors. So for those who do have half metal doors, knowing what to get is very simple—meaning either Mopar or Rugged Ridge upper doors designed for this year range.
These doors will match the factory version and include metal framework and plastic windows. In fact, the only trick with these is making sure you correctly order fronts or rears if you are an Unlimited owner, as well as verifying the door's year fitment range.
Additionally, you can also remove the full or half metal doors and replace with Bestop's two-piece canvas doors that includes metal framework and plastic windows. However, this should not be a permanent solution as those doors are thin and really are not weatherproof.
Many companies are now also making lower tube or sheet metal doors that can help open up the cabin on nicer days. However, nearly all of these products will not accept any upper doors. Two exceptions are the Bestop Element and Core Doors, which have their own upper door versions.
