Gladiator not designed for half doors?

[FunWagon]

First of, this is what I would get... a white Rubicon with a soft top... but only if offered with half doors. Then I would put 37 inch tires on it and some removable safari soft top for the bed.

But guess what? I’m afraid Jeep hasn’t designed the Gladiator with the half doors in mind. You see with half doors, the part of the doors above the yellow line would be black material like the soft top that would be removable. Notice the white metal body between the green and yellow lines in the back. Things don’t line up and it would look funny with black soft top material down to yellow line at doors, but white metal up to green line in the back.

If you look at a JL it doesn’t have this problem. Things line up fine. Jeep did promise half doors on the JL and it seems to have been accounted for in the design. It seems not so for the Gladiator. I hope I’m wrong.

Of course you should be able to still get the JL half doors and put them on a Gladiator, but darn they make it complicated.

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[drogers]

Nah, if the JL gets them the JT will too.

1) we haven't seen the JL half doors yet
2) the JL has the same design line behind the rear doors
3) the gladiator and the JL use the same doors...

 

[DMoney]

^^he is right

 

[Jake]

Who is the “he” that is right? Is it FunWagon that is right or is it Drogers that is right?

 

[FunWagon]

Look... compare the design lines of the JL and Gladiator below:

Of course the half doors will FIT on both... I just wonder if it would look odd or not a big deal... they probably had a design challenge between the design line for the bed vs the half doors.

 

[JTRUBI]

Good eye. Never noticed that. I see what your saying but I think Jeep has to design it that way as they did mention that the bed was a low bed. The design challenge was probably pretty hard. I still have a feeling they’ll offer them on the JT.

Easiest way to see how it looks is black out the upper section with photoshop.

Look... compare the design lines of the JL and Gladiator below:

Of course the half doors will FIT on both... I just wonder if it would look odd or not a big deal... they probably had a design challenge between the design line for the bed vs the half doors.

 

[drogers]

Look... compare the design lines of the JL and Gladiator below:

Of course the half doors will FIT on both... I just wonder if it would look odd or not a big deal... they probably had a design challenge between the design line for the bed vs the half doors.

Look at it again with the hard top off - there's the same discontinuity, and jeep either doesn't care or has already accounted for it in their half door design.

 

[FunWagon]

It would probably look fine like this, and I would only get a Gladiator with half doors anyways. I just hope they still offer it, given this little glitch. WE STILL WANT IT JEEP. Maybe they’ll ofer a small black decal for that gap.

Maybe the images below with black soft tops on both would help those that still don’t see it... compare the bottom edge of the black soft top/side to the bottom edge of the window of the door.

 

[Capman99]

First of, this is what I would get... a white Rubicon with a soft top... but only if offered with half doors. Then I would put 37 inch tires on it and some removable safari soft top for the bed.

But guess what? I’m afraid Jeep hasn’t designed the Gladiator with the half doors in mind. You see with half doors, the part of the doors above the yellow line would be black material like the soft top that would be removable. Notice the white metal body between the green and yellow lines in the back. Things don’t line up and it would look funny with black soft top material down to yellow line at doors, but white metal up to green line in the back.

If you look at a JL it doesn’t have this problem. Things line up fine. Jeep did promise half doors on the JL and it seems to have been accounted for in the design. It seems not so for the Gladiator. I hope I’m wrong.

Of course you should be able to still get the JL half doors and put them on a Gladiator, but darn they make it complicated.

In the interview video, one of the designers said the doors are interchangeable. So if you want half doors you can always just find some JL half doors.

 

[Jeep383-S]

JL vs JT half doors
I know I forgot to put a passenger mirror but you get the idea.

 

[Ian cj10]

i think it still looks ok

 

[Jeep_VB]

I think it looks good as well.

 

[Troybilt]

Half doors will fit. It will look fine.

 

[Wilk]

If that little bit of a height difference is going to stop you buying half doors then there are perfectly good full size doors that come on it.

 

[steffen707]

JL vs JT half doors
I know I forgot to put a passenger mirror but you get the idea.

Yeah Baby!

it would have been cool if the line went all the way back, but then the bed would only be 16" tall.

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