Anatomy of a Meyers/Orville Door

Not sure if this is the right spot for this or if it should be in "Restorations". I disassembled the passenger side door from the Meyers/Orville steel hardtop from my '73 CJ5. I thought I would share the pictures with others that may be considering salvaging one of these tops. This door had been disassembled in the past and had a variety of screws holding items together. Heres a shot of the door exterior
And the interior view

 

Heres the door with the interior panel removed and the glass and regulator in the "up" position

Here the glass is down against the window stop which is held in place by the lower door hing bolts

A closer view of the window stop plate

 

These doors used window regulators manufactured by the Muncy Corporation which is still in business http://www.muncycorp.com/aboutus.html . Heres the window regulator bolted to the interior of the inner door shell

And a picture of the regulator removed and flipped over

 

Here I have removed the lower window stop


As you can see the window stop was in bad shape, I think it could be easily replicated with a small brake. It has 2 stiffening ribs rolled into it also.

 

With the lower window stop removed I was able to slide the door glass out


Exterior side of the glass


I think I will make patterns of all the glass in the top, noting the dimensions, thickness, angles and radius of the corners. The '73 top is the "5 Window" design.

 

Here you can see the channel that the window regulator slides in as it raises and lowers the window.

 

A quick reference for parts:
The window regulators were manufactured by the Muncy Corporation(still in business) http://www.muncycorp.com/ I have e-mailed them to see if new regulators are available or parts for old regulators.
Exterior door handles and keys were manufactured by Bauer Products(still in business) http://www.bauerproducts.com/index.htm I bought keys from them for my '79 hardtop.
Interior door latches were manufactured by A.L.Hansen Manufacturing(still in business) http://www.alhansen.com/pdfs/cat103/cat103_pg021.pdf

Pretty cool to see that these businesses that made the hardware are still around nearly 30 years after the last hardtop was available from the dealers. The door panels I showed above should fit in my Scat Blast cabinet for sandblasting so that is the plan at the moment. The drivers door has broken glass which will need replacing and extensive rust along the bottom so I will be building a new lower section patterned after the passenger door. This will be a slow process as I have several Jeeps to work on but I will update as time goes on if others are interested in the project.

 

Heres an interesting photo,from an E-bay auction, showing the windows and regulators out of an alledged 1967 door. These are the chain regulators I expected to find in my doors as I have read about them before. Anyone else had these in their Meyers hardtop doors? If so what year top was it?

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My kelly top has those chain style regulators. If its original to the jeep its a 67-68

 

i am in the process of buying a meyers half cab and at least one of the windows doesnt roll up and down.
this thread is gold to me!
god i love this site.
thank you

 

I have a '67 CJ-6 with a Meyers top and it DOES have the chain style like
the pic from Ebay.

The metal that attatches to the actual glass is different between the two types. When I saw your glass
I said to myself, "My window doesnt look like that?!"

Let me know if you need detailed picsbecause mine are removed ATM.

LB

 

DOH!! I didn't see your post or I would have definatley asked to see more pictures of your window. I've been out on the road a LOT this year and haven't been on the site much.

 

Kman - EXCELLENT THREAD. I have Meyers doors that both need a bit of love. I will be tearing into them next summer (when the snow disappears).

The hardware sites are crucial. Looks like Bauer also has the T-handle and mount that are missing off of my top's back door.

My question: When you bought keys, did you just buy blanks, or did you find a cylinder number so you could order cut keys?

 

MC check out these threads for more info http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59992&highlight=meyers+hardtop
http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60021&highlight=meyers+hardtop
On the door handles there was a number BPXXX give them the number and they can make the keys. I have to get another top as I rolled my 5 and the top didn't survive.

 

great thread. thanks!

 

Alright, had some time to look at the doors here again. Mine are all riveted together, so disassembly is going to require a drill.

Where did you find the BPXXX number? I've looked all over my driver side door/handle and can't locate it. Probably have to start drilling...

 

The BP number is right next to the key slot. The earlier doors may have used different handles. I'll see if I can get a close up pic with the BP number. The doors were originally riveted together.

 

Well, it looks like my driver-side handle is likely not original. And, after having a locksmith give it a go... it's jammed, not locked. So, I'm going to be drilling rivets this afternoon to get at the mechanism and see if I can unjam it. Will be cheaper to get this replacement handle working again than to order a new one... hopefully.

 

I got my replacement outside door handles at the local TrueValue hardware in the garage door parts. Got three with the same key. About 10.00 each
Andrew