Not exactly, but if
you have about $5,500 and some time, you can turn your four-door,
Jeep® Wrangler Unlimited into a pickup truck with the new JK-8
Kit.
Taking design cues from the popular Jeep Scrambler CJ-8, the JK-8 Independence kit gives Jeep owners more customization -- and functionality -- options. According to Mopar President/CEO Pietro Gorlier, new Wrangler Unlimited owners "typically spend more than $500 on Mopar accessories. Our new Mopar JK-8 kit answers the call for even more radical customization."
Major parts of the kit include:
- 44-inch by 50-inch steel bed
- inner and outer bedsides constructed from stamped sheet metal
- sport bar extensions, Freedom Panel assemblies
- a removable fiberglass hardtop with a sliding rear window
- two fixed side windows
- fiberglass bulkhead
Our MSRP for the Mopar JK-8 kit is $5,499. The kit, which comes with a three-year/36,000-mile warranty*, is available for ordering through Mopar at Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram dealerships. For ease of purchase, the kit is available as a single part number (77070049) with all hardware and body panels included. (*The warranty covers kit materials and workmanship performed at a Chrysler Group dealership.)
Conversion Process
Two processes are involved in the conversion from a four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited to a two-door pickup truck: disassembly and reassembly.
Disassembly
- First, remove each rear door.
- Next, for the rear-bumper assembly, the hard top and Freedom Panels are removed, followed by the rear portion of the interior, which includes seats and carpeting.
- Exterior trim parts are removed and preserved; inner and outer body panels are removed by drilling out the spot welds, which allows the panels to fall away and avoids having to cut into the sheet metal.
- The rear sport bar is cut away and removed along with B-pillars.
Reassembly
- The reassembly into a two-door pickup truck begins with installation of the B-pillars, cross member, floor-pan assembly (truck bed), and the inner and outer quarter panels (welding is involved in assembly).
- Next install the bulkhead reinforcement assembly and sport bar extensions, followed by the installation of the fiberglass bulkhead itself.
- The kit, with components delivered e-coated, is then prepped for paint.
- Install the windows to the hard top, which is then installed on the vehicle.
- Exterior trim parts are then reinstalled.
To see how the conversion is actually done -- albeit a bit sped up -- see the video of a Mopar demonstration at Moab earlier this year. To check out a couple other images and download them, see the Mopar Jeep JK-8 Independence Flickr Set.
