If you have ever taken an...
If you have ever taken an XJ door off, you know of the complex pliers, Torx bit, curse-filled removal that happens. Unless you have a Torx bit that doesn't normally exist and is the perfect length to reach the bolts but not too long to hit the door opening, you are in for an interesting time. Nonetheless, when you finally get the bolts all loose, and the last couple holding the door on, get a friend to hold the door while you remove them. It will save the fender in the long run.
OK, look, we realize that this isn't an XJ in the lead picture. But the doors that we used came from a four-door XJ, and this upgrade works the same for an XJ as it will for this '92 MJ.
What we did was make our MJ more secure, more comfortable, safer and more watertight with $100 and a day's worth of wrenching with hand tools that we had laying around, and you probably do too.
We got a pair of doors from a '97 Cherokee we found in the junkyard and bolted them up and wired them in our '92 Comanche for basically the purchase price of the doors: $100.
Bolting the doors up was the easy part. If you have even one good eye, a Sharpie, and a tape measure you can do it. We had to wrestle with the wiring though, not only because we were going from a '92 to a '97 setup, but because our MJ was manual doors, locks, windows and mirrors, and our donor was power everything and even had heated mirrors. So, follow along to see how to get the doors on the Jeep and wire them up while making your Jeep all kinds of better in the process.
 Here is part of the safety...  Here is part of the safety and securing: the wing windows, while great for letting in a breeze, are also great access points for thieves. If that wasn't enough, the passenger wing window falls right in the middle of the already too small mirror. So, by eliminating them we make it harder for thieves to get in and steal our stuff while giving an unobstructed view of the passenger side mirror which makes lane changes that much safer. |  The older XJs and MJs have...  The older XJs and MJs have this dried up rubber and paint epidemic that extends to the doors as well. As can be seen here, the window wipes have rotted and fallen away while the metal window trims is shedding its paint in an effort to be chrome again. |  Another safety aspect to swapping...  Another safety aspect to swapping in the later doors is the larger side mirrors. About an inch taller and wider than the tiny mirrors on the '84-'96 Cherokee, the added real estate make for a mirror that can actually be used. |
 Maybe it was figured out by...  Maybe it was figured out by the late-model Jeeps, but this clean and one piece window wipe dang near made the whole project worth it to us. Not only didn't we have to pull apart two entire doors, but we didn't have to pay almost $60 for new rubber parts. |  To help with getting the doors...  To help with getting the doors back on the Jeep without the cursing of the six-bolt Torx-bit removal, we nipped part of the hinge off. That gave us the added benefit of being able to remove the doors more easily in the future if we ever want to. One thing to note here though is that the hinge design changed in '98. The early hinges still bolt to the doors, but you won't be able to mix and match hinge parts. |  One of the most noticeable...  One of the most noticeable differences between the early and the late doors is first the shape, and second the location of the striker which holds the doors closed. Whatever Jeep you pull the doors from, also get the striker and the striker bolts. We then removed the old striker, measured to locate the new one, and drilled two new holes. The new striker partially covers the original hole, so we didn't even bother welding it closed. |
 We did have a slight fitment...  We did have a slight fitment issue that we didn't even think of to begin with. The power doors we swapped in had a handle that extended higher up the interior panel than the old door and interferes with the glove box opening all the way. We see this as a minor inconvenience, and we could cut and modify the glove box door like some do to clear a roll cage, but we don't need to go in there that often, so it can stay like this. When the door is open, it clears just fine. |  The door locks work on a push-pull...  The door locks work on a push-pull type of scenario. To lock, one wire wants to see a positive, and the other wants a negative. To unlock, the wire that was positive needs negative, and the negative from before needs a positive. That requires a pair of relays to switch polarity. Here's the schematic for the relays. | |