Truck bed panel attached to door hinge mounting plate
View Patent ↗A conversion system that converts a four-door style vehicle into a pick-up style vehicle. The conversion system converts the four-door style vehicle into a pick-up style vehicle when rear doors of the vehicle are removed and replaced by inner and outer side panels that form a side panel assembly for the bed of the vehicle. Additional features of the conversion system include a bed floor assembly, a bulkhead assembly, and a roof assembly that isolate the cabin of the vehicle from the newly formed bed.
1. A method for converting a four-door vehicle into a pick-up style vehicle, comprising:
removing rear doors of the four-door vehicle;
removing hinges that mounted the rear doors to the four-door vehicle;
securing a bracket at a location previously occupied by the removed hinges; and
mounting side-panel assemblies at positions previously occupied by the rear doors,
wherein the side-panel assemblies are mounted to the bracket.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising securing the side-panel assemblies to a latch bracket of the four-door vehicle.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing rear seats of the four-door vehicle; and
mounting a cross-bar assembly at the location previously occupied by the rear seats.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising mounting a floor assembly to the cross-bar assembly.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising securing a bulkhead assembly at a position previously occupied by the rear seats.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the bulkhead assembly is secured to the cross-bar assembly.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising securing a roof assembly to the bulkhead assembly.
8. A conversion kit for converting a four-door vehicle into a pick-up style vehicle, the four-door vehicle including a pair of rear doors supported on the four-door vehicle by rear-door hinges, comprising:
a pair of mounting brackets operable to be secured to the rear-door hinges of the four-door vehicle;
a pair of side panel assemblies operable to be secured to the mounting brackets;
a floor assembly; and a
bulkhead assembly.
9. The conversion kit of claim 8 , wherein the side panel assemblies each include an inner panel and an outer panel.
10. The conversion kit of claim 8 , wherein the bulkhead assembly includes a roof assembly.
11. The conversion kit of claim 8 , wherein the side panel assemblies are operable to be secured to a latch mechanism of the rear doors.
12. The conversion kit of claim 8 , wherein side-panel assemblies each include a structural support feature.
13. The conversion kit of claim 8 , wherein the floor assembly couples to cross-bar support member.