MO2500's '97 TJ Build up - Page 11

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMiser3

Hey MO2500,
I'm getting the itch to do mods to my JK 08 Unl Rubi and was wondering how much your entire welding setup cost you and how long it took you to learn to run a decent bead? I'm trying to save some money on the bumpers / skids by fabricating my own, but don't have any experience with welding. Any help / info you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Where do you order your metal from? I'd really like to take the mods and maintenance of my jeep into my own hands.

Thanks,

Watch here for the Hobart Handler 187 like I have. It doesn't look like there are any on there right now but they sell "A-grade" Factory reconditioned welders, basically welders that had the box opened and were sent back to be inspected by Hobart/Miller. Mine looked brand new, the only thing was it came with a brand new Miller M10 Mig gun instead of the Hobart. Miller produces Hobart welders and most all parts are interchangeable. I believe I spent $579 on the welder. I wanna say Tractor Supply has the best "brand new" price of $649 if you can't find it somewhere for a better deal.
I went to my local welding supplier and picked up a 60 cuft bottle of C25/Argon on sale for $115 with the first fill free. They were on sale so I suggest you check with a supplier local to you and see what they can do there. Each additional fill cost me $28. To run gas you need a roll of solid MIG wire so I picked up a 10lb spool of .35 from tractor supply for $30 and some .35 contact tips ($5)
Thats what you need for the welder, gas and wire. You still have to get a hood, jacket, and gloves (i spent about $100). As well as nozzle jell and a wire brush if you don't have one. I bought the $49 hood from Northern Tool and it has worked well but I may upgrade soon now that I'm getting the hang of it to get a little more clearer view at the weld pool. The cheapo hood from Northern is a good auto darkening hood for a beginner but if you have the money I'd suggest a little nicer hood to be able to see a little more clearly as the Northern tool hood has a small viewing area and is a little cloudy at times when running a bead IMO.

So total I spent $579+115+35+100= $829

Also, if you don't already have one I'd highly suggest a cheap angle grinder with a wire wheel for cleaning your work and welds , grinding and cutting discs, and a flap disc for finishing edges. I'm thinking about buying a second one so I don't have to change discs all the time while I'm working.

As far as the learning process. My local welding shop in town let me have a bunch of scrap pieces from their bin and I just started laying beads. They were okay at first but I got a lot better after asking for help here in the Fab section. This is my learning thread

Practice, practice, practice is really all I can say. After your told all the tricks and watch as many online videos as you can there really isn't much more to do but practice with your own welds. I picked it up pretty quick once I got the basic idea understood

TheMiser3 · 07-27-2010, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MO2500

Watch here for the Hobart Handler 187 like I have. It doesn't look like there are any on there right now but they sell "A-grade" Factory reconditioned welders, basically welders that had the box opened and were sent back to be inspected by Hobart/Miller. Mine looked brand new, the only thing was it came with a brand new Miller M10 Mig gun instead of the Hobart. Miller produces Hobart welders and most all parts are interchangeable. I believe I spent $579 on the welder. I wanna say Tractor Supply has the best "brand new" price of $649 if you can't find it somewhere for a better deal.
I went to my local welding supplier and picked up a 60 cuft bottle of C25/Argon on sale for $115 with the first fill free. They were on sale so I suggest you check with a supplier local to you and see what they can do there. Each additional fill cost me $28. To run gas you need a roll of solid MIG wire so I picked up a 10lb spool of .35 from tractor supply for $30 and some .35 contact tips ($5)

So total I spent $579+115+35+100= $829

Hobart 187 MIG Handler Welder 500525 America's Farm & Home Store

This place has it brand new for 579.00. In case anyone else is looking...

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMiser3

Hobart 187 MIG Handler Welder 500525 America's Farm & Home Store

This place has it brand new for 579.00. In case anyone else is looking...

There ya go

I really like the welder. I think having a 230v machine makes it a little easier to make a good weld being a beginner. You don't have to worry about doing all the little tricks it takes to get good penetration on thicker steels with a smaller 120v welder. And also, your not welding on the edge of the machines limits every time you work on 3/16" or thicker. It's nice having a few more voltage levels to choose from because you can more easily fine tune wire speed and voltage to get a good clean bead with good penetration

I didn't have a 240v outlet in my garage but it only took about an hour to wire one into our sub-panel with about $40 in materials. Well worth it IMO

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 03:59 PM

Started working on the rear crossmember today. So far I just have a bunch of measurements and the first few cuts on the main piece of tube.

I started with a big piece of cardboard and started mocking up a little pattern to get an idea of the width and angles I wanted to use. Came up with this, the circles in the middle are going to be 2" 3 diode LED marker lights

Then I cut down the 6' tube I have to 51" which is about 2" wider than the stock crossmember. about 1" wider on either side

Got all the measurements and lines drawn out on all sides of the tube for the recovery points and were i have to cut out half the center of the tube for the gas tank skid mount. Then I cut the ends and that's were I'll leave it for today. I still need to burn all the gas in my jeep so the tank is empty. I don't wanna wrestle a full tank of gas when I go to drop the tank

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 04:13 PM

I'v already ordered 2 of these flange mount, 10 diode LED stop, tail, turn lights

and 3 of these grommet mount, 3 diode LED marker lights

also grommets and associated wiring pigtails to install. I may paint the flange on the brake lights black depending on how they look. I gotta see them on the jeep first. Also need to buy a cheap pair of small back up lights and relays to wire in somewhere and After I figure out where I'm putting the tag I'll get something to use as a tag light.

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 06:19 PM

Just finished cleaning the jeep up from this past trip. The fender looks a little worse now that I cleaned all the mud off of it. I'll get another can of krylon fusion and touch it up because the tree took the paint off. Also broke the stud that holds the light in so I'll probably glue it in. Wish I could just get a set of MCE flatty fenders but I think the MD cops would hassle me for not having fenders. I don't DD my jeep but I do enjoy cruising around in it from time to time. I'll think about it because i do wanna get rid of the fenders eventually when I go to 35's

Apollo21 · 07-27-2010, 09:29 PM

Nice Jeep man! you're pretty close to me being in poolesville

**MO2500** · 07-27-2010, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apollo21

Nice Jeep man! you're pretty close to me being in poolesville

Thanks man

I sure am. About 20 min to frederick. I'm there a lot actually.

**MO2500** · 07-29-2010, 04:37 PM

Did some more work on my crossmember today. It's starting to take shape now. I still need to burn some gas in the jeep so i can drop the tank and work on the dimensions for the gas tank skid mount. And I gotta cut off the existing crossmember and start mocking this one up in place.

Cut out the holes for the recovery tabs and cut the bottom 1/4 of the rectangular tubing where the gas tank skid mounts. It was long and tiring work with the angle grinder but i got it done. Sure wish i had a plasma setup for cutting steel.

Wallah! All cut and shaped. Pretty happy with how straight i was able to cut that long line down the tube. Wasn't at all easy

Burned the shackle mounts in on the backside. Still havn't run a bead on the front yet but will

And here it is clamped up in place over top of the existing crossmember. Looks good to me. Should look sweet with the LED lights i'm putting in it also

**MO2500** · 07-29-2010, 04:58 PM

Also got my LED brake lights and markers for the crossmember from the brown truck today. Had to wire up the brake lights to the battery to see how they looked. These things are BRIGHT!!! I had spots in my eyes for a couple min after hooking one up

I choose this 10 diode pattern because i see them on semi trucks all around this area and i think they look better than the ones with way too many LED's or the ones with just 6 or 7 diodes. The high count LED's look cheap to me but these are just right IMO

2006_Sport · 07-29-2010, 05:53 PM

Lookin good Mike! Can't wait to see those LEDs on.

**MO2500** · 07-29-2010, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2006_Sport

Lookin good Mike! Can't wait to see those LEDs on.

Yea me either. I held em up in place and I kinda like them with the stainless steel ring. Looks good on the back of the jeep I think. I was thinking about painting the flange black but now I'm not so sure.

Going to be busy as **** tomorrow so I probably won't get any more work done on the Jeep till the weekend

**MO2500** · 07-31-2010, 01:54 PM

Need some opinions. Should I leave the flanges on these LED's polished or paint them black?

No going back

Apollo21 · 07-31-2010, 02:46 PM

I would do black because the lights are red on a red jeep and black would make then stand out

**MO2500** · 07-31-2010, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apollo21

I would do black because the lights are red on a red jeep and black would make then stand out

I kind of agree. I'll probably leave them for now until i get the crossmember done and and see it all together. If i don't like them it's just 3 screws and some masking tape away from being painted black.