[danheit]

So I made some pretty good headway today. Went over to my buddy's house today and got the rest of the old body mount bolts off the CJ frame (finally dug my angle grinder out of storage!) and I snapped off......er....removed the remainder of the body mount bolts holding the YJ tub to it's frame. Finished cleaning and painting the frame, trimmed some YJ tub pieces, and here we are! Got some crappy cell phone pics, but they will work for the time being. Not planning on keeping it as it is, as I still need to do some significant body work to the YJ tub, including removing the broken off body mount bolts and fixing dents and welding in patch metal for the rusty floors, but it's all mocked up and ready to roll VERY SOON!!!! I am getting the fire again!









I temporarily put the YJ dash in to see if I was going to like it. I still can't decide which I am going to go with. I enjoy the creature comforts of the YJ dash, especially the heater/AC setup (yes, I am leaving the YJ a/c in the Jeep either way. I also like the location of the guages, but I really love the classic styling of my old CJ dashes. I just don't know which way to go. I thought about doing a combination of the two, but that would be a little too ghetto looking IMO. Only other obsticle I am running into with the YJ dash is that I have a CJ steering wheel, which means that I will not have the wiper functions on the steering column, and would have to find a different place for the switch. Any ideas?

[danheit]

Got a good bit more headway made today. I cut off all of the old rot from the body mounts on the frame, cut some new pieces of 3/16 stock to fit, burned it in, painted, and voila! new frame boxes for around $6 instead of Quadratec wanting to charge me $99 for new ones. I just need to drill the body mount holes in them tomorrow, get the body mounted to the frame, hook up some wiring, fuel and brake lines, and she is ready to go! Think I am gonna go with the CJ dash (homebrew aluminum diamond tread) to keep the wiring simple. Still need to purchase some new cables too though. Kinda regret my decision to cut through my e-brake cable and throttle cable to remove the tub faster. Ah well, live and learn! Pictures of today's progress will come later. They are stored on my phone and I don't feel like downloading them right now. Sorry guys! Oh, and to anyone who may have an extra, I NEED A GAS TANK SKID PLATE VERY BADLY!!!!!!!! Please let me know if you have a stock skid plate. I don't feel like making one and am not gonna pay 65 for a new one from China.

[molsenice]

umm - what ya gonna doo with that peice a leftover tub????

It looks VERY salvageable

[danheit]

Originally Posted by molsenice

umm - what ya gonna doo with that peice a leftover tub????

It looks VERY salvageable

Molsen, that thing is too far gone, even for you! I don't think there was a single panel on the entire tub that wasn't full of rot. Even the base of the roll bars rotted out. HOWEVER, if you want it....it's all yours. Still need to strip some more parts off of it, but if you wanna make the trek, free tub to you.

[danheit]

PIX!

Here's what I started with. All but one body mount looked like this or worse:


These were the rear frame crossmember mounts, but you get the idea.

cutting in progress!
Body mount in front of the gas tank.....


New steel burned in....

More bad mounts



All fixed!!!!

[danheit]

My ONLY good body mount on the entire Jeep. Amazing.


And everything all buttoned up and painted. You may notice that I didn't fix the rear frame crossmember, but that whole guy is getting replaced, so not worth messing with.


Oh, and can anybody ID this axle? Doesn't look like an AMC 20. Never seen this double flanged rear diff/pumpkin section.

[CopperCJ7]

Originally Posted by danheit

I think I am gonna stick with the 33's that are on it now. Believe it or not, those tires are 12 years old, and not showing a single crack anywhere from dry rotting, and they still have almost full tread!

Tires have a certain "shelf life" and if those are 12 years old, that probably means they were made a few years before the purchase. I would get rid of them unless you like roll overs and other assorted accidents. Seriously.

As far as what should be done to the Jeep, it looks like you went for a tub with the back wheel wells cut out like a buggy. I'd go for a mild off road machine - only limited by what you want to spend. But you really do need to invest in new tires for sure.

[danheit]

I agree with ya. I am on the lookout for a set of 35+ swampers on the cheap. being that I have the rear tub comp cut, and the front fenders are completely trimmed out to the hood line, I can just about fit anything I want on there, as long as the driveline is willing to hold out. Dunno about the axles though. Ah well, I'll figure something out, I always do!

[CopperCJ7]

Well let me say that I think you ROCK! Why? Because like others have said, you seem crazy for wanting to go through all of this time and money for a vehicle that may or not be safe. But I say, go for it. There's nothing more fun than making it your own. The satisfaction when you drive it will leave a smile on your face most of the time... that is, until things start breaking.

That said, I think your budget constraints are not practical.

And 35" tires on an AMC 20 is not smart unless you go with one-piece axles and truss/weld the pumpkin to the tubing. Not to mention the fact that you will HAVE TO re-gear or it'll be a lot slower.

You really need to ask yourself honestly... "What will this Jeep be used for? Strictly off-road? Part pavement and part dirt?" And build accordingly - NOT for what "looks cool" but for what's practical for the type of vehicle.

Good luck with her

[danheit]

Thanks Copper. I have decided/morphed into taking this Jeep strictly mild offroad, and a little bit of cruise around town duty. Got tired of breaking my TJ all the time when I take it off road. Everything around here is all swamp and black mud. No rocks or anything else fun like that. I get to do a little bit of beach driving here and there too though.

[fastas69]

I give you for this build. I like to see people do builds like this and save an old car (jeep in this case) from the graveyard. So good luck!!

[danheit]

This is my buddy's Jeep (beachjeep), to give you an idea of how deep and nasty the mud gets around here. This is the ENTRANCE to the area that we go wheeling in He hadn't even made it all the way into the play area yet! Broke 2 straps getting pulled out, another guy lost an axle.....and all was saved by a CJ!

[danheit]

Here's the LINK to some more pics of their day out, just in case anyone wanted to see.

[danheit]

Well, I received my prothane body mount kit over the weekend, cut all new holes in the frame mounts tonight, and will be installing them and the body tomorrow morning.
Here's what I found:
For my application, first, the prothane mounts are much smaller, in reference to the frame mount hole diameter (1 1/4 IIRC) in comparison to the original body mounts, second is that there are 3, yes, 3 different sizes of poly mounts that come with the kit, all requiring different diameter holes. I chose to keep them all the same size and just deal with the little bit of play. Third, they come with absolutely no metal sleeves inside the mounts, even though the supplier tells you that they do. There were 2 mounts that had a metal sleeve on the outside of the inner mount. I assume that these are for the rear frame xmember.
Also, evidently, the dimensions of the YJ tub that I used are significantly different from the ones of the CJ frame, as I, on avg., had to drill the hole for the body mounts 2 7/8's inches from the outside of the frame, putting the body mount hanging over the end of the metal frame mount. I thought this seemed crazy, so I checked, and rechecked, but my math is all correct. I took the exact measurements from the YJ tub. We will see what happens when I go to mount the body tomorrow......

Sorry I didn't have any pictures tonight, but I didn't finish drilling the last hole until after dark. I was out there with my dewalt in one hand, WD40 in the other, and a flashlight between my legs. If only I put this kind of effort into everything else in life. Oh, and I can truely say that the hole saws you buy from Lowe's are crap. The one that I had, a: wasn't even remotely close to being round....more of a bent oval shape, b: wouldn't hold the drill bit in place, as the set screw kept backing out (which on the very last hole I eventually lost and just did it all free hand), and the arbor for the saw wouldn't hold the saw in place. It kept spinning and wobbling all over the place. This is the brand that is in the light blue and white pkg. Starts with an "L". Only good thing I can say is that it made it through 7 holes in 3/16 steel. I could probably squeak out 2 more holes if I had to, but it would be a stretch.

[danheit]

OK....body is securely bolted to the frame, Old YJ wiring is removed (and up for sale!), CJ wiring has been removed from the old tub, and is partially installed in the new tub (tub bulkhead is bolted together....that's it.)

I still have this list o' stuff to do:
re-plumb brake lines
new throttle cable
adjust carb
new choke on carb
new speedo cable
wire up YJ and CJ guages to CJ wiring harness/YJ dash
replace e-brake cable
replace f/r brake caliper-frozen
install driver seat to riser, install seat covers....
find pass. seat riser
build gas tank skid
install gas tank
run new fuel lines to YJ tank
install glass in windshield
new cowl rubber
install windshield
install mirrors
remove/reherc' the tub
install tail lights
install rear corners/aluminum corners to cover comp cut
find/buy/build roll cage or sport bar
prep and install fiberglass hood
prep and paint body
new battery tray
a/c compressor
tune up on motor/trans/fluid changes
complete wiring

Sorry for the list guys, but it helps me to see it in writing so I can "check" things off.