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Tubs from the Philippines

191K views 900 replies 122 participants last post by  JoonHoss 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone,

I'm Rommel Juan of MDJuan.

We make replacement tubs for the CJ7 and now the YJ as well.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here have used our tubs? And what has been your experience with them?

My purpose here is to hear your comments and suggestions so that we may improve our tubs to better serve the jeep community.

Cheers,
Rommel
 
#2 ·
Oh this should be good hope it works :popCorn:

I will say this I have not yet done a body I may have to in the future but from all I have read on here and around is that the bolt holes do not line up parts are misaligned. They can be improved but thats up to your company .
 
#3 ·
Oh this should be good hope it works :popCorn:

I will say this I have not yet done a body I may have to in the future but from all I have read on here and around is that the bolt holes do not line up parts are misaligned. They can be improved but thats up to your company .
X2. i can't wait to hear some actual reviews. I to have heard the specs are crude at best.
 
#4 ·
Hi Everyone,

I'm Rommel Juan of MDJuan.

We make replacement tubs for the CJ7 and now the YJ as well.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here have used our tubs? And what has been your experience with them?

My purpose here is to hear your comments and suggestions so that we may improve our tubs to better serve the jeep community.

Cheers,
Rommel
Send me one and I'll do a thorough write up and review.......
 
#5 ·
Hi Rommel,

I have one of your tubs in my garage waiting for the final modifications needed so I can install on my CJ. Another member here, Keith460, has used one of your tubs for his restore also.

I am thinking that the main things I would jump on as a company if I were to try and improve the product would be:

1: Correct the rear body mount area as the splash shield interferes with fuel tank and must be changed and/or modified.

2: I would improve the stampings for the front floorboard section as the creases aren't very defined plus it appears to be two sections welded together where the original was one piece. Perhaps add the drain holes in the original factory locations as well.

3: I'd offer a CJ7 early and CJ7 late. The tubs up to '80 had smaller shifter hole in floor as all the tubs currently have and the "B" pillar wasn't added until 1981. The early version just had a sheet metal brace going back to the wheel well. So that means early would have smaller hole and not a full "B" pillar, and late would have the B pillar and larger shifter hole on the floor.

4: The baffles are missing on the tub in the rear wheel wells. These serve a few purposes such as to keep mud away from the taillight wiring and fuel filler, provide a mounting place for rollover and liquid check valves, and also is the rear mounting point for the roll bar.

5: Reinforcing rib and angled stamped square hole in the firewall for the throttle cable should be added. This would cover all models '76-86.

6: Closer measuring to be sure tubs are square and verify stamping molds to be sure items like hood will bolt up properly.

7: Improve primer process. Perhaps E-coating like the OEM's use currently.

Other than that it's great that someone is helping to keep our Jeeps alive by producing these parts. With a little more quality control and detail I think many more of these would be purchased as many people are afraid that they won't fit or require too much modification to fit their abilities currently. While the YJ tub conversion was a good option for a number of years now, we must remember that the newest YJ is now 18 years old so you face many of the same rust problems with them as you did an original CJ tub.

It's also good that licensed versions are available with the "Jeep" stamping and that it's in the correct place and font on the side panel.
 
#7 ·
Although I have not had any experience with your tubs, I have heard many complaints. I would like to suggest that you as a company take a CJ7 with a rusted out tub and use one of your tubs to replace it. This way, you would know first hand what all is wrong with your tubs. This way, you know exactly how far off different features are, or, what features could used re-enforced... I applaud your efforts to find problems and correct them. Good luck!
 
#8 ·
Hello Rommel

I used and currently have your CJ-7 tub as a replacement for my original OEM tub.
Will gladly make a write up of all the modifications that were necessary in order to fit onto a late model (82-86) frame. I have detailed pictures as well.

Sent from my iPhone using JeepForum
 
#9 ·
Firewall Section:

Firewall section could be improved with some additional holes and some of the factory locations for certain items for fitment like the heater/defrost assembly. It is hard to explain without your company actually having possession of the heating unit duct work and other various components that attach to the firewall from inside. One of the hardest things to do was to locate and drill the 3 mounting holes for the heating/defrost unit to the Repli-Tub firewall (Repli-Tub is what we refer to your units that come from the Philippines here on the Jeep Forum).

One of the first problems I had was fitting the heater fan motor through the hole that is already in place by your company. Because the top cowl section opening for the fresh air duct was not on centerline, off by a 1/4" from center, it forced me to convert to a popular upgrade of a larger fan motor. The hole is correct size and location but mounting the duct work on the upper plenum forced the assembly towards the passenger side by a 1/4". Therefore, a larger hole had to made slightly off center from existing hole.



There is also a bump or dimple in the OEM Jeep tub that allows a shaft from the duct work to clear the firewall after the heating/defrost unit is installed. I had to grind the end of the shaft in order for it to not make contact with the Repli-Tubs firewall once installed.

The throttle hole is missing and it is angled and a square hole. I drilled the hole in the factory location and then filed the corners to make square.
Once the square hole was made, I used a carriage bolt fitted with washers bolted in the hole and then carefully heated the sheet metal around to bend it to the proper angle.

It would be nice if the two strut brace brackets attached to the firewall upper section were in place. These are needed to provide additional support for the front grill.

A larger square hole opening is needed for the engine compartment electrical bulkhead connection to pass through on later model CJ's and YJ's.

There's no hole for the washer fluid hose or a hole for the nozzle on the top cowl section. Maybe not to important in states were it does not rain so much.

No battery tray mounting holes. 3ea. needed.





No bracket for the E brake assembly or Parking Brake.
No threaded backing plate for the Battery Tray.

Some more OEM factory Firewall Photos:
 

Attachments

#37 ·
so the new tub doesn't have the "bracket" on the firewall, like shown in the picture with the red firewall, the bracket on the right side of the trans tunnel. I am doing a conversion and I want to cut mine off, what is it used for ? also any negative to media/sandblasting blasting?

Firewall Section:

Firewall section could be improved with some additional holes and some of the factory locations for certain items for fitment like the heater/defrost assembly. It is hard to explain without your company actually having possession of the heating unit duct work and other various components that attach to the firewall from inside. One of the hardest things to do was to locate and drill the 3 mounting holes for the heating/defrost unit to the Repli-Tub firewall (Repli-Tub is what we refer to your units that come from the Philippines here on the Jeep Forum).

One of the first problems I had was fitting the heater fan motor through the hole that is already in place by your company. Because the top cowl section opening for the fresh air duct was not on centerline, off by a 1/4" from center, it forced me to convert to a popular upgrade of a larger fan motor. The hole is correct size and location but mounting the duct work on the upper plenum forced the assembly towards the passenger side by a 1/4". Therefore, a larger hole had to made slightly off center from existing hole.



There is also a bump or dimple in the OEM Jeep tub that allows a shaft from the duct work to clear the firewall after the heating/defrost unit is installed. I had to grind the end of the shaft in order for it to not make contact with the Repli-Tubs firewall once installed.

The throttle hole is missing and it is angled and a square hole. I drilled the hole in the factory location and then filed the corners to make square.
Once the square hole was made, I used a carriage bolt fitted with washers bolted in the hole and then carefully heated the sheet metal around to bend it to the proper angle.

It would be nice if the two strut brace brackets attached to the firewall upper section were in place. These are needed to provide additional support for the front grill.

A larger square hole opening is needed for the engine compartment electrical bulkhead connection to pass through on later model CJ's and YJ's.

There's no hole for the washer fluid hose or a hole for the nozzle on the top cowl section. Maybe not to important in states were it does not rain so much.

No battery tray mounting holes. 3ea. needed.



No bracket for the E brake assembly or Parking Brake.

No threaded backing plate for the Battery Tray.

 
#10 ·
Top Cowl Section:

As noted, the opening for the fresh air vent was off center line by 1/4" towards the passenger side and there are holes missing for mounting the upper plenum duct work to the cowl and the washer fluid nozzle as well. Washer nozzle is on centerline of the cowl section.



The holes are missing to mount the upper plenum of the heating unit to the top of the cowl. You do provide the holes for mounting the vent grill but the other holes for the plenum are not there and they are countersunk also from the factory.



Now for the bad, I mean really bad as it is one of the main reasons people cringe at the thought of purchasing a Repli-Tub.
The original OEM Jeep hoods with there crisp straight hood lines on the back and perfect curved contours to not match well to the cowl section front leading edge of the CJ series Repli-Tubs. MD Juan really needs to improve on this area and should make it one of their top priority's to see that it is done.

The edge is wavy and not straight and it would have taken to much body filler to correct and no one would want to do that and risk having the filler pop off after primer and paint.

The pictures speak for themselves.









I don't have a good photo of the steel dash that is supplied with the Repli-Tubs only because I removed it knowing I was not going to use it.
Once removed, 80% of the holes MD Juan drilled Do not match the factory dash panels and most had to be filled in with weld and then ground flat again.
I also used factory type weld tabs in both 5/16-18 and 3/8-16 thread where needed and borrowed a spot welder to attach them.
 

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#15 ·
Rommel, I think it's great on your part to be proactive in improving your product and going right to the source of the most passionate CJ'ers I can think of to look for ways to improve. Good on ya.
 
#16 ·
So here's a question. Why are the CJ-5 and 6 tubs so much more expensive than those for the 2A and 3? I'm seeing almost a thousand dollars' price difference on my end.

Edit: Ok, here's a second. Are you likely to ever start making grilles?
 
#17 ·
One thing to keep in mind: Anything that is stamped "Willys" or "Jeep" and the grille design are trademarks and must be licensed by Chrysler. That's why you see the $500-$1000 premium price increase on the stamped tubs. At the manufacturing level it probably only costs them about $5 to stamp them.

On the stamping note.. To be entirely correct, all YJ tubs and CJ tubs used 1984-86 were stamped "Joop" and not "Jeep"
 
#20 ·
I'm going to be really upset if MD Juan actually takes everything we're telling them into account and starts making a top notch tub after all the work this one that I have is going to take to get ready. It's still worth it more to me than the even higher amount of work the YJ tub would have taken to be ready and still turn around and rust on me in a year or two.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I just got all the neceassary modifactions done on my repli-tub, all in all it took about 40 hours to get everything right. Most of the issues have already been documented by Keith, especially the fabriaction of a new tail end splash guard consumes a lot of time and work. But one of the most annoying things when it comes to fitment ist that the shape of the cowl section doesn't match the shape of oem hood. There is a difference of about 0,5 Centimeters (sorry, i'm from Europe). It looks quite ugly and cannot really be corrected in an easy way, apart maybe form putting on loads of bondo. I think Keith has a picture of that in his restoration thread.

I also have a question about the black primer on your tub. My paint shop says it could be some form of e-coating already. The Morris 4x4 website (that's a big US-Dealer) states that you have a new primer formula and use a five stage process of rinse and dip baths, so maybe it's really e-coating. Also i tried to rub off the primer with laquer thinner and i didn't went off which is also an indiaction for e-coating, so maybe you can clarify on that. Have to say that i got my tub only four months ago, so maybe this was not true for older tubs from MD Juan
 
#27 ·
I just got all the necessary modifications done on my repli-tub, all in all it took about 40 hours to get everything right. Most of the issues have already been documented by Keith, especially the fabrication of a new tail end splash guard consumes a lot of time and work. But one of the most annoying things when it comes to fitment is that the shape of the cowl section doesn't match the shape of oem hood. There is a difference of about 0,5 Centimeters (sorry, i'm from Europe). It looks quite ugly and cannot really be corrected in an easy way, apart maybe form putting on loads of bondo. I think Keith has a picture of that in his restoration thread.

I also have a question about the black primer on your tub. My paint shop says it could be some form of e-coating already. The Morris 4x4 website (that's a big US-Dealer) states that you have a new primer formula and use a five stage process of rinse and dip baths, so maybe it's really e-coating. Also i tried to rub off the primer with lacquer thinner and i didn't went off which is also an indication for e-coating, so maybe you can clarify on that. Have to say that i got my tub only four months ago, so maybe this was not true for older tubs from MD Juan
Pictures posted of the mismatch of the OEM Hood-to-Cowl section.

I would not trust that so called E-coating because it is NOT. It is merely a cheap primer that is used to protect the body from salt water contamination from shipment across the great Pacific Ocean to here. It easily came off with a blow gun and plastic media blasting. E-coating is an expensive process and one must have special equipment and chemicals to apply. E-coating does not come off so easily even with sandblasting. I would compare it to good powder coating which is also difficult to remove.







Took the media blaster about 15min to remove every trace of the black primer applied by MD Juan Company. Came off very easy and if you failed to remove it, you are going to have your finish coat coming of in big chunks of paint peelings.
 
#23 ·
Cowl section of the Repli-Tub where the front edge is suppose to match the contours of the OEM Jeep hood is without a doubt one of the worst features that is an eyesore to look at.



The wavy line of the Repli-Tub, which I think is hand formed on a block of wood or something, compared to the straight crisp line of the OEM hood.



 
#26 ·
quick thanks to every contributing positive feedback that was asked for and especially to Keith for his detailed work on this and MDJuan for looking for a way to improve their product.

:2thumbsup:
 
#30 ·
Hi people,
I also have a new body and can join with Keith only concerning the missing holes for the heater housing. Even the holes in the windshield frame are not a perfect fit. The cutout for the gearbox is for the "old" gearbox versions, so cut too small. it lacks the angle for the tailgate ropes (I do not at the moment as they call themselves)
It lacks the "guards" in the wheel arch, rear left and right. The cutout for the rear lights cable ebendso missing the cut for the tank neck.
Then I have the feeling the body is not right, "square" I hope you understand what I mean. I had problems at least in the body properly to fit the body mounts / to set the framework and then to put the screws.
It lacks the plates for the electrical wiring on the driver side.
The holes for the roll bar also missing .... Now everything is not so bad but it obviously attracts still lots of rework to the new body .... we have here in Germany some people it deters so to buy the body!
I keep you posted too!
Greetings from cold Germany
miami-boy :wave:
 
#32 ·
Miami-boy, I am thinking they may have left out the rollbar holes to leave it adaptable to the different versions. I know my bar bolts to the top of the wheel house, whereas the newer CJ has the bar on the top and then also the floorboard in front of the wheelhouse. Plus then if you want to swap in a "family" bar, you don't have to fill in an holes...

Just my thoughts.
 
#33 ·
Oh ... yes I think you're right ... with the holes for the roll bar I forgot about it are indeed different ... but in the end I think we all have the same problems with the body .... with me the primer holds good, but has a slightly rough surface. My painter said, but that it is still in order. I have all the welding points rewelded again and the overlapping plates sealed with sealing. Now wait times what my painter ready brings :)

regards from germany :wave:
miami-boy
 
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