Yes, I believe you can, but if the rear cross members is rotted, then I would expect the rear frame tails to also be rotted. I would also be concerned about getting the body mount bolts out without something breaking. Don’t forget to remove the rear wiring harness so it doesn’t get damaged. It runs through the frame rails from drivers side to passenger side, so it is going right through the area.

 

Try a forum search... I know someone else was looking into doing this within the past year.

 

The rear crossmember is just beat up really bad and basically falling apart, not rotted, just cut and drilled and 40 years old... the tub isn't too bad... I have been searching, but haven't found any threads that are specifically related to this question. I guess I will just give it a shot and move very slowly... I'm not especially thrilled at having to get the rear shackle mounts off, they are pretty crusty.

 

PB Blaster is your best friend

 

That was me. You don't have to remove the tub, but you do have to get it high enough to grind off what's there. There should be welds on top, and those would be mighty hard to clean up without doing it Also, you'll have to get the bushings out, and you'll need some height for that.

The best way I can see it, and I ultimately had to resort to it, is to remove the front fenders. Tipping the tub too much from the rear will put quite a bit of stress on the fender attachment points. I took the fenders off, removed all the bushing bolts. put a longer bolt, about 6 inches long, in the front tub mounts. That kept the tub somewhat in alignment, because it will move on you regardless. Remove the support rods to the radiator/core support too.

I supported the tub with 2x4 wood pieces between the frame and tub once I lifted it up. Cut out the old crossmember, fit in a new one, which was a bugger too. My rear frame rails were pinched in, so I had to pull them out to match the new crossmember attachment areas. Once that was done, put stuff back together, only to realize that the bushing mounts in the new crossmember were too tight for my factory bushings. Major pain if you have to hog them out when the crossmember is expertly welded back in place.

Once done, primed and painted, came the lovely task of re-aligning the tub back on all the mounts. Fortunately, the long bolts up front kept it from moving too much, but there was still a little prying back and forth to get things back in alignment.

Another good bit of advice is measure, and triangulate measurements to make sure you've got the crossmember in the right spot before you tack it on permanently. Search for body mount measurements and there are a few posts here with all that data to make sure you're set.

So yes, done within the past few months.

-DO

 

Thanks for the replies, yes I have been putting the pb on the body mount bolts for a few weeks now, I figured someone had done it, I need to replace the front fenders anyway so I guess they will be done at the same time.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

I did something like this without tub removal only it wasn't the cross member- it was the actual body tub. I cut out the back of the tub complete and welded in a box tube (4x4x1/4) at the rear to remount the body to the frame. In my case the frame was OK but the body was missing . Gas tank was removed though.

 

Yes, it can be done. As dolsoncj7 described, get the body up just high enough to get it cut off and ground down. I jacked the body about 4", blocked it between the body bottom and the frame forward of of the rear wheel arches to take the strain off the grill body mount.

4" was just enough to cut the old one out - had to cut it out in pieces since I couldn't get the cutoff wheel in the Channel of the cross member.

I replaced it with a Genright YJ cross member which of course I had to modify for the skinnyer CJ frame, body mount locationd and add a tank mount flange for my non-stock tank.

 

Wow, that's great work. Hopefully I can get it off with not breaking too many body bolts... we shall see. I will take some pictures as I go, maybe help someone else.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

I'll second the quality of the Genright crossmember. That thing is a beast. I used one on our Scrambler. Perfect fixture for what rblood did.