Build Thread 79 CJ7 "They’re coming to take me away aha"

[Hedgehog]

But .....but ...... but Lumpy, frames aren't made to flex. Sorry, old somewhat heated thread reference there. I've watched to many semi frames work to believe frames don't flex.

Lumpy, there is a lot more weight than that on the back of that poor frame. But the pivot point is a 1" piece of cold rolled bar stock with 100% penetration welded top and bottom with my stick welder to a 2"x4"x1/4" steel bumper. It will bend LONG before total failure. It will NEVER come off on paved roads.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Almost forgot about the 'non-flex'n frames' thd.
At least put a return address on the carrier-:shooter:
Can you post a couple pictures of the carrier in question?
Would like to maybe steal some of your ideas.
BTW-With all that steel behind you. I now know why you like that V-8 so much
LG

 

[Hedgehog]

Mr. Bass - Sorry for the thread detour. Will get back on track soonest.

Lumpy - Follow this thread.

http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f7/did-some-sand-blasting-painting-25138/

 

[Lumpy Grits]

THX, HH. Sometimes my 'search-foo' is like my shooting. I miss
LG

 

[mriplaybass]

If you find it does pull at the sheet metal put some steel plate on the inside of the tub where the carrier mounts to strengthen it and disperse the tension.

Pete, there are steel plates inside of the body, I did think that far ahead . Also forgot to mention, rubber insulators at each of the lock down points.

I think your bearing issue is why folks including myself use tapered wheel bearings for this type of hinge. If tight there is no bearing sloppiness there. At that point the spare tire movement is from metal flex not a loose bearing.

I put a lot of steel in my tire carrier with only one truly solid attaching point, the tapered bearing, and one latching point. When closed the latching point carries some weight, but the bearing carries the major part of the load. I actually do fear that it won't hold all the weight. Itself + 5 gallons of water + 5 gallons of fuel + the tire hanging off the rear. We will see how long mine lasts. I'd like to do just as you have done by using a second mounting point.

Hedge, my concern exactly. I haven't figured it out yet, but the plan is to also mount a gas can and the high lift jack on there at some point. I just tend to over build things because I worry about things coming loose, though I do like Lumpy's suggestion of attaching a return address label just in case!

Almost forgot about the 'non-flex'n frames' thd.
At least put a return address on the carrier-:shooter:
Can you post a couple pictures of the carrier in question?
Would like to maybe steal some of your ideas.
BTW-With all that steel behind you. I now know why you like that V-8 so much
LG

At the risk of rekindling the "flex/non-flex" debate. A bit more info. (I will try to add some pictures later) on how the bumper is attached. As I said, the bumper itself is made of 2"x4"x1/4" tube. What I didn't post yet is how it is attached to the frame. Behind the 2x4 bumper itself, is an additional 1/2"x4"x12" plate on each side sandwiched between the bumper and the rear cross member. Behind each cross member is a 3"x3"x3/16" gusseted angle which further ties the bumper to the cross member, to the frame. All this is held together with 8, grade 5, 1/2" bolts through the bumper, frame, and angle, and 4, grade 5, 7/16" bolts attaching the support angles to the frame. I am using the same engineering principals as are used when joining 2 "H" or "I" beams in a building, in that it is the friction between the steel plates that is created, based on bolt torque that creates the structural strength, not the sheer placed upon the bolts.
Though I will abstain from the "flex/non-flex" debate, it would be pretty much impossible for a light weight vehicle like a CJ, to manage to cause enough flex to what I have just described, to cause body deformation, or sheet metal tear out. At least, right at the rear where the carrier is mounted...........................

I do have to admit though, after all the problems that I have had today, you guys did have me thinking................$%^&@$#%@%$#$%......................at least for awhile.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

'Bass' the tear'n of the body comes from leverage and shaking of the OEM tire carrier. Even more so with oversized tires. I'm run'n 33" BFG/AT's on my rig.
I have seen many true trail CJ's(including mine)exhibit this damage.
Mine stopped when I add'd some 10ga diamond plate steel corners many years ago.
I wonder if the AMC 'bean-counters' thin'd up the body steel towards the end?

 

[mriplaybass]

There are steel plates behind the attachment points. I like the idea of diamond plate corners though. I might do that, even though I have not had any body problems with either of the carriers I have built. No harm in even more overbuilding , besides, I think I like the way that would look.

 

[007]

79 CJ7 "They’re coming to take me away aha"

There are steel plates behind the attachment points. I like the idea of diamond plate corners though. I might do that, even though I have not had any body problems with either of the carriers I have built. No harm in even more overbuilding , besides, I think I like the way that would look.

They also have smooth corners (like I have) that camoflage the fact you have corners installed.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Bass-Those secondary plates are not that much help. DTDT

The outfit I got my corners from closed down about 15 years ago.
LG

 

[Petescj]

Pete, there are steel plates inside of the body, I did think that far ahead . Also forgot to mention, rubber insulators at each of the

Figured you did but sometimes it's the easiest stuff that slips our minds. or at least mine. I was going to wait till I got my corner armor and rocker guards to post them up but I like you so I'll share. I'm going with Poison Spyder aluminum corners and their rocker nockers. I'll add links in a second

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=11-04-020-ALUM

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=11-08-020

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Very NICE, Pete.
Please post pictures after install.
LG

 

[mriplaybass]

Re: 79 CJ7 "They’re coming to take me away aha"

They also have smooth corners (like I have) that camoflage the fact you have corners installed.

Yup! I like the way yours looks. The wife has eluded to putting some on after seeing your CJ.

 

[mriplaybass]

[FONT=&quot]Angle frame brackets fabbed and installed, trailer hitch fabbed and welded in, and the whole carrier finally painted and installed.[/FONT]














[FONT=&quot]Once again, what I thought was going to be a small project that would only take an afternoon, turned out to be a several days project. Since the body was literally resting on the frame in several places, we decided that it would be a good idea to install new body mounts before mounting the new bumper. How hard could that be? 10 bolts, lift the body a few inches, slip in the new mounts, tighten the bolts, and, voila! All done![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yeah right! 6 of the 10 bolts broke, leaving the captive nuts inside the body channels. Oh well! We’re going to replace the floor in a year or two, so what’s the difference if I make a few access holes to put in some new nuts. Out came the trusty ol’ cut off saw and sparks began to fly! Probably should have used a can opener! The metal was so thin that I had to cut holes large enough to do an under body inspection from above, in order to get to fairly good metal to put in some patches.[/FONT]







[FONT=&quot]What was left of the body mounts made me shudder at the thought that I had been going down the road this way at 65mph, and the body didn’t just go airborne![/FONT]









[FONT=&quot]Pretty much every body mount point had to have the floor cut away and a patch put on after putting in some sort of captive nut for the mounting bolts.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We now have about a ¾” body lift! A new front floor is definitely in the not too distant future.


[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]We needed to put in some different seats. There was nothing wrong with the seats that were in the Jeep, but we could not access the back seat very well since the passenger seat would hit the Transfer Case shifters before it would get to full forward position. We found some really nice seats from an Eagle Talon on Craigslist for $40 that tilt forward, and also recline. So on to that project next![/FONT]

 

[007]

I was under the impression that if you didn't know about those problems, they couldn't hurt you....?


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[Petescj]

Dying to see the Talon seats and how they work out. I'm in the market for some comfy seats as well. And even though it took a little longer the bumper looks great.

 

[mtnwhlr]

 

[mriplaybass]

I was under the impression that if you didn't know about those problems, they couldn't hurt you....?


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Hopefully, that doesn't apply to things like brakes . I do agree though, often times ignorance is bliss! It also helps keep the blood pressure down!

 

[007]

Hopefully, that doesn't apply to things like brakes . I do agree though, often times ignorance is bliss! It also helps keep the blood pressure down!

Ha! Well I will say that your spare carrier / bumper is B@D@55... Love it!

If I had a tailgate that opened, I'd have you make me one just like it...

 

[mriplaybass]

[FONT=&quot]Before we tackled the seat project, we did some repair to the gas tank skid plate. The front support had rusted out, so we made a new one, welded it in, and painted it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]




[FONT=&quot]On to the seats![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]All that the seats themselves needed was a good cleaning and a little rust remediation followed by some paint.[/FONT]







[FONT=&quot]I made some pedestals that would adapt the seats to the CJ floor and we were on out way to some better seats.[/FONT]














[FONT=&quot]The down side of this project is that the floors really need to be replaced since the PO did a lot of patch work. The contours of the pedestals may not fit a new floor. Well, that is what shims are for! If the fit is too far off, we may have to make new pedestals at that time. But for now, the fit is great![/FONT]





[FONT=&quot]The covers from the old seats did not fit perfectly, but at least they provide some protection, and they look more like they belong in a black Jeep, instead of a beige Talon. It really is nice having seats that the backs tilt forward to access the back seat, and recline.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]After the last bolt was tightened and some final adjustments to our newly rebuilt carburetor were made, we were off on our first ride of the season. “Chip” ran great! It was in the upper 70s, so we went topless. Unfortunately, with no real off road trails around us, our drive was only on country roads. So we drove 2 towns over, and had dinner with our youngest son.[/FONT]

 

[mriplaybass]

[FONT=&quot]After last years Ouray trip, it became obvious that the PO had installed the wrong shocks in relation to the amount of lift on the Jeep. Our decision to do something about it was also fueled by BillD’s broken shock mount on the trails . I read a post by Busadave on how to determine shock length by disconnecting the shocks, and driving the Jeep into a culvert with opposite corners being compressed, and extended. No culverts that deep that are handy around here, so jacks and drive up ramps had to suffice. It was apparent that the shocks were bottoming out at full compression. I looked for shocks that had the appropriate travel, but found none. I know that the shock mounts from a Ford truck can be adapted to CJ use, but I never seem to be able to do things the easy way. Making our own really wasn’t difficult, and they are exactly what I wanted, and only cost about $6 each to make.[/FONT]





[FONT=&quot]I used a piece of 2x3 tube steel to do the mock up on the bench.[/FONT]















[FONT=&quot]With the new shock mounts and shocks in place, I turned to something I have been procrastinating over for over a year now. When we rebuilt the axles, I noticed that I could barely move the front knuckles. I managed to drill out the ball joints and install grease zerks, but even with heating the ball joints and forcing grease in, the ball joint flexibility was only marginal. So, new ball joints were next on the agenda.[/FONT]










[FONT=&quot]New joints in,[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]Back in business with considerably easier turning.[/FONT]