What did you do to or with your CJ today?

[johnnyreb]

Used it to tow home a broke down 2000 cavalier.

 

[Hedgehog]

A couple weeks ago I did a minor body lift on the '75 to allow the front mount to fit properly. All went well except the body mount that is behind the seat on the frame. The "shelf" or seam isn't in good shape. That seam area is a perfect place for salt, sand, mud, ice and in the end rust to take control. A very rotten piece was removed on both sides and new metal welded in place, then a piece of angle iron was welded to both the new metal and the original metal to make a new shelf seam for the body mount to sit on. All in all it went well, the Jeep is much stronger in that area than it was before. At least that is what I'm saying and I'll continue to stick to that story.

If I ever do a body off restoration I'm going to completely remove the stock seam/shelf/lip and weld in a nice solid angle iron leaving NO seam/shelf/lip to catch junk that makes for serious rot, with tabs for the body mounts.

 

[johnnyreb]

I hear you there. I need a new tub for mine. everytime I drive it I get more floor day light

 

[Hedgehog]

I fought it for a long time but the very best thing I've gotten in years is my Linclon MIG welder. I'm running flux core wire feed, Gas would be cleaner, but for weldinig body panels its a system that is hard to beat. So I'm sayin, get a small MIG and some floor pans and fix her up. All the pieces are available, like they say in the commercials, "Just Do It."

 

[johnnyreb]

already have the mig welder hedgehog. Lucky for me dad's a welder and even owned his own body shop. I watched him torch weld the rocker panel onto my 1993 dodge truck. my welding... no so good.

 

[Hedgehog]

I sure wish I had the MIG Welder sooner. The first thing I did when the Jeep hit my driveway was cut the wheel well notch. Given that all I had was a tombstone Lincoln welder and little in the way of skill it turned out acceptably. But now that I have the tools my assessment of the notch work is jaded. Not really in the work, but in the amount of rust damage I could have fixed. So, I'm going back and fixing rusted areas as I find them. Tap tap with the hammer, find the rust, cut it out and weld in a patch. I can't do the quality work you find with a frame off job. It is simply impossible to get to some of the rusty seams. Don't get me wrong, this Jeep is in pretty good shape for a ~40 year old vehicle. Some rust repair here, some repair there, mostly in the transition from the seat well to the bed right in front of the rear wheel. Actually it's great fun, especially when I can see improvement in my welding. The welds aren't pretty, but they clean up nicely and have proven to be stronger than the metal around them.

 

[Hedgehog]

Patches in pictures:

This started with a necessary fix, the passenger side body mount was in bad shape and needs attention. The picture is ugly, the MIG machine spatters a lot, but cleans up with the wire wheel. Unfortunately I can't get to the weld area with the wire wheel so it's a strong weld with ugliness all around:




The drivers side seemed in better shape, but fooled me. the first thing that need to happen was a fix in the seating area to bed transition. This is obviously a hot bed for rust. Asking the impossible please ignore the area around the center square repair.



The center mount repair. Again it's not beautiful, but strong. Several layers of welds are obvious. I can't get in there to make it as pretty as possible though:



This repair made it obvious that my original notch repair was less than "good enough". It was necessary to dive into an unexpected patching frenzy. Shown are several patches. The notch needed fixing, then the seat belt reinforcing needed some work. The seat belt reinforcing was inundated with rust. it got new washers that looked UGLY, then the UGLY was covered with a 16 ga. patch. The rust in there was sealed away hopefully never to be seen again. I haven't drilled the new seat belt hole yet:



Admittedly there is some repair to the notch seams as well. I wish I'd had the MIG welder during the notch creation.

 

[Hedgehog]

It isn't pretty, but the total picture before paint:



The welds were cleaned up a little with a 60 grit flap wheel. Granted for a professional welder it isn't a pretty picture, but the repair is STRONG. It is MUCH better than it was before the "repair".

I keep looking at the passenger side, I know it needs similar repair, at the very least the seat belt area needs attention. I'm sure, very soon, you will be seeing that patch as well

 

[MadCJ95]

Found a factory tach, dash clock and a power steering pump at a yard sale down the street! The clock probably needs a bit of work, but for $5 I can't really complain!
I'll wait to install them when I rewire the whole Jeep come spring.

 

[jpeck71]

Since we had nice weather, adjusted the timing and the carb mixture. Took it for a drive and I think I may have fixed the occasional backfire.

Also waiting on the oil pressure gauge to come in.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[biggwrench]

test fit replacement fenders (aftermarket), after mounting them I sat back and marveled at the amount of body work required for new metal.
awesome???

 

[Hedgehog]

I stole an idea I saw on a post from WSS. His Jeep had a cover over where the inside the cab gas tank would be in an older Jeep. I really liked the idea of having under seat storage without the hassle of the seat legs. So out came the seat in went a bunch of work making a frame work and fitting a 12 ga sheet of metal. Worked GREAT, modifying my existing seat bracket didn't work out nearly as well. Back to the drawing board for that. Here's a picture:







Now there's a nice place for ropes, tool boxes, BIG guns, ammunition, a nice soft bankie' ........ Love this modification, thanks WSS for the idea.

........ ALSO, yesterday I added the blunted corner to my wheel notch. You can see it in the passenger side picture. The welds aren't good. I was following the horrible job I did with the stick welder, lots of weld contamination. It ain't pretty but it works better than it did before.

 

[IOPort51]

First time I have even started it since end of August. changed the tires, loose the swampers and put on the ATs for a quiet ride. added glycol to radiator and cleaned the air cleaner. Tomorrow I do some more on the wiper motor replacement.

It started right up and I can not get it to make the squalling noise it was making when I came back from Colorado. I hate it when things fix themselves, it very seldom works for the best.

 

[danray48]

Installed a new fuel line from the motor to the tank.

 

[spacejunkie]

bought replacement fender rubber for left front, new visors, and a light blue roll bar cover (still need the foam, though)
found a great source locally of a bunch of used and some new parts.
Bill in SLC

 

[johnnyreb]

Finally finished the last oversized washer for holding the intake/exhaust manifolds on. I think i'm finally ready for my 4.0 head swap.

 

[jpeck71]

Made my shopping list for the brakes and wheel bearing replacement for my front end.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[spacejunkie]

got the frames for a full canvas door from the picknpull. tried to get the 60/40 split front seat, but couldn't get it broke free. will try again.

 

[johnnyreb]

chisel and big hammer

 

[johnnyreb]

drove to dads and worked his f150. thought about what i want to do to it.