ArmyGuy

Rear floor welding started today. 1/8 plate rear strip with 14 gauge floor for the rest.

Cutting spot weld holes with the plasma is 100 times easier than with the drill.



Spot welded the crap out of it




Getting there.....

ArmyGuy

JCR rear cut and fold bumper arrived, primered and ready for monstaliner (later on). Also did the rear fenders, but we are welding a piece in to make the cut flush with the floor, rather than the "cut and fold" method.



Used a cut off wheel to get better cut. The plasma has its uses, but sometimes a cutoff is better for stuff like this.

justin92xj

this thing is sick man. keep up the good work.

ArmyGuy

Ok, more of the back floor is in, just about done with the rear cargo area now.



had to cut a few patches, dryer pieces bent to fit work good!



Going to stitch the overlap from the bottom later.



Overall, got some good progress in today.

ArmyGuy

Traded in my mustang I bought new in 2008 for a new f-150. Making things a hell of a lot easier to haul stuff for jeep and garage projects around. That and my two kids aren't mustang friendly.

Love the truck so far, first one for me. I will let the wife have it though once the jeep is done. Moving forward now that the cargo area is complete. Hopefully the trans tunnel can be salvaged, if not, it is getting boxed in. Frame sliders/rocker replacements from HubFab should be here next week, so expect a write up on those once I find time for them. Plan on trying to tie them in to my 3/16 floor sections that are connected to my rusty's leaf spring hanger brackets. I will know more once I see the rocker's and think about how I will do it.

Future

i like where this is going.

ArmyGuy

FYI..... putting chassis saver down early was a mistake....I am burning most of it off, and had to grind a good portion of it off to avoid contaminating welds. Put it on at the end and don't get ahead of yourself. Inside the frame rail is all fine and good, but it sucks having this stuff burn or grind it off. If you do this, hit it with weld through self etching if you are worried about flash rusting, and chassis save later.

ArmyGuy

With the new baby I decided to take a break over most of the winter with the jeep. Got my garage insulated and the heat all hooked up, so that was nice. I started working at it again here and there with what little free time I have left.

So almost the entire interior floor is gone, only the top of the trans tunnel and certain spots on the down slope from the rear passenger area will remain. I really wish I would have had the plasma when I started, because it took me about a quarter of the time to cut what was left out.







I have a to cut out the rest of the area over the driver's side passenger frame rail, but it won't take long with the plasma. Now to prep the top of the frame rail for welding and chassis save the inside of the rails. 3/16 plate will go over the spring hangers, and tie into the massive brackets I have on there from Rusty's. I plan on running a 2x2 frame of some kind to act as a mounting point for the rear seats and to double as a crossmember of sorts. Progress is being made again!

Found some cool stuff that might be a cheaper alternative to lizard skin, figured I would give it a try when I put down master series on the floor. It is
http://www.hytechsales.com/ it is cheap so why not.

ArmyGuy

So before the floors go in, we have to repair the inner rockers. I bought some 3 1/2 inch 1/8 flat and some angle. I am plating the inner rocker with the 1/8 to repair some rust spots I cut out, and also to strengthen the inner rocker. The angle will weld to that and give my 14 gauge floors something substantial to weld to. It also solves my problem of trying to bend 14 gauge steel into a lip without a bender, the angle will take care of that. Starting with the worst side first, you can see the holes.

bad inner rocker



cleaned up and weld through primed





Tacking everything in tomorrow morning (in a few hours) my back is killing me from grinding and cutting stuff at weird angles.

ArmyGuy

Went back and cleaned up the lower rocker lip, as if looking from underneath. Want to make sure I have at least 1 inch of clean metal with no undercoating for the when the 1/8 flat gets stitched up. Cut the piece and test fitted it...



The rocker isn't the same width across....in some spots, 3 1/2 width is perfect, in others, it sticks up a little. Not worried about it because I can cut it out with the plasma, but if you don't have access or want to deal with that, use 3 inch and you won't have any problems.

Bottom View



You can see here how I cleaned up a good distance away from the flat on the underside of the rocker, don't want to have any weld contamination.

Cut out some spot weld holes with the plasma, might do more or make them bigger depending on a second opinion from my welding pro buddy.



Weld through primed and ready to go....



Switched over to the opposite rail, since I finally reached clean metal under the passenger side, and there is no more floor removal to be done there. Ground down the top of the rail lip, weld through primed and put a few coats of master series down in the frame rail to prevent future rust.

Top lip not weld through primed yet....



everything all done, it looks like all the same paint, but it isn't



the good metal finally hit up front, weld throughed and ready .







Now to do the same thing to the driver rail. Getting close at last.

ArmyGuy

I would have had my 2x6 rocker kit from HUDFAB, but I never got my rockers despite numerous emails about it (and me paying for them). So take that as you will. I will take that as a sign and just wait, but eventually I would like to do 2x6 rockers, but mine are actually solid. The only reason my inners are messed up is because of the hack floor job the P.O. did. The 1/8 inner should help that in the future too, I plan on copying madxjs build if I do it. Right now, I just need to focus on getting this thing on the road.

ArmyGuy

On the fence about doing 2X6 or some other box tube rocker. My rockers aren't rusted out....yet. I have a feeling, based on the rot on the inner rocker by the driver's side that there is rust lurking inside of the rocker. At this point I am not afraid to cut stuff and weld as you can tell. I am also thinking about putting a cage in it from D&C.
If I do it, is it recommended that I run the entire length, cut the pinch seam and all? My inner rocker is going to be strong as hell with the 1/8 plate and the angle all tied into the frame rails (you will see that in the next couple of weeks). I could tie it in really well based on some of the ideas I got floating around in my head. Opinions welcome!

ArmyGuy

Other inner rocker cleaned up.





Granted, I will end up cutting some out when I do the 2x6 rockers, at least around the pinch seam anyways.

Looking for ways to tie into the framerail without coming in from the bottom. That way I would have better clearance. Might not be worth the hassle though.

Thought about running a few 2x2s from the framerail, then cut a little "window" through the inner rocker (the old one and the new plated part) weld the inner to the 2x2 then the 2x2 to the 2x6 rocker. I will have to mock it up once I get the parts to see if it is possible. I figure 3 of these runners will tie in nicely and make the entire rocker assembly very strong. I can also weld my floors to it too. Even if I just follow this build for the rockers... http://www.jeepkings.ca/forums/showt...er-replacement

I would have to angle 2x2 from the looks of it, based on his writeup. But if I could connect that 2x2 to the angle iron "shelf" that the 2x6 sits on, that would be great. Check out his picture.

http://www.jeepkings.ca/forums/image...010/04/236.jpg
Another way I could tie it in would be to use a unequal length angle, have the angle welded to the inner rocker on the outside be a little higher, then run a few grade 8 bolts through everything.
I will know more when I cut into the rocker, things always are different when you actually do them.

ArmyGuy

Picked up the steel for the 2x5 bumper install. They were out of 3/16 2x6, so I went with 2x5. They gave me the remaining 10 foot left over section from the stock cut for free, so I can't complain. They had 1/4 inch, but that is way to much for what I need, hell this probably is.

2x 2x5 3/16 inch 72 inch tube

1/8 flat 1 inch wide, 2x6 footers.

alread have the 2x2 angle at the house for the shelf, picked up some 1x1 angle for mics stuff.

2x2 tube for the frame kickers and the seat mounts 2 10 footers I think.

Tonight after work I am going to start cutting the rockers out.

2008infantry

So who's the air force cat helping u out?