Subd

 

I like the mild boatsides idea.

 

Okay, I negotiated a price for the boatside steel today and will go pick it up shortly. I went back through many threads regarding boatsides last night.

I am considering taking about 2 inches from the bottom of the door. This would basically allow me to lay the 2by on the current rocker. I would need to relocate the bottom door hinges (I have a four door) as well as move the speaker wiring if I keep it. The speaker grill would be untouched and there would be nearly two inches of door still below the chine or bend. From what I have read the window will still be operational. Most of the good XJ details I got from Starboard M's build over on another board.

Eventually I'll have large axles, tires and gears and probably wont need all of the armor... But for this winter I'll be using the stock drivetrain and I would like to be able to enjoy the snow with my oldest son. It will be his turn to pull ME out for a change.

With today's purchase I should be able to replace the rocker, floor pan and have a good start on the boat side armor.

I'll draw a line on a picture with Paint showing where I am planning to cut.

 

Okay the plan is to cut at the red line.

[IMG][/IMG]

 

That should be fine. Are you going to be tying them into frame plating?

 

Sub'd! Looks like your build plan has some potential. I'd land the boat sides just below the lower door hinges.

 

Yes, I am going to plate the frame with 3x3 3/16. I would have preferred getting the ruffstuff kit but the shipping would have been as much as the kit. I have a list of small things to do first including pulling the tank. But the plating is top priority. My son is moving from the island next week so I am trying to get the heavy pieces with his pickup before he leaves.

I am picking up a 2x12 piece which I am going to rip with an offset of then plate it back to the frame adding ribs for strength.

 

Thanks, I am not breaking any new ground just copying and stealing everything.

I'll look at it again. Not moving the hinge would probably save a weekend of tweaking. Although, I have a couple of months before it snows here. I really want to have it on the road December through March.

Maybe by March I can pickup a JD2... that would be sweet.

We have a TJ for getting to work during the cold season but it would be fun to go play in it a little. It will be very mild play as it is open front and back.

-Tom

 

I’m back from a trip down through Canada to Seattle and then over to Montana in my son’s pickup. The long trip made me realize how important comfortable seats are on long trips as well as tires and shocks and general road handling. It also made me realize that driving down to the Rubicon or even an Off-road Park somewhere in the lower 48 is a big commitment of vacation time. The ferry ride to Canada was six hours and the drive was beautiful but LONG to get back down to the USA through British Columbia.

I’m going to tackle the rust and general bodywork and think about what I want the XJ to be when it is ‘done’. 31 or 33 inch tires are back on the table for consideration as is a more Expedition style build. The difference in cost of doing a Superior Axle and gear package for the D30/8.25 versus the D60/14b is enormous. I am on an island with roads that go about 13 miles in three directions from town. We get lots of rain with snow and ice in the winter. Our trails consist of a few logging roads when they aren’t barricaded and some dirt roads.

Perhaps this will be Project Mall Crawl...

 

Lol Youre killin me. Build it big.

 

lol, that is exactly what my oldest son said. I need to quit thinking about it and just see what happens.

Thanks

 

I have my XJ in the garage AND my son got a nice paying job so wants to do his swap. This means that I'll take his Dana 44 and 9" from his Bronco. I prefer them to the D60/14 bolt simply because I won't have to have such large tires.

So, first order of business is pulling the fuel tank. That is probably all I will get done this weekend as I may be going in to work.

Once the tank is pulled I will take pics of the chassis reinforcement going in.

 

Cool. Get to work.

 

After MANY months of ignoring the XJ I am finally back on it. There is rust everywhere there was carpet. The back gutter that runs across the top of the hatch was full of leaves so the back carpet was soaked and so there will be quite a large patch across the back as well as both driver and passenger floorboards. I still have to figure out what caused the water up front. I remember reading a thread on it so I'll search that out. Moral of the story don't leave your junk parked under trees.

It has been cold and wet and since it isn't going to get warm this summer I am going to just man up and play in a dark damp garage.

I kept the D60/14 bolt but rather than think about the money needed to get those in I am going to do the things that I can right now.

I'm going to take the doors off either later today or tomorrow evening.

 

I've got three of the doors off. It's pretty close to some shelves on the driver side and I will have to move one of the units to get the last door off. I am going to take LowRange's advice and cut just below the door hinge for the boat side.




Now that I am back working on it I may remove the axles and suspension before I reinforce the rails. I'm using the D60/14 bolt so it is go big.

I read the One-link thread - love it

3 Doors down