oops my bad, i did get you confused. Thats what I get for never being on CF anymore

carry on, nothing to see here

 

 

Nice Zach lol

Anything new on the jeep, Joe?

 

Oh Hai ! I R back.



It's been a complete whirlwind here and I'm not still unable to put together a lot of consecutive work sessions. My TJ rear long arm project turned out very well ... the front will be done this fall. And then I may try to market as a long arm upgrade. Any TJ guys here too? Also working on house projects, sick family member (her father), and trying to take in as much business as I can. Not really leaving me a lot of time .....



I have been taking pictures along the way whenever I do work ... so I'm finally ready to resume with some posts & progress reports.



I will space the posts out a little bit so that I'm able to do a little more work and keep a steady flow again. Of course ... customers have first priority and my truck will just have to sit and wait until I'm free.



Thanks for everyone's patience.

 

As everyone already knows ... I had to strip the bedliner & POR 15 out. Below are a few pics of the process and the end result.


This time around I went with Picklex just like I mentioned earlier in the thread. This was followed by 2 coats of Zero Rust. After the Zero Rust cured, I applied two coats of Tractor Paint (Massey Ferguson Grey). I used an activator/hardener to improve the durability of the paint.



Stripped down AGAIN !

















Some sections were shiny enough that I could about see my reflection.






And a few quick shots of the bay & trans tunnel painted up.














A tiny bit lighter than I would have liked. But not a big deal. I'm planning some some semi-traditional undercoating at this point, so chip prone areas will be protected and the rest can just sit there and look pretty.

 

And of course .... my luck ever increases.



Removed the rear spring mounts (the front ones). And I get to see this....




















Driver side was so thin ... it poked thru with a gentle poke. Passenger side is still solid, it just looks like hell.


This Jeep is going to drive me to drink !!

 

Had a Tech Support day (with some NAXJA guys) a while back and everyone pitched in to help. Unfortunately ... I had to take a few steps backwards to undo some of the help that was given to me. A weak spring in the transmission was letting the trans slip into reverse without using the shifter gates. After taking the transmission out and disassembling it ... a new spring and extra poppet ball hold reverse firmly in place and gives it a little extra snap. The 2nd poppet ball is smaller than the OE one, so the increased pressure is not as great as you might think.



Vetteboy was one of the folks who came over to help in the Tech day. He cut out side plates (following a pre-made template) so that I could continue boxing in the frame rail. Also visible is the patch I made for the rotted out metal behind the front spring mount. The light grey paint is the Zinc Primer that I've been using.















Another friend of mine (Jim K.) was the man who made the side & lower templates (out of cereal box) for me some time prior to the tech day. I do not remember who cut these out for me.








Like all other welding .... these are perimter & plug welded to ensure stiffness and maximum rigidity. By tying 2 sides together (outside & bottom) the structure is stiffer than a simple outside plate.


Still no substitute for a real frame.

 

wow i´m loving this man

 

poppet ball? i think thats the thing that i need for my ax15... except i need the little caps that go over them... or over the spring anyways... ball, spring, then the cap... my ax15 jy find is missing one of the caps to hols tension on the spring and dodge keeps sending one thats too big... sucks... not sure where im gonna find one anymore... lol

 

Got alot of the shift keys & 3/4 inner hub for my AX-5 rebuild in my YJ from a company called Transparts out in California. They had everything in stock, knew their stuff and had a good deal on shipping.

Absolutely terrific build btw, you're doing everything I wish I could get done.

Subscribed.

 

My last post was showing the start of the remainder of the stiffer work to be done.




Pass side stiffener connecting main frame piece to coil spring mount (tying into the seat bracket)








Showing the underside plate where the coil spring mount bolts. Welded up and ground smooth.













The area right in front of the leaf spring mount presented a minor time waste. Mainly because the frame rail transitions from a "boatsided" corner to a regular "sharp" corner. I had to make a transition piece to effectively bridge between the two shapes and make it look half decent.










Completed photos of the offending corners (both sides) ....













At this point here ... the outside of the frame rail has been plated from the rear crossmember all the way foward to the front crossmember. With the exception of a small area by the original front LCA mount .... the entire bottom of my frame rail has also been beefed up. The only spot remaining is the already mentioned patch where the LCA used to sit.

That will be in next post .....

 

Just sat and read the entire thing in one sitting that is amazing work.

 

WOW!! I am lovin the fab work on your XJ. Cant wait to see what you do next!! And if you're ever in the mood to give away your Jeep, I am totally open lol

 

Forget it, it's mine.

 

Well damn!! Guess i'll just have to keep messing with mine