So.... I got a little carried away with the grinder.





I cut the doors to move the rockers up as high as possible. I also cut the front fenders back quite a bit. You can see the sharpie line on the rear fender where I plan to cut it.


I did not want to fold the front fender to bolt it down to the 2x6 tube. I plan to weld a tab on the 2x6 to bolt the fender to.


Rather than notch the 2x6 for the bump in the body just forward of the door, I cut a window out. Keep in mind the piece is being supported by a jack, those gaps will be closed up when I clamp it in place.


The rear wheel well. I plan to cut the fenders above the flared out chunk and plate them in 1/8". The front bottom edge of the wheel well will meet up with the 2x6.


This is an older picture. I built these rock sliders back about 7 or 8 years ago when I built the jeep. I cut them off the frame, cut the straight piece of pipe off, and welded the bent piece to the 2x6 square tube.

 

I started this thread at the request of XJlimitedx99, so am starting in the middle. I have the passenger doors cut, welded, and ground smooth. The driver's doors are cut and fit. Both rockers are made up. The passenger rocker panel is cut out and in process of fitting up the 2x6 rocker. I modified the hinges on all four doors to easily lift off. I have manual locks and windows with no speakers in the doors - no wires to disconnect. Makes it very easy to pull the doors for modification and working on the body, highly recommend anyone doing these rockers make that mod to the door hinges too. Let me know if anyone wants pictures of anything specific. I'll post up as I make more progress.

I got a lot of inspiration from XJlimitedx99's 2x6 Rockers, and also Baddad's 2x6 (+1") Rockers.

 

Well, that is all looking pretty familiar lol. Good stuff. I'll be interested to see how you end up bracing it all.

 

Made some more progress this morning. The passenger side is installed, to include mounting the fender and modifying the rear quarter. From here, I will roll over to the driver's side and get it to this point.





Here's that 'window' I cut to push the 2x6 in, rather than notching the 2x6. Was a little gappy on the front and top. You'll notice the weld bead is rather wide in those areas. I keep 1/4" round stock under my weld table for just such gaps. Cut a chunk, stick it in, bury it in weld.




Here's a couple pictures to show how I stretched the inner wheel well to weld it to the rear quarter. The most aggravating part was filling those slices with weld.


I stopped the rear quarter modification where I did because I plan to plate the rear quarters in 1/8" and stretch the rear wheel openings. I'll do that this winter, want to get this thing back out on the trail.

 

Got some more done this afternoon. Rough cut the driver's rocker out and pulled the carpet. Looks like I'll be putting in a driver's side floor pan and a couple patches.

 

Got some more work done on the jeep yesterday. Things escalated quickly. Driver's side frame stiffener is welded in, went with Barnes. Driver's side rocker is welded in. Driver's side stiffeners are welded in. Driver's side floor pan is cut out where rotten.


Driver's side rocker tacked in.

There was quite a bit of rot in the floor. I decided to remove the section of floor pan between the rocker and frame rail. I will leave this section of floor out because I plan to put 3/16 plate on the bottom of the stiffeners to the frame rails. I am doing it this way for two reasons - weight and surface preservation. That area of sheet metal deleted is sound 5-10 lbs per side. If I put sheet metal in, then there will be an inaccessible void that can not be properly painted.

Driver's front two stiffeners from below. I cut the stiffeners out of the same 2x6 square tube the rockers are cut from. I was able to pick up a 16' drop of 2x6 for close to the same price as the 10.5' I needed for the rockers. 3/16 plate will be welded to the underside of the stiffeners, so no need to fill in the bottom of the tubing. I figure this saves a few pounds without compromising strength.

I spaced the rear most stiffener off of the leaf spring mount intentionally. I left just enough room to sneak a mig welder in there. I plan to four link the rear and do not want to deal with carving the leaf spring mounts out later.

Driver's front two stiffeners from above. I will weld the tops of the stiffeners to the frame rail, then fit sheet metal to fill hole from trans tunnel to frame rail. The vertical inner face of the rocker will be folded under and stitch welded to the 2x6 rocker.

Driver's rear two stiffeners from above.

 

****ing badass

 

Thanks! I just got back in town, have been in Japan for the last six weeks for work.

I am going to try to get this project wrapped up in the next couple weeks, if the heat will calm down some. I am jet lagged, figured I'd go out there now (12:30 at night) and started sweating like a pig.

 

Made some more progress this morning at about 1AM, damn jet lag. Finished cutting out the rotten sheet metal in the driver's side floor pan, pulled the center console, parking brake lever and associated cables, and swapped out the TC shifter linkage. Couldn't think of a better time to change the TC shifter linkage, was wicked easy to swap out standing outside the jeep and reaching in through the top side. The picture doesn't show the rot around the chassis side linkage bracket, but the topside is severely corroded. It would have been a nuisance to weld a patch panel to that pitted metal.

 

I'm done with the fab work as of this afternoon. Didn't bother to take pictures of the driver's side boat side, was just rinse and repeat of the passenger side. I did take a picture of the floor pan patch though, as that was a nuisance to fit up. I'm definitely not a sheet metal guy. I did weld out the patch panel 100% after this pic was taken. Next step is to sand blast everything, prime, seam seal, second coat of primer, and Monstaliner the floor pans. I'll paint the bottom side, rub rails, and jams black to make touch ups easy.

 

I am out of town again for work. Got in a hurry finishing the jeep up before I left town again and forgot to take pictures. I ran 3/16 plate between the frame rails and the rockers, along the bottom of the stiffeners. I welded the plate 100% to the rails, rockers, and stiffeners. I then sand blasted, epoxy primed, and monstaliner'd the pans and underside. I'll add some pictures of the final product in October, when I get home from this job.

 

Got busy living life when I was home in October. Took the jeep to Uwharrie, did some camping and wheeling with the family. Took the jeep to the Outer Banks to play in the sand, with the jeep and with the kids. I'm in Japan now for work. Will be doing a long arm conversion on the jeep when I get home in December. Will try to remember to get some pics of the completed boat sides to wrap this thread up.

 

Looking forward to it

 

Finally remembered to take some pictures of the finished product. It's still full of sand from our beach trip. The astute observer will also notice the front suspension is missing, I've started my next project.

 

Came out killer. Nice work. Thanks for taking the time to post up. Hopefully it'll inspire others to cut their junk up lol. Looking forward to seeing what you do as the priorities of the rig stray further away from innocence.