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I already dealt with the drivers side. By the time I was done I had plated from the lower CA mount to about 6" past the cross member, and I did it without a metal brake, just some 10 gauge plate, MAP gas, a blacksmith's vice, and a BFH. It took a lot of trial and error to get the the piece to fit right. Once I had the general shape right I could fit it in my coffee can forge and get the whole piece cherry red before beating it into its final shape.
This is how the DS looked before I started cleaning it up
No after pictures, but it passed safety, and I left my patch work bare so they could see what I did.
My floor pans were nowhere as bad as yours, probably less than 30 square inches between the front and cargo area.
Originally Posted by salad
I feel your pain, man.
Spring 2014 I found this while I was underneath hitting the grease zerks:
After ripping up the carpet and beginning floor removal:
What follows may shock and horrify you. This is basically all the metal that remains after a few minutes with a wire brush on my angle grinder. The welded nuts and associated layered sheet metal came off with a screwdriver.
That's the driver's side under my feet. Of special note is the construction of the frame rail up front. The 'inside' is actually sort of a C channel, that's where the brake & fuel lines sit in. Like this:
In my case areas that looked like they just had surface rust were actually rotten right through. You MIGHT be able to KINDA plate it, but, that stuff was only 16ga from the factory. I hope you're really good with a brake and can weld super thin steel.
Reassembled my dash, minus the factory clock I retrofitted last year, going to use the space for aux switches. Replaced the light socket that crumbled when I took the HVAC controls out, cleaned up a little, etc.
Of course a tank strap never fails, till you fill the tank.
Prepared and installed a set of stainless fuel tank straps for the ZJ (Did same on the XJ and Intrepid last year).
Strips, 3/8 rounds, zip cut, vice, BFH, welder, drill, elbow grease,and gumption.
Of course a tank strap never fails, till you fill the tank.
Prepared and installed a set of stainless fuel tank straps for the ZJ (Did same on the XJ and Intrepid last year).
Strips, 3/8 rounds, zip cut, vice, BFH, welder, drill, elbow grease,and gumption.
Of course a tank strap never fails, till you fill the tank.
Prepared and installed a set of stainless fuel tank straps for the ZJ (Did same on the XJ and Intrepid last year).
Strips, 3/8 rounds, zip cut, vice, BFH, welder, drill, elbow grease,and gumption.
Busted my virgin 98 classics off road cherry today. Owned it about a month. Put a 4.5 inch zone lift and a couple of other parts not included with the kit on it . Got a new set of 32x11.5x15 Maxxis Bighorns on my factory wheels yesterday. Was not to hard on her but hit a few decent mud holes, climbed a couple of moderately steep hills, and crossed some ruts in addition to riding about 40 miles over rough appalachian logging roads. Suspension performs better than expected on road. As good as I could ask for offroad, and the tires performed superbly. The only issue I encountered was some minor scrubbing on the control arms which will be easily remedied by switching to some wheels with a little offset. Wanted to avoid cutting fenders and looks like I won't have to.
Mileage dropped from about 18 to about 16 but that is counting the off road time. Speedometer off by 8 mph at highway speeds. I am really impressed with how quiet the bighorns are. Im talking no roaring at all. Hopefully that doesn't change as they wear. Going to give her a little more power through exhaust and intake work next. Jeep looks bad *** as well. All around an awesome weekend. I couldn't be more pleased when it comes to bang for my buck.
