fiberglass body

does anyone know the body mounting bushing factory sizes (hieght) and does a fiberglass body reduce the selling price thanks

 

No help on the mount dimensions, but a glass body may or may not reduce the value. If you are comparing to an original pristine steel body example, yes.


If you are comparing to a patched, rusted example, no. It will likely be worth notably more with the glass in this case. Personally, I have absolutely no problems with glass bodies on a runner. You will hear some objections in that everything needs a ground wire, but I do that anyway. Just good practice.

 

i CAN'T HELP WITH THE MOUNTS, BUT THE VALUE OF A GLASS BODIED JEEP ALSO DEPENDS ON THE QUALITY OF THE BODY ITSELF,,, i USED A 4WH GLASS BODY (IN THE LATE '90'S) AND IT IS VERY GOOD QUALITY,,,,

 

Misstype,,, should have typed 4 WD hardware glass body

 

I bought the f-glass body from a buddy. The mount consisted of a 2ft length of material. I cut the length as needed. I started out by mounting the grill to give me a starting point. I then laid on the hood. If you want I could crawl under and measure them up. I did use the original mounts as a guide but it seemed to be too thin. I hope you saved the old body to use as template to cut the holes for the pedals

 

I'm in the process of mocking mine up now. I currently cut one inch blocks of wood to rest the body on the mounts. I want the body to sit as close to stock hieght as possible. I had to cut a notch in the body for the pintle hook mount and I removed the block of wood glassed into the body which supports the rear floor pan. This allowed the body to drop low enough to achieve a quarter inch reveal at the rear crossmember. If I left that brace intact I would have needed two inches for the body to clear the frame. I'm using a 4 WD tub. I also need one inch at the grill mount to tweek my reveals at the hood and fenders. I'm still not happy with it and will be tweaking more this weekend. I want to get the grill down to a half inch mount, mainly for fan to shroud clearance.

 

I found a set of instructions for a fiberglass body install that said to cut the first 4 mounts (second and third body mount bracket sets on the frame) to 2" and bolt the body on. It said to then cut the other lengths to fit the rest of the mounts. I also found out that a lot of fiberglass bodies have a 1" body lift built in. I have seen quite a few installed with premade 3" body lift pucks giving it a 2" lift over stock. It really did not look good that way. I am going to get mine as close to 2" as I can (I swapped in a TF999 auto so I may not be able to clear at 2").

 

get the rubber mounts in a tube from 4wd hardware the metal chop saw cuts em mint do it outside and wear a mask n glasses clean the saw before cutting metal(ask me how i know that stuff burns nice)

 

I used regular poly mounts and either stacked them or used fender washers as spacers.

 

If done right, I like a 'glass tub. No rust. It's what I've got. Besides, if I cut it up, it's not like I cut a real CJ6 tub......

 

Hum for myself maybe i don't have the best quality body but the body mount use to work a lot on the floor (i can see floor going up and down while off-roading). I'll need to fab myself a sub frame that will go between the body and the mount....

 

That was my original thought. Build a subframe out of 1x1 or 1.5x1.5 square tubing. Use rubber between the subframe and frameto stop vibration transmissions. Maybe use a thin piece of rubber between the subframe and the tub. Make the whole mounts from the frame to the bottom of the tub someplace between 2-3 inches. Close to stock.

Or make a plate to sit at the top of each mount right under the tub. make the plat out of 1/4" material and something like a 6x6?

I don't like the thought of all the weight of the tub sitting on just a little bit of body mount material like the metal tubs.....

 

I just picked up a used 4WD glass tub. The coring in the floors are rotted, but I have been laying glass for 10 years so it's a lot easier for me to rebuild this tub than try to fix my rotten original 57 tub (no floor at all). One long weekend should do it. I have to say, after rebuilding the glass in a couple of offshore boats, this glass quality and workmanship is not up to marine standards LOL. I am really excited about having a glass tub as I HATE RUST and live on the Gulf Coast.

I have a ways to go before I am fitting it up on the frame...so you guys keep dishin out the info!

BTW> do the 4WD tubs have any body lift build into them?

 

I have a 4WD hardware tub of unknown vintage - but definitely somewhat older, possibly from the 80s or early 90s by the condition of the paint. rcassettyjr is dead on of what I found works for this particular tub. Any less than 2" on the front mounts, and the bellhousing was in contact w/ the tub. 2" gives about 1" of clearance there, which IMHO should be fine. I used 2" on the 2nd/3rd pair (this tub doesn't use the first pair of mounts - the ones parallel to the firewall) and then I ended up at 1.25" on the two rear mounts above the rear axle. I also made sure the body was parallel to the frame.

So I suggest roughing it in with maybe some unform size spacers of some sort (I used some body lift pucks from my TJ but a cut up 2x4 would work fine too) and a bag of washers. Get the first pair where you need them for bellhousing/tub space, then put enough in the rear to get a slight interference fit. Finally use a degree wheel to fine tune the rear mount (I ended up adding a bit more). This will will take all the guesswork out of it. I'd also suggest putting 4x4" steel plates between the tub and the mounts to distribute the load on the fiberglass a bit. You'll probably notice your tub has reliefs by the mounts that are a larger square or rectangular shape so just cut to that general shape. 1/8 or 3/16 steel should be plenty thick for those. You could even run that steel forward of the tub and hook it up the front mounts if you really wanted/needed to use them. I'm goign to try not using them but frankly I wonder if the tub will flex a lot when I press the clutch since there's no support there.

The construction of my 4wd tub seems reasonable. Its reinforced where you'd expect it to be although some corners in the mid/rear section seem thin on material. My tub is also really wavy compared to sheet metal tubs. I've been spending a LOT of time blocking it and applying filler to get everything smooth for paint.

 

I tore into my old & well used 4WD tub today. The front floors need replacing from seperation and core rot. The tub floors consist of an interior panel that is a bit less than 1/8" thick. The coring is 3/8" thick balsa wood and the bottom chopper gun spray is paper thin. The rear floor appears to be made the same way. There are a couple of glass encapsulated 4"x6"x 1/2" blocks where it mounted to the frame...I think these were pine.

Everything flooring in the tub is seperated and rotten, but it's not really a bad job replacing the floors with thicker, stronger and better materials. Finished the trans tunnel top and the driver's side in one Saturday. The side wall coring is syrofoam, I believe and it seems fine.

Considering that this a jeep tub and not a boat, the quality is pretty good. Mine one is 100% chopper gun construction which is certainly not the best way to lay glass, but if done properly can be plenty strong. The exterior of the side wall(s) is 1/8" thick and in good condition. The gelcoat looks to have been done right and the resin/mekp mix during construction was correct (based on the flexibilty and gelcoat condition).

There is a steel plate glasses into the fire wall for the brake and clutch pedals, but it still flexes and I will reinforce this area with some aluminum plate. I think the fire wall flexing is a by-product of the thin glass used throughout the fire wall, not really an issue at the stell plate reinforced area. The entire fire wall appears to be flexing when pressure is applied at the pedal area.(more glass is going in strategic areas of the fire wall) The section of the front floor panel that is designed at a 45 degree angle is too thin. More glass there would stiffen the pedal area and reduce flex.

It may be a chopper gun lay up, but it's done correctly. I have repaired and rebuilt a few boats from various manufactures, for the most part these tubs are built as well as most high production boat hulls (except for my Bertram hull). These tubs are very repairable.

I like the tub! Should be able to make it a lot stronger and more rot resistant without too much trouble.

BTW> In case you guys are not aware, polyester fiberglass resin permiates water...soaks right through it over time, and balsa coring rots. The moral is keep the glass tubs covered, don't let water stand in them for extended periods. Make sure the drains remain clear. Because they are fiberglass does not make them rot proof!

 

Mine was in the same shape but I have no idea who made my tub. DSPO's had drilled lots of holes into the floor and water had gotten into the core (mine was plywood) and rotted it and the glass had separated where it was supposed to be stuck to the wood. I pulled the bottom layer of chopped glass off, removed the wood, replaced it with 3/4 PT plywood and used woven glass and sheet chopped glass to cover it all back up. It's really stiffened it up.

Thanks for the tip on the fiberglass not being waterproof. I never knew that. On the outside, does the gel coat keep the water out?

 

No.
Gelcoat is the same polyester resin with wax and other additives. The primary function of the gelcoat is to provide a smooth finish, add color and block the UVs. Resins breakdown fast under UVs without a top coat. Gelcoat, paint, etc.

Water has to be against the glass for a long time before it gets all the way through. This is what causes the blisters on boat bottoms that are left in the water without a barrier coat. The worst thing is water sitting inside the floors of a boat, jeep, whatever. If it sits there long enough, some of it will make it's way to the core...ESPECIALLY a chopper gun laminate, which has micro pin holes (like our tubs).

Epoxy resins don't pass water and modern vinylester resins don't pass water either. Only the older or cheaper polyester resins. Most well made modern boats are laid with the exterior coat being vinylester and the following internal layer made of polyester (to save $$).

I did the same repair you did, only in reverse. I removed the top layer of floor (because it was warped and fonky) and the rotted balsa, mixed an epoxy putty, troweled it to the original bottom layer and laid down a piece of cured 3/4" pressure treated plywood. Capped it with epoxy putty and laid a piece of 1/8" pre-fabricated polyester pull-truded sheet. it's flat and solid as a rock now. When I flip it over I will add 20oz cloth over the original chopper gun laminate, to seal it....one more side to go! Then I will flip it over and do the bed area.