Making My CJ5 Into A CJ6/II

Gloves you say Posi......Remember the old proverb? "You can lead a Horse to water but Ya can't make him drink" That's my buddy Albert........I must have 20 pairs of gloves within a few feet, including arm & sleeve protection. I wear them along with eye protection when I'm cutting and I make him at the very least wear the eye protection when he is at the controls........

Speaking of cutting wheels I found these at Home Depot to be one of the best I have ever used.......5"x .040 thick and YES they are very thin but they do work well to make those fine deep cuts that's necessary to get one of these apart in a clean manner........although you do have to make a little spacer ( that's what the small aluminum ring is off to the right) that's needed to clamp them to a standard Mikata cutoff holder.........they hold up very well , never seen one explode yet and they are only about $4.00 each.





AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS HOW YOU TAKE ONE OF THESE CJ'S APART

THE LAYOUT MARKS IS THE TRUE CUT YOU HAVE TO MAKE TO GET IT TO FIT TO THE CJ-6 EXTENSION..........THIS IS WHERE I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT WILLYS APPARENTLY USED SOME FORM OF A LARGE DIE LIKE SHEAR TO CUT THIS EDGE OFF OF A STANDARD CJ-5 SIDE PANEL TO MAKE IT INTO A CJ-6 , THESE CUTS WERE ALSO DONE SOME HOW MANUALLY OR AT LEAST ABSENT OF A FIXTURE AS BOTH SIDES WERE NOT OF THE SAME DIMENSION.....I DID MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT IN MY PATTERNS SO BOTH SIDES WOULD BE THE SAME


AND HERE IS THE TWO REMNANT PIECES THAT WERE CUT OFF EACH SIDE. I DID LEAVE THESE CUTS ON THE PROUD SIDE BY ABOUT .125 +/-, SO THERE IS STILL SOME EXTRA MATERIAL LEFT ON THE BODY THAT WILL BE REMOVED AS I FIT THE CJ-6 EXTENSION UP TO MY OLD CJ-5......I WOULD RATHER CREEP UP ON IT THAN BE SHORT

 

Nice work Terry, am enjoying this thread...

Mike

 

Can't wait to see the "marriage". Looks like you are getting close.

 

awesome

 

this is all so very familiar

 

amazing work, keep the updates coming!

 

Back to the Build............Once apart we still had to clean up a few more spots as we try to make this all go back together again.






"MEASURE TWICE AND CUT ONCE"! ...WILL I MUST ADMIT I MEASURED MORE THAN TWICE , BUT AFTER MANY HOURS OF WORK AND A MULTITUDE OF FLAT MOLDING BARS NEEDED TO OPEN & SQUEEZE THE JOINTS & PANELS APART ALONG WITH A FINAL "GROAN" SHE GETS HER FIRST FITTING



WOW! SHE LOOKS PRETTY GOOD.........IT WILL STILL HAVE TO COME APART SEVERAL MORE TIMES TO TRIM & FIT EACH PANEL AND GET THE REVEALS ON ALL THE EDGES WHERE THEY NEED TO BE PRIOR TO WELDING IT ALL BACK TOGETHER AGAIN.............FROM THE FACTORY THE REVEALS WERE ANYTHING BUT PERFECT , BUT I WILL GET THESE CLOSE AND EYE PLEASING BUT I'LL ALSO LEAVE A LITTLE ROUGHNESS SO THAT IT STILL RESEMBLES THE FACTORY BUILT LOOK.

I'M SURE SOME ARE WONDERING ABOUT THE TOOLS USED ON THIS BUILD........HERE IS SOME BUT NOT ALL THAT WERE USED DAILY. I MUST ADMIT IT STRAINED MY CLAMP INVENTORY AND EVEN LED TO ME BUYING A FEW MORE LONG REACH TYPE CLAMPS AND EVEN BUILDING ONE. AT THE END OF EACH DAY WHAT WAS NOT BEING USED , I PICKED UP AND READIED MY LITTLE ARMY FOR ANOTHER DAYS BATTLE.

 

terry I used every clamp on my block
and for spacers ,I cut 2x4s to length and used a drywall screw though the body to make them secure ,,,then ratchet strap the whole mess together

 

Terry, I thought I Had a problem! mines not half as bad as yours. Repeat after me.....
HI my name is Terry....I'm addicted to tools!!

 

Hey Rob, Thanks for the Diagnosis! It's been a disease I've had for many years that my Doctor continues to treat but has yet to find any cure!...........It's really more of an accumulation of tools over the years........

 

I FIXED IT ...........
"It's really more of an accumulation of tools over the MANY,,,,,,,MANY....MANY ....YEARS."
....Rob,I think he might still have his box of rocks he used for tools too.

 

now that there is funny!!!!

 

Honestly Terry, I'm just jealous! I see all the tools in your pictures and can only dream of having them in my garage. I am lucky enough to have access to most of the tools i need, i just need to go to my Dads house. (now theirs a man with a disease!)

 

Put it together and take it apart.........Measure this and measure that. This is a long, long process.... Real time consuming as each step requires the complete disassembly of each component each time as you trim away. You work from the top to the bottom and front to back and then repeat yourself several times. Sometimes you even turn over the parts and work on the bottom side. every joint needs to be addressed......... as we get closer I use sheet metal screws to start holding each part in the exact position for reassembly. It doesn't look like much is being done but every , corner , lip , joint and piece of sheet metal is being trimmed & carefully fitted.
Once welding starts there is no turning back so you pay your dues right now in time to get the result you want later........










CLEANING ALL THE JOINTS NOW IS IMPORTANT TO PREPARE THEM FOR WELDING......CAN'T DO IT WHEN ITS TOGETHER SO EVERY AREA THAT GETS WELDED NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP PRIOR TO FINAL ASSEMBLY


GETTING CLOSE NOW..........JOINTS ARE STARTING TO LOOK GOOD.THE LITTLE 1/8" HOLES ARE WHERE THE SHEET METAL SCREWS GO. ONCE FINISHED I PLUG THE HOLES WITH A SPOT OF WELD.

 

Terry, That thing looks great!!!!

 

I'm jalous, it's the next step for my jeep too!!!

 

Yea, looking good. Very clean, patient work. Keep at 'er.

 

Here we go Again!............Opps ............just before I decided to try and build a CJ6 I cut the drivers side wheel tub to move it back for more room.......fortunately I'm kinda slow at finishing things. The Wrecked CJ6 body came up and the need to move the tub back was no longer needed........Now I have to weld it all back together.






THE FINAL FIT IS DONE.


LOOKS GOOD


SCREWING IT ALL BACK TOGETHER



NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.......STARTING TO WELD THIS BABY UP!





OFF THE FRAME JIG AND BACK ON THE ROTISSERIE

 

wow.
amazing as usual.
learning, thinking and planning some minor fixings using pieces of what you've shown here.

 

tarry99

looking at the photo of the clecos... this is going to seem like a dumb question... and it probably is...

did you weld in a backer strip before the 'top' of the panel you placed?

and as far as the long seam goes, will you be welding that completely or sealing it some other way?

I have clecos, and I LOVE them... but I don't think im using them right... I also weld the ENTIRE seam when I patch up... even in (what looks to be an overlay to a backer strip) like you have done...

it creates for a BOATLOAD of grinding

guess the old adage is true...

never weld more in the morning, than you are willing to grind in the evening

this is an unbelievable build by the way... I hope you have a constant goofy grin on your face!

mk