67 Cj5 Passenger Grab Bar

I found a NOS black painted one on e-bay a few years ago. You could try searching there. I would also note - same as Donny - that my 66 Tux had no grab bar when I purchased it and there were no marks to indicate that one was ever installed. Good luck finding a reasonable chrome plating service. I spent several thousand for the chrome on my Tux - the place is no longer in business however due to California environmental regulations....

 

This is interesting to me… my Tux is a 1966, and it came with a chromed steel pax grab bar. Who knows if it’s original or not? The Jeep was more or less a disaster area when I bought it in 2008 (think matte black rattle can body with white grill - someone’s idea of “tuxedo” paint) - but 75% of the chromed tux items were there. I’ll probably just run this bar since it’s not terrible. Easy to remove and get it rechromed one day down the road.


One day I hope I’ll be able to afford doing my bumpers!

 

I see you have chrome tailgate hinges too! There were many new changes in 1966 for the Tuxedo Park Jeep. I believe you could have ordered your new Tux then with the option for chromed tailgate hinges.

 

actually I don’t. My tailgate hinges were body color…but I bought a lot of tux parts from a member on here for spare odds and ends that I was missing, and the hinges in the lot were chromed. Still have them on the shelf. I figured that since my Jeep will get dirty and scratched it’d be wise to just have the hinges body color.

 

I have taken chrome parts with moderate amount of surface rust and used a power buffing wheel on my bench grinder and some polish, worked really well. I usually started out using a soft wire brush wheel then switched to the polishing wheel. My grab bar was very bad, probably from the sweaty hands in hot weather. I was surprised how well it turned out.

 

Good idea, I’m going to try and polish my grab bar as best as I can.

I finish a lot of the the CNC maps I carve out of plywood with these nylon rotary brushes, do you use these or something else?

 

I actually started out with a soft wire brush of sorts on my bench grinder. I cannot remember where I got it, I have had it for years. I am sure you could probably find them maybe at a hardware store. The wire bristles (is that a word?) were much softer and more flexible but they are defiantly steel wire not brass or nylon. This brush would remove any rough rust/crud that you could feel with your hand. Then I changed to a cloth or fabric type of polishing wheel, the kind you can get for polishing stainless steel. I think I may have had used some jeweler's rouge with it and maybe some auto polish/wax to finish up. As I remember you had to go slow and not apply too much pressure against the brush or the cloth wheel if you did it would burn the chrome finish and that damage could not be removed. Slow and carefully Is the key. It has been a while and I may not remember all the details. Good luck.
BTW, those nylon brushes might work really well, just try them and see. I am thinking that a brush mounted on a bench grinder would work better so that you could use both hands when polishing the part, it would be easier to control the pressure you put on the part against the wheel. DO NOT FORGET IT WEAR YOUR SAFTY GLASSES AND SOME HEAVY GLOVES.

 

BTW, my grab bar was in a lot worse shape than the one in your picture, but it turned out great.

 

The grab bar pictured looks like it would come out pretty good with some chrome polish and a little hand elbow grease.

 

Yeah, especially with the price of a rechrome I could live with it if was not exactly perfect.

 

When I was a kid shining up my rusty chrome bicycle rims an old retired guy stopped by to watch me work and to chat. He said, "Let me get you some 4 OTT steel wool (0000). We will fix those up pretty quick." So that has been my go to for almost 60 years. Then some chrome polish will make that look pretty good.

 

Got both 0000 and Mother’s polish, will definitely give that a go!