First Jeep build! Here we go...

Well go my camera back today, so here are a few pics of the SLOW progress I have been making.
Here she is with the rear axle finally ripped out of there.

Got the housing ready for the 3rd member to be dropped back in.

Here is the finished 3rd member. It was too dark to take pics while I was installing the locker, but in the other picture you can see the driver meshed with the side gear.


Rear axle all put back together.


This should give you a better idea of how the springs will be outboarded.


Will be hitting her purdy hard in a few hours to try and finish whacking the mounts off of the frame, drop the fuel tank and finish taking the old gear box bracket off. I need to pull the grill out to get the last bolt out. More pics to come so stay tuned!

 

Looks like things are moving forward quite well.
While you are fixing things, please secure the front tow hooks better. They scare me.

 

Thanks and yes...they scare me also. The PO had bolted the front one in, then the back one (closest to grill) he could only get the nut about 1/4 of the way up so he just welded the bottom of it to the cross member. I will be changing it and removing those awful rusty nuts that was used as spacers. My dad bought this jeep first from the PO and it was told to have been a "frame off rebuild". All he did was undercoat it, paint over rust, jerry rig just about everything on the thing and then glop buger welds all over EVERYTHING! He even welded the gas tank skid to the rear bumper......ya.

 

Has anyone built their own sort of fuel tank skid? Not quite liking the thin metal one considering my new tank is poly and I plan to wheel her alot and dont trust that thin metal cover to protect my tank from a nice jagged rock.

 

Old gear box removed.

PO thought this was a good way to mount tow hooks.....

He also put these fat welds all over everything.....


Shackle mounts welded with the no name 110 welder. Above pictures are after I re-welded them with a lincoln sp-170 arc and flap disked them semi smooth.

 

Well ran into a small set back today. While a buddy was cutting a spring mount off of my frame, he got a small opening going so I hoped in there with a hammer and a mini pry bar, beat the bar into the opening so I could put pressure and bend it downward while he continued cutting. Little did I know that the gap I was beating into....was now a hole going through the bottom of my frame...he took a 2x6 peice off the bottom of my frame. Sooooooo I was wondering if I should use some angle iron and plate it from the inside of the frame and patch it that way or run the angle on the outside of the frame with the bottom "L" facing the inside? I forgot to take a picture but I will tomorrow and post so you know what im talking about. Not too happy bought it either. Also, Thompology came by to get some stuff and was saying how somebody told him that a wagoneer steering box will bolt right to my old manual gear box bracket???? Has anyone done this to confirm? If so that would be awsome.

 

Didn't know I had one, but here is a picture right before I realized my frame was being scalped.

Also decided to take a picture of my old spring mount versus the new spring mount.

Will try and get more work in during the week if people leave me alone long enough to actually do somthing on it.

 

True, true I did make an appearance at the build site. It is looking pretty sweet and I think his plan is going to work out to make a pretty sweet rig!
'74renegade on this site had stopped by my place earlier that day and he was the one who gave me the tip about the wagoneer steering box, since I too am in the market to change over to power.

Thanks again for the Confer goodies! Can't wait to bolt them up!

 

Are you getting all the suspension mounting parts locally??

I need to pick up a few pieces for my axle swap, and prefer to not mail order if I can find a local outlet.

Thanks.

 

No not locally. I went to Ruffstuffspecialties.com to get all my hangers and such. Everything I have gotten from them has been very beefy and thick and they are purdy reasonable on their prices. They even have axle swap kits, depending on what axles you will be using.

 

Thanks for the info-----Loomis is local enough for me----I like to have things in my hand before I buy them.

Appreciate your help.

 

I have done this swap. I ended up with a power box and pump from a '79 Cherokee Chief. The box bolted right up to the manual steering box mount on the CJ. For reasons I don't remember right now, only 3 of the 4 bolt holes lined up. Maybe there is only 3 to begin with. The pump is a direct bolt up to a 304 using a bracket from a 360.

The only problem I encountered was the input splines on the power box from the Cherokee. I hope I can remember correctly. CJ power box splines are different than all other AMC vehicles. Therefore I modified the bell coupler at the end of the steering shaft. Simply by cutting off the splines and welding on the splines from the Cherokee. Now I know that welding on the hardened steel bell coupler is probably not recommended, but it has lasted with no problems for 14 years and numerous trips through the Rubicon and every other Sierra Nevada trail.

The only part I bought new was the pressure line that was specific to a '74 CJ. The low pressure return line I made using marine fuel line.

I hope this helps.

As far as I know this only works for the intermediates.

 

Ya that helps me out alot, thanks. And your right about there only being 3 bolts on the CJ manual steering box. I beleive both of the wagoneers in the local wreckers are early 80's so I am hoping that they will be the same. I am also going to take my coupler up by the firewall that connects the steering column to the shaft itself and see if the wagoneers steering shaft will slid into the coupler. If it does, i will just grab the hole steering assembly minus the column itself. Thanks alot.

Mike S: I also prefer to buy things in person, however at the time I started buying stuff I just figured that if it aint the right one, i can just send it back to get the correct one. So far I have order quite a bit from there and have no complaints. Are you swapping axles or just redoing all your mounts?

 

Hey, no problem. At the time I thought about adapting the Wagoneer shaft but I don't remember the reason I went the other way. Maybe welding the coupler seemed easier at the time. The early 80's wagoneers should be the same. Good luck!

 

I used couplers and joints from Flaming River. I'm not crazy about the idea of relying on a butt-weld in the steering system. Might not be too bad if it lets go on the trail, but what about bombing down the road at 50 mph?










Not saying anything about your welding, it just wouldn't be my 1st choice of ways to go. Brakes and steering need to be bullet-proof IMHO.

 

Doing an axle swap, one of the axles I bought has a spring over setup, and I need to get mount pads for putting the springs back under.

 

I agree with you, I wasn't crazy about the idea either. And I wouldn't necessarily recommend someone else go the same route. Just because my welds held, doesn't mean others will. As my bell coupler is wearing on the shaft, not as tight as it once was, I know it will need to be replaced sooner rather than later, and I am exploring other options that don't require my welding skills.

 

Flaming River and Borgeson (?) both have u-joints and couplers for just about any combination of steering parts. They're not inexpensive, but they are stout.

 

Thanks, I'll check them out.

 

I'll have to check them out also. If I can find a coupler that adapters my steering column shaft to the wagoneer shaft then I will go that way.

Not much to update on since I have had time to work on the 5 or its been 110 degress outside. I did, however, order me a new welder. My delema was that I had no way to get a big welder over to burn in my spring mounts. The guy who is building my rock sliders said that he would do it for me when I bring my jeep in, but I do NOT feel comfortable tack welding my chassi to my spring mounts then towing it 40 minutes away through nasty unmaintained roads....aint gonna happen. So I ordered me a Clarke 180EN 220V mig welder from ebay. Not a great welder by anymeans, but it was purdy darn cheap for a 220 mig and will do the job just fine to burn those mounts in. Will be doing some more cutting on her today and will post more pictures of progress plus the nevada sized hole in my frame now.