Fiberglass tub with steel hood/fenders

hey all...

if youve been tracking my "New Shop' thread in builds, then you know that my OEM tub is terminally ill.

so... i have decided to go with a fiberglass tub... is it possible to use the original fenders and hood with a fiberglass tub?

i cant find anywhere whether or not all of the mounting holes are the same for the hinges and fenders and such... but i figure a 76 CJ5 is a 76 CJ5 inasmuch as fender and hood mounting holes are concerned...

anyone else used steel and fiberglass together?

any problems?

as always, thanks!

 

You may find the tub does not come predrilled for the hood hinges, may have inserts (nutserts) for the fenders. Best plan would be to contact the seller and find out. I would plan on a reinforcing strip for the fender area as I have seen them pulled out due to flexing. A 'glassed in nutsert will never hold as well as a bolt and fender washers to spread the load out. Mock it all up on the frame before you drill your holes as you may find some differences.

 

if your jeep is a 72-75 its a bit different than the 76- but up in your info it shows that you have a 76, most 'glass tubs for a 5 I found were of this variety. it took me a good while to find an intermediate 72-75 tub for mine. I use all the original stell fenders and hood no problem, my problem is with the body to frame areas, the middle is slightly high on mine so I had to fab 4 spacers there, and there is no area to mount the front edge of the tub to that factory set of mounts, again I fabbed a pair of brackets and they do fine. also you will lose the pass side "toolbox" and so your seat setup will have to be modified, mine did. other than these few things my 'glass' conversion went well. I would say if your is a 76 your options are greater, check out AJs fiberglass, they sent me lots of info when I was shopping around.

 

i have steel hood new steel fenders and a 76+ fiberglass body on my 73. No issues yet , i used 1/4-20 bolts with fender washers on the inside of the tub. I probably have 1k miles 5hrs of HARD offroading on it with no issues.