First Jeep build! Here we go...

Thanks for the pics posi. So its looking like a tower is just about the only way to go in the front. my ladies dad collected ALOT of stuff and just happens to have a pile of scrap steel at one of his houses so I will try to get me some tube and make me a tower. Would a flat peice of bout 3/16th plate welded to a peice of bent tube be suffficeient? I'll whip something up on micro paint to try and explain haha.

 

Here is a quick idea of what im thinkin. Single pipe with shock bolted to side of pipe.

 

Should work fine, and by making it yourself you can make it exactly the length you need. I would think 3/16" is plenty stout enough for the plate. I drilled and tapped my frame for the bolts. Not a lot of thread though. I used a fine thread tap. Self tapping (thread cutting) bolts work pretty well too.

 

right on, thanks. I figure once I get my other 2 shocks, I will take some measurments and go from there on the tower. I may also build me a bracket to be bolted to the spring plate as well like you did posi since I have to make a mount anyways. The toyota axle has a shock mount right were I need it but its spun the wrong direction. So i may just cut it off and weld it back on how i need it or make a bracket for the spring plate to bring the bottom of the shock up a little bit.

On another note...i need some advice on how to remove that dang ol steering wheel...factory one. I asked before and got pics but I can NOT for the life of me find that thread again to go back too. Any advice?

 

I never was able to get my old steering wheel off. And I tried. You might want to start a new thread regarding pulling the steering wheel. I'm sure plenty of others have done it with success.

 

alrighty,
sure will. On another note, I was able to get my rear shocks mounted today and am purdy happy with how it came out. Still have some welding to do on the back sides of the mounts but for the most part, its finished.

Started with a peice of 1.25" tube cut to length.

Then welded two 1/2" x 5" bolts to the tube after taking my measurments. (inserted bolts through pipe and welded front and rear.)



Then I cut a hole in the frame, slide the tube in place and welded it in.




took some 1.5 x 1.5 angle and made me up a couple lower shock mounts. They fit perfectly between my spring ubolts.



and here she is all welded in place and ready to go (minus the coat of flat black i sprayed on to keep it from being bare).







The last picture looks like the shocks are not sitting equal but they are. Its just the angle I took the picture which makes them look off. even with just those two on, I can grab the jeep and get her rocking and when i let go she makes one more rock then comes to a dead stop. Really glad how it turned out since i was a bit worried about putting the shock tops that close to the center of the jeep but it seems to work purdy good. More to come!

 

Got a little more work done on the jeep today. Cut down the front bumper and gave her a lil angle (will cap the ends later on) and finished up welding the bumper in place. Also got me a new hitch for my tow bar. Bar fell while my dad was takin the jeep for a spin one day (before build) and my strap broke and down she came at about 40 mph. Did quite a bit of damage to both the hitch and the jeep. Taking it to a buddy with a torch though, my dads buddy who originally built the tow bar welded every single exposed meeting place of the hitch and the bar so i figure a torch is the way to go.

 

I was thinking about how to hang my spare tire and such on the back of the jeep and really want to do somthing different then a swing out. While thinking about this, I got an idea when I went back through my thread and saw the pic with the tow bar in place. What if..and I mean WHAT IF.....I was to build somthing similar in the rear??? Channel bumper with a couple tabs and a "tow bar" minus the hitch, mounted in the center with the spare tire and whatever else i can stuff in it in the center?

 

You could do that. The big challenge is the latch. Especially if you are running a heavy tire.

 

Well i was thinking that if i build somthing like that, then i would latch it the same way as i will be latching my tow bar. Once in full upright position, I will be drilling an extra hole through the bar and the connecting tabs and insert a pin (the thick ones with the spring loaded hoop) that way it cant come down unless those are removed. Once in place, i wont be pulling it down that often since i dont often need to drop the tail gate. as for tire size, 35 is bought the biggest i will be going. Maybe a few more inches in the far far future but not soon.

 

Alrighty, well i got a little more time with the jeep today. Was wanting to build a new bumper for the rear but my funds just dont allow it at the time so i had to reuse my old tube bumper. Problem is, my buddy and i was using it as a RTI ramp and sort of tweaked it a bit. After some BFH whoopin, it was good to go. After i got the tubes re tightened, i added a small weld to the back of all the tubes to make sure they dont move. Just temporary. Also got my rear brake line hooked up and the ebrake setup on the axle. Need to do some bending and tweaking on the brake and ebrake lines to get them looking better and off of some stuff but as for now, its good.





also, I FINALLY got the old steering wheel off. Bearing puller was no good so i found a little bottle jack and did like i have seen here with the strap and POP!!! off she came. I did, however, forget how to install the grant wheel and dont think i did it right. No luck finding the instructions online...oh well.

 

Also, i got my hands on an old tow bar that a buddy of mine is going to let me have. this way i can get started on patching the holes in my tailgate, getting it mounted and work on the mounting for the rear towbar/spare tire carrier. Should be interesting!!!

 

Its 4:20am and I cant sleep...so after a while of playing with micro paint...I sketched up my idea of a rear tire carrier. What cha think?

 

I like that idea. Good luck!

 

Thanks, im hopin that i works out the way my mind has it worked out...but you never know till you try. Will try starting on it as soon as im done watchin my neice and nephew this afternoon.

 

had a chance to fab anything up yet?

 

No not yet. I was going to try saturday but got roped into watching my sisters kids all friggin day long. Im going to go over there tomorrow to pick up the hitch and go from there. I have been thinking about the mounts which i will weld to the bumper...will prob play with micro paint shop again and see what I come up with.

 

Ok, well another night of insomnia so i hopped on micro paint (yet again) and designed my rear carrier mounts. Sugject to change as usual...

 

You might want to re-think the location of the keeper pin. I would put it a lot higher up on the mount-----

The closer you have it to the pivot pin, the greater chance of one of them getting sheared off by the mount coming down due to the weight of the tire way up there. And if one of the pins doesnt shear off, then the mount could bend.

At the very least, use a larger bolt for the pivot, and maybe put a safety chain on it at the top.

 

:iagree: