Norcal69's Common Sense Build.

Ok, I will see if I have the correct reamer on hand and re drill the hole in the pittman arm. If I don't have the reamer then I will move the box forward. You are right about modifying steering components and attorneys, but if you get down to it just having larger than stock tires, different than stock steering boxes ect... these jeeps are sitting ducks.

 

Check it out and see what you think.........and Yes there are allot of these mods that I see that would scare me!

Your doing a Nice Job , Keep up the good work!

 

After much research I think that a stock yj manual steering pittman arm might be just what I need. It is about 1" shorter than my current arm and looks to have about 1" of drop. Now I just need to get my hands on one to really measure it.

 

Your sector shaft OD & spline count from whatever it came out of versus a YJ still may give you fits as the later arms are keyed differently...........Save yourself some time and call Parts Mike, not there first Rodeo!

 

Ill give him a call.

 

That looks like a white German Shepard. I use to have one a few years ago. Best dog ever.

 

Shaggy,
Tahoe is a white GSD, She is a great guard dog, and great with both adults and kids. I wouldn't have any dog other than a well bred GSD!
I think that I have my steering issues worked out. The YJ manual steering pitman arm is installed. This is my first experience with solid axle front ends. I have plenty of experience with typical independent front suspension. The YJ arm was shorter so it moved my drag link away from the tie rod, and also lowered it down so that it is just a little higher than the tie rod. If I'm correct, since the jeep doesn't have much suspension dive during hard braking it should keep bump steer to a minimum. Even with the shorter ctc on the pitman arm, I can still get full turning radius on the front tires.The pics show it best.

 

Made a new battery hold down over the weekend. I put 4 coats of plastidip on it to keep it from sparking if it hit the terminals. I still have to cut the hold down bolts off.
My super 18 speedometer output leak was driving me crazy, here is my first attempt at solving it. I put the adapter in the lathe and squared the face, then took a small amount of material off to make up for the thickness of the rubber once it crushes. I found the rubber washer at the hardware store in the fastener section and used right stuff to hold it on. Hopefully this will help contain the oil.

 

I finally got around to painting my drivers side rocker that I replaced when I installed the floor pans. I found a couple more rusty spots on the drivers side that I cut out and repaired as well. Every thing came out great, a little too great , so I decided that I should just repaint the whole thing.





I started stripping the paint off of the rear of the tub when I came to this:


Definitely not impressed with the P.O.'s repairs. I cut it out and welded in a new patch, as well as a new body mount.



Next up was the gas fill recess. The jeep came with a hole cut in the fender for who knows what, it looked like a good spot for the filler.





While working on the rear of the jeep, I found the factory rear cross member to be complete crap. Really I shouldn't have been surprised. I decided to fab up a new rear cross member and hitch. I had some 4" channel laying around and along with some other odds and ends we now have some serious support in the rear.







I know that the two bolts in the middle are off center, they will never be seen once the license plate is installed. The previous owner had installed a piece of 2"x 5/16" flat bar that wraps around the back in between the frame rails as seen here



This might have been the only good thing that he ever did. I sandwiched the frame in between the flat bar and rear x member brackets, the two non centered bolts attached the new x member to his flat bar as well.

 

I used the same pitman arm on my conversion, so far no problems.

 

Finally got ALL of the rust out of the jeep! and its painted too! I ended up welding two patch panels on the passenger side and one in the rear, as well as new rear corner body mounts. Sprayed epoxy primer Thursday night, blocked it Friday afternoon, then one more epoxy,base and clear Friday night. Came out pretty good for a non booth job. It would have been much easier to have just sprayed the whole thing at once, the blend on the drivers side came out pretty good. You can't tell its blended in the sun, in the shade at the right angle, its noticeable.

Right after Final clear coat.




Un masking today. Stuck the taillights on just for fun.

 

It looks nice, only 2 patches? I think I put at least 10 on my 3B. Enjoy it.

 

Started prepping my front clip for paint. At some point my RF fender was replaced with a newer turn signal fender. My Drivers fender is original without a turn signal. The PO filled the passenger side indent with filler....

I will be welding up the holes, and making a steel filler piece to fill in the turn signal location. I cant believe that the bondo held it self in the hole.

 

What degree is the cut on either end of the bumper? I'm looking to do the same, but I estimated it out to 52 degrees but that was a ball park figure.

 

Honestly, I have no idea what the angle was, I just matched the factory rear cross member on the drivers side, then duplicated it on the passenger side. My passenger side was rusted off.

My marker light filler is getting closer, I will be filling in the round hole before I go further. I'm feeling like cheating on this one and just making the filler piece recessed about a 1/32"-1/16" and then just skimming the area with filler. Far less precision metal work will need to be done that way.

 

Looks good. What's the color?

 

Thank you,
The color is Empire Blue.

 

We are finally back on the road!


All ready to pick up the female of choice and head to the Kool April nights car show. I just noticed how dirty the bikini top was. Should have washed it...

 

The jeep is still down due to transfer case issues, but I did manage to get my rock sliders/ steps completed. They are made out of 1/4" aluminum on the tubing that the angle. Here is a teaser shot of how they are gonna turn out. They will probably end up with at least 8 bolts on each side holding them on. I wish that they didnt stick out so far, but it makes it easier to use as a step. They match my aluminum front and rear bumpers perfect!

 

It's your Jeep, do what you want. I beileve it was on the expedition portal site I replied that I've been driving my 3B for 24 years and never had the body hit anything other than trees. Yeah, the springs, axles and rear crossmember and a time or 2 my PTO got a scrape or 3. It's about being a smart driver. I do have a ding on an exhaust pipe from Holy Cross City. Sometimes it's just better to sit and wait, have a sandwitch.
A few years back we were up above Lyons CO. we got to a section of trail that was all boulders, I said no, the other 2 Jeeps had front and rear Elockers, the end of the trail was closed anyway, we all turned around there. It wasn't tucking our tails under and running, just protecting our vehicles for another day.