Rebuilding An Old High School Friend!

A couple of interesting discoveries this evening after work after I removed the PTO winch from the frame.

The first was the rather ugly looking mount. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Knowing some of the things we drug around with this winch when I was growing up, I am shocked it just didn't go flying off at some point Hard to believe this conglomeration of angle iron and sloppy welds held up!



My second discovery was even more shocking.





This is the passenger side spring shackle mount. Doesn't look like there is much holding it on… Luckily I watched my Dad fix cracked frames several times, and even did a couple myself, growing up. Looks like I'm going to get dust off all those old skills.

 

That is a very common site for cracks like that. You might want to take a good look at all the spring mount locations. Have fun with it.

 

As John mentioned above , a common spot for the spring hanger which is taking all of the vertical force to work harden the frame in that area and eventually brake it........Yours is pretty bad but can still be saved like this, Unhook the springs so your not fighting the tension and V out the cracks while gently massaging the parts back into place to weld......weld them up grind off whats needed and then add a brace that ties the top and bottom rail together. Problem solved.......some folks would also just box the area , I like this approach as it spreads the load out evenly across the frame rail.

V and weld the crack up



Take a piece of 2x3 or 2x4 rectangular tube and cut one leg off........cut a weep hole in it so moisture can get out and then weld it in place directly above the hanger between the rails.

 

I was planning to box the frame anyway, but Yep, that's the plan… I'll cut out the cracks, weld them up and probably fish-plate the repair if its cracked as bad as it looks. Looking at it, it looks like its cracked on the outside edge as well so there really isn't much holding it on. Ironically the other three look just fine. This one must have taken the beating on their behalf as well.

 

A Bad shock or no shock at all in that corner would do it...........I would do all the area's where the spring hangers are........good for another 50 years!

 

I had the same issues with my spring mount areas

 

Prepped the patient for surgery last night… Used my dremel and a cut off wheel to cut out all the cracks. When possible, I try to cut the crack out from both sides so I can ensure good repair.









Now I just need to square it up and burn it back together. I'm starting 10 days of leave today to focus on our construction project… siding, paint, grading, drywall, etc… the list goes on and on. But if I can get the siding and painting done so we can return the lift we're renting then maybe I can reward myself with a day off so I can dedicate an entire day to the jeep. We'll see, the weather will have to cooperate more than a little.

 

Well as usual our construction project did not go exactly smooth despite the fact that the weather largely cooperated with us, but I did finally get some time to finish that repair. Here it is after I welded it all back together.



I sprayed it with a rust conversion paint. It has a very high zinc content so it acts a lot like weldable primer and is very easy to strike an arc through. I then added a little 1/8th inch strap to the bottom as a fish plate to reinforce the area.



To finish it off I boxed the entire area.



Now I just need to box the drivers side so I can get cracking on my new winch mount

 

Keep on keeping on. My 3B is still one of my favorite vehicles.

 

I just stumbled across your thread. I'm starting a swap using a '87 LG3 from a Park Avenue. The last of the 90 degree motors with sequential injection and roller cam.
I found a metric pattern bell housing from an early s10 that doesn't have the transmission bolt pattern twist. It also has linkage type throwout fork that pokes out pretty much at the same palace as the jeep. It uses a push forward rather then a pull backwards to release the clutch. I figured I could add a fulcrum where the jeep normally has it and use a jeep fork. That bell housing has it's fulcrum is on the passengers side.

Were you going to leave the throttle body pointing backwards?

 

I haven't entirely decided whether I am going to spin the intake manifold around or not. It is a mirror image design, so it is completely reversible. Currently I am waiting until I start positioning the drivetrain in the jeep to decide one way or the other. It is largely going to hinge on what is going to be easier. After hours of study and contemplation... (sitting and staring at the engine) I have worked out the following: If I leave the manifold on "backwards" I only have a couple of small challenges, namely plumbing for the intake and upper radiator hose and whatever clearancing the firewall requires. If I spin it around I will have to rework the accessory drive and deal with the overall length of the throttle body itself as it will stick out quite a bit and may be an issue with the radiator.

So I've been thinking a lot about it and have decided to put off official judgement until I have it sitting between the frame wells with the tub in place so I can get a better idea exactly how much work is going to be involved with each option and which will look the cleanest.

I look forward to reading about your swap!

 

Well over the last few evenings I've been able to finish up boxing the frame horns and my winch mount (of course it didn't hurt that I got off early from work yesterday so I was able to spend all afternoon on it ).

After boxing the drivers side I spent a little time with my tubing bender and this is what I came up with. The tubing is quarter inch wall, 1 inch tubing I had left over from making my tie rods and the rest of the bits are all 3/16... it should hold. I sat the winch just a little bit lower that it was originally.







I love my PTO winch!!

 

Not much to report. Our construction project has been monopolizing most of my free time of late. My 9 year old son told me yesterday that he "kind of likes building our own house and kind of doesn't like it." When I as why, he said he likes "knowing whats hiding in the walls but is kind of tired of working all the time on it". I told him I feel exactly the same way...

I have managed to slowly redo the rear crossmember/bumper. I'll admit much of the damage to the original was mine from when I was in high school. I wanted to make it more of a proper bumper but still maintain the draw bar and pintle hitch for work around the farm, so I basically made a replacement out of 3/16" channel.





I may go bend up some bumperette-esque bars with some of the extra 1" .250 wall tubing I have laying around to function as steps. We'll see. For now I think it about time to set the tub back on the frame and fit the drive train.

 

Any progress is better than none. Bumper looks great.

 

Thanks! As they say, slow and steady wins the race... but that may only apply to turtles.

 

I looks a lot like what I did on my 3B. I did a bumper as well. Out of channel and I went for a reciever set up. I haven't used it yet as I need to do some wiring and I, and others, love a PTO winch, But I am still happy with my old Warn M6000 on the Commando.

 

Very little to report over the last SEVERAL weeks Our construction project and work have been sapping the majority of my time and energy. But I did go ahead and add a set of bumberette style bars to the rear bumper and got the tub set back on the frame. Now I just need to buck down and start chipping away at it everyday after work. As it is starts to cool off a little, maybe I'll have more energy when I get home from work of an evening now that my garage and drive way don't feel like the surface of the sun.

At any rate here are a couple of pictures of the bars I added to the rear bumper. They make a pretty good step.





Next step fitting the drive train!!

 

Moving slowly toward fitting the drive train. Rralphs had asked if I was going to leave the intake manifold pointing backwards or turn it around and I have officially decided to leave it the way it is. If I reversed the intake I would have to rework all the accessory drive brackets as the throttle body would be sitting right about where the alternator is. The throttle body was also going to interfere with the radiator it looked like, even if I went with one off of a Camaro that angles off to the drivers side.



By leaving the intake facing to the rear all I have to worry about is clearancing a pocket for the throttle body plumbing and plumb the upper radiator hose to the rear of the intake. So I picked up a 90 degree cobra head elbow from intakehoses.com to transition from the throttle body to whatever plumbing I devise.



Right now I have the drive train sitting between the frame rails and I am fine tuning it's position. Trying to center it as much as possible, keep it nice and low for a lower center of gravity and make sure I have adequate clearance for everything. Currently with the front pulley/harmonic balancer about where the old F-head's was front to back, it looks like I'm going to gain about 3 inches for my rear drive shaft

With any luck, I'll continue to fine tune the location this week and maybe even get some motor mounts burned of an evening.

 

Between the wench and new motor, are you not worried about the frame being able to handle the additional load? Our frames are pretty flimsy . . .