xj-grin
NAXJA Member #1096
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
So after years of thinking about it, and a year of DD'ing the anticipated donor, and after seeing Prepmech actually execute it really well (see thread in Adventure Forum of ), I am finally on the road to my MJ off-road trailer. Yellaheep and I agreed on a trade - my barely running MJ for a bed with a tounge for me to work off of. We both agreed that problems and all, my MJ was just in too good of shape to go under the sawzall. While I own a welder and can weld, I wouldn't call myself a "welder", and big thanks to Yellaheep for his talents and equipment in getting the touge good and secure!eace::thumbup:
So, the tounge is made of 3x4x1/8 steel, with about 10 inches inserted into the MJ "frame, and rosette welded, with a couple of grade 8 bolts with crush sleeves for good measure
Then we stared at it for while an cogitated, and agreed to take a 30 degree "pie slice" out of the inside of both rails. This way we could bend both sides into the center for an a-frame effect, while leaving the outer portion of the tubing uncut. We didn't use any jigs, but did a bit of plumb-bobbing and eye-measuring, and either through luck, skill or both, we appear to have a damn-near perfectly centered tounge... Yella then welded the "pie slices back over the bent and welded peices for added strength
Once the bends were done, they were attached at the front with a nifty sleeve that Yella came up with, allowing the welding to be in multiple planes -- once it is road worthy, it will have a really cool 360 degree movement hitch from a Pennsylvania company called Lock 'n Roll (more on that to follow), and will also be able to accept a pintle lunette in case someone else needs to pull it...
Then a cross-brace was added, which not only strengthened the structure, but made a great place for the center-mounted trailer jack
That's the tounge build in a nutshell
:guitar:
So, the tounge is made of 3x4x1/8 steel, with about 10 inches inserted into the MJ "frame, and rosette welded, with a couple of grade 8 bolts with crush sleeves for good measure
Then we stared at it for while an cogitated, and agreed to take a 30 degree "pie slice" out of the inside of both rails. This way we could bend both sides into the center for an a-frame effect, while leaving the outer portion of the tubing uncut. We didn't use any jigs, but did a bit of plumb-bobbing and eye-measuring, and either through luck, skill or both, we appear to have a damn-near perfectly centered tounge... Yella then welded the "pie slices back over the bent and welded peices for added strength
Once the bends were done, they were attached at the front with a nifty sleeve that Yella came up with, allowing the welding to be in multiple planes -- once it is road worthy, it will have a really cool 360 degree movement hitch from a Pennsylvania company called Lock 'n Roll (more on that to follow), and will also be able to accept a pintle lunette in case someone else needs to pull it...
Then a cross-brace was added, which not only strengthened the structure, but made a great place for the center-mounted trailer jack
That's the tounge build in a nutshell
:guitar: