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50/50, 50% XJ and 50% Tube
- Thread starter FiFo
- Start date
Gojeep said:Nice progress and it is one beefy setup now.
Thanks, things have started to slow down now that where getting close to summer, but as you can tell by the fact that Tom has started welding things together the cage is almost done.
Ya, I have been accused of over-engineering things before. My philosophy is a hard role is no time to find out that you should have built it a little stronger. And doing things like using four supports per side instead of only two cost me what, an extra $10 and maybe an hour worth of my time?
zerobounds
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Houston, TX
awesome project!
Lukipela
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Fredrick MD
very nice
I know, I know, it’s been awhile since I posted any progress. The majority of the work in the last few weeks has consisted of Tom welding all the various pieces together, and I can only show welding pics so many times.
Anyways Toms started work on finishing up the rear, the major part of which was making a bracket to help tie the rear bumper into the body a little better.
As you can see, Tom cheated, he made a template!
And here we see Tom playing with fire, some how everything tom does involves fire.
While this was going on I finally finished the center “V” for the windshield. Or should I say I made two, since the first try was too wide on the bottom so a redid it. If you’re looking at the top little connector, scratching your head, and wondering what it is for, then be patient, all will be made clear.
Project 2 for the day was to finish the hand holds my wife requested. Like any smart husband whose wife often rides with him, I had my wife sit down in the rig and tell me exactly where she would like hand holds to be. With that information in hand I made up some, one going from the “A” pillar to the upper diagonal brace, and the other along the center. I didn’t like the idea of simply making a “U” that would connect to the same piece of tube on both ends, so I ran it from that little brace on the “V” to the upper center tube. This way it make a good hand hold, and while it probably doesn’t adds all that much, any structural rigidity it adds in a role is an added bonus.
With an area of the vehicle finally completed, and with my wife finally deciding on a color scheme I started prepping the vehicle for painting. Here I am doing some light sanding to remove a little bit of surface rust, and to prep it for primer. Tom can be seen in the background cutting yet more original sheet metal off the XJ in preparation for welding the original rear seat mounts to the new cage. Ya, I’m as amassed that he found more metal to cut off as you are.
With the sanding out of the way, my lovely wife turned her hand to priming. Note the brace between the two pieces of the front bumper that Tom made earlier.
And the rear primed and ready for paint, this section and the underbody are all that we where able to prime this weekend:
And of course, what update would be complete with out a picture of Tom welding, here he is completes the welding in the rear.
Anyways Toms started work on finishing up the rear, the major part of which was making a bracket to help tie the rear bumper into the body a little better.
As you can see, Tom cheated, he made a template!
And here we see Tom playing with fire, some how everything tom does involves fire.
While this was going on I finally finished the center “V” for the windshield. Or should I say I made two, since the first try was too wide on the bottom so a redid it. If you’re looking at the top little connector, scratching your head, and wondering what it is for, then be patient, all will be made clear.
Project 2 for the day was to finish the hand holds my wife requested. Like any smart husband whose wife often rides with him, I had my wife sit down in the rig and tell me exactly where she would like hand holds to be. With that information in hand I made up some, one going from the “A” pillar to the upper diagonal brace, and the other along the center. I didn’t like the idea of simply making a “U” that would connect to the same piece of tube on both ends, so I ran it from that little brace on the “V” to the upper center tube. This way it make a good hand hold, and while it probably doesn’t adds all that much, any structural rigidity it adds in a role is an added bonus.
With an area of the vehicle finally completed, and with my wife finally deciding on a color scheme I started prepping the vehicle for painting. Here I am doing some light sanding to remove a little bit of surface rust, and to prep it for primer. Tom can be seen in the background cutting yet more original sheet metal off the XJ in preparation for welding the original rear seat mounts to the new cage. Ya, I’m as amassed that he found more metal to cut off as you are.
With the sanding out of the way, my lovely wife turned her hand to priming. Note the brace between the two pieces of the front bumper that Tom made earlier.
And the rear primed and ready for paint, this section and the underbody are all that we where able to prime this weekend:
And of course, what update would be complete with out a picture of Tom welding, here he is completes the welding in the rear.
XJmania030
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Tucson AZ
This jeep has really come along way. I like the lines of the cage.
Progress at last!
Started the weekend with Tom finally finishing all the welding from the firewall back, welding the original sheet metal to the tube took a really long time, but this should be one stiff Cherokee.
Also the grab handles I made for my wife and I are now welded in, they came out fairly nice if I do say so myself.
While Tom was finishing up all that welding I started on a completely different project, turning an old camper frame into a flat bed car trailer, I might start a build up of that if anyone is interested, but my first priority is getting the Cherokee finished. Anyways here is what I am starting with, that’s Toms 24” trailer that he uses to tow his CJ and Pennies TJ that it’s sitting on.
Once Tom was finished with the welding behind the firewall he turned his hand to completing the glove box, every time someone stops by they ask if the glove box is going to function, and I always say yes. Well here is the fully functional glove box.
As you can see Tom cut the top off the glove box and bolted it to the dash, making room for the door to clear the Tube. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Also here is a close up of the rear spring hanger we made last week. I had a few requests for a better shot, so here it is. As you can see, it goes all the way around the original bracket, and ties in to the four original bumper mounting bolts. Also that bracket Tom made last week connects it to the upper and lower pieces of tube that compose the rear bumper. It’s wasn’t made yet when I took this picture, but we made a piece of 2” tube that runs horizontally from the plate, just in front of the spring bolt, to the piece of 2” tube you can see in this picture. Over all it’s pretty beefy!
With the welding out of the passenger compartment finally I began installing the seatbelts. First thing to do was reinstall the seats so that I could determine where the brackets for the shoulder straps needed to go, the belt straps are going back to the original mounting bolts on the floor.
Looks pretty good doesn’t it! Seeing it with all the seats in is a sight I haven’t seen in about four months! Here it is with the driver side seatbelt in place for mockup. Identical belts are going in the rear also.
While I was playing around with the seat belts Tom started working on the portion in front of the firewall. First thing to do was, you guessed it, more welding! I think he might be regretting agreeing to do all the welding for me. Anyways we bought some uni-body rail stiffeners from Aventeone (I think that’s his name on this board, correct me if I’m wrong.) during the swap meat a month or so ago. We had to cut a little off the back end to work with my application, but that was no bigy, here is a picture of the passenger side one with the welding job about half way finished.
Once I was finished with the seat belts I pulled out a rattle can and got to work priming everything behind the firewall. KarlVP was around working on his junk and lent a hand with the priming. It’s fairly easy to see who did what, if the primer is running, I did it, if it’s not KarlVP did it. See, simple.
If we can finish the front end, paint it, and put some Rhino-liner like stuff I got at Joe’s last week down on the floor by this weekend I will trailer it to Buck meadows next weekend and try it out. If not then I will cry in my soup, I want to go wheeling again so bad……
Oh, and here’s an idea what it would look like with a set of 36” IROKs. I think I need to start a new tire fund.
Started the weekend with Tom finally finishing all the welding from the firewall back, welding the original sheet metal to the tube took a really long time, but this should be one stiff Cherokee.
Also the grab handles I made for my wife and I are now welded in, they came out fairly nice if I do say so myself.
While Tom was finishing up all that welding I started on a completely different project, turning an old camper frame into a flat bed car trailer, I might start a build up of that if anyone is interested, but my first priority is getting the Cherokee finished. Anyways here is what I am starting with, that’s Toms 24” trailer that he uses to tow his CJ and Pennies TJ that it’s sitting on.
Once Tom was finished with the welding behind the firewall he turned his hand to completing the glove box, every time someone stops by they ask if the glove box is going to function, and I always say yes. Well here is the fully functional glove box.
As you can see Tom cut the top off the glove box and bolted it to the dash, making room for the door to clear the Tube. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Also here is a close up of the rear spring hanger we made last week. I had a few requests for a better shot, so here it is. As you can see, it goes all the way around the original bracket, and ties in to the four original bumper mounting bolts. Also that bracket Tom made last week connects it to the upper and lower pieces of tube that compose the rear bumper. It’s wasn’t made yet when I took this picture, but we made a piece of 2” tube that runs horizontally from the plate, just in front of the spring bolt, to the piece of 2” tube you can see in this picture. Over all it’s pretty beefy!
With the welding out of the passenger compartment finally I began installing the seatbelts. First thing to do was reinstall the seats so that I could determine where the brackets for the shoulder straps needed to go, the belt straps are going back to the original mounting bolts on the floor.
Looks pretty good doesn’t it! Seeing it with all the seats in is a sight I haven’t seen in about four months! Here it is with the driver side seatbelt in place for mockup. Identical belts are going in the rear also.
While I was playing around with the seat belts Tom started working on the portion in front of the firewall. First thing to do was, you guessed it, more welding! I think he might be regretting agreeing to do all the welding for me. Anyways we bought some uni-body rail stiffeners from Aventeone (I think that’s his name on this board, correct me if I’m wrong.) during the swap meat a month or so ago. We had to cut a little off the back end to work with my application, but that was no bigy, here is a picture of the passenger side one with the welding job about half way finished.
Once I was finished with the seat belts I pulled out a rattle can and got to work priming everything behind the firewall. KarlVP was around working on his junk and lent a hand with the priming. It’s fairly easy to see who did what, if the primer is running, I did it, if it’s not KarlVP did it. See, simple.
If we can finish the front end, paint it, and put some Rhino-liner like stuff I got at Joe’s last week down on the floor by this weekend I will trailer it to Buck meadows next weekend and try it out. If not then I will cry in my soup, I want to go wheeling again so bad……
Oh, and here’s an idea what it would look like with a set of 36” IROKs. I think I need to start a new tire fund.
KarlVP
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Hardcoreville, WA
Gojeep said:Great job on bringing it altogether so far. Just looks so much more done all of a sudden.
The 36" Iroks look just 'right' too.
That's what I thought when we finished priming. It gave it that "touch of class" either that or I was tired of working my my Junk and I'd had too many beers.
Either way, I can't wait to get this thing done and out on the trail. FiFo and I still have a $10 bet on who rolls his Jeep first.
Putting the seats in it really brought it together for me. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it won’t be "done" this weekend, but I’m hopeful that it will be done enough to wheel it. I put a coat of bed liner down on the floor last night and Tom did a lot of work on the front end, I will post pictures later today.
2xtreme
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Kayak Pt, WA
Your not doing any hip bar's?
I would think in our type of terrain that would be a good idea?
Michael
I would think in our type of terrain that would be a good idea?
Michael
2xtreme said:
The hardware has already been ordered to put in half doors, which will be made with 1.5" tube and sheet metal. That's in the "future projects" folder though, along with the tailgate, windshield, roof, and lights. They will all come after we finish the "cage" portion.
I made a trip up to Toms on Monday to try and get the Cherokee ready for this weekend. The carpeting that we pulled out went strait into the dumpster, so I decided to put a coat of that “rhino-liner” like truck bed coating down. After a few hours of work, mostly with a brush as I found the roller to be useless outside of the cargo area, I finished. Now it just needs to dry until Wednesday.
While I was doing that Tom was working on the front bumper. He got a lot more welding done then I thought, which I learned the hard way when I reached out to grab the upper tube of the front bumper and discovered that it was quit hot. He also tied the lower bumper into the new frame rails using some 1.5” tube and a small triangular piece of sheet metal.
And a top down view
I’m hopeful that on Wednesday I will be able to finish priming the front end and then paint the whole thing. Tom doesn’t foresee a problem with that schedule, but you know how these things go, nothing ever goes as planned.
While I was doing that Tom was working on the front bumper. He got a lot more welding done then I thought, which I learned the hard way when I reached out to grab the upper tube of the front bumper and discovered that it was quit hot. He also tied the lower bumper into the new frame rails using some 1.5” tube and a small triangular piece of sheet metal.
And a top down view
I’m hopeful that on Wednesday I will be able to finish priming the front end and then paint the whole thing. Tom doesn’t foresee a problem with that schedule, but you know how these things go, nothing ever goes as planned.
2xtreme
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Kayak Pt, WA
FiFo said:
Ahh... I see.
Michael
