D_JEEPER
Picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue
- Joined
- May 21, 2020
- Member Number
- 870
- Messages
- 745
Warning... this is a recap thread to this forum.... being revived after 2 years of no progress!
Back story. Back in 2015, I noticed some rust in the typical spot in the TJ frame at the rear lower control arms. My original plan was to cut the cancerous section out and replace it with one of the online kits you can purchase that scabs over and welds to the good part of the upper frame. After some thought and finding out that the rust extended beyond where the scabs would cover, I decided that a back-half-replacement was in order. I would literally be replacing half of the frame.
My extensive search yielded overpriced frames for upwards of 1500-2000 bux...and were of a different year than my 97 with the 4.0 instead of the 2.5, so it would require motor mounts and transmission skid replacement. Too much work. I was able to find a smashed 2002 frame for $200 that took a significant hit in the front, but the rear 70% was salvageable.
I decided that since I was going to replace the rear of the frame, I needed to do it right. Sleeving, plug welds and stairstep cut seemed to be the best way...maybe even overkill. I also decided to purchase a RockKrawler long arm upgrade. Since I was doing so much work, might as well toss in a 5" stretch.
I stumbled upon a set of axles from a 1979 F250... HP HD44 front and D60 rear. The previous owner was doing a full restoration and had these sandblasted, ball joints replaced and brakes/bearings redone. He needed them gone ASAP to make room for a new chassis so I scored them for $350. GAME CHANGER.
Now I am doing a full width stretch long arm build
On to the dirty work... Step one was to fix the very cancerous frame. I started beating the frame with a welding hammer to see just how far I had to go. I decided to stair step right at the center body mount because I could use the mount itself to position the donor section onto the original section. To sleeve the frame, I cut two identical sections of frame, then cut those down and rewelded them to sleeve inside of the frame. They didnt have to be pretty, just something to plug weld and weld the seam of the stairstep cut.
Some initial fitting. This part was a ginormous pain in the ass because of the shape of the frame. You cannot just SLIDE the frame section in because at this part, the frame is angled inward. You have to shimmy the donor frame above the old frame and drop it in place. With my limited available tools, I was shoving wedges of wood between the rockers and old frame in order to drop it down low enough.
I wanted this to be fairly unnoticeable unless you knew to look for it.
I ended up being within 1/16" of perfect (length and diagonals) Since my control arms will no longer be centered off of the stock control arm brackets, this was exceedingly sufficient.
At this point, I was building a house and this project was sidelined for a few months (like...7
). I have recently picked back up on it. With the new house...came a new garage....with 3 bay shop and a lift
Originally I was going to build some fish plates to reinforce the splice zone, but since I was going to do the Rock Krawler long arm upgrade, The 3/8" steel brackets would be welded in as a C channel exactly around where I had cut. Double win! This section of the frame is arguably stronger than ever so I have no SERIOUS concerns about it breaking.
Note: Judge not my welds, for these are flux core from my Hobart Handler 140 (Cranked to max for this...)
Later, I switch to a borrowed Hobart 230 with .035 and 25/75 gas.
Nice beefy flat belly skid. Also good to know my motor still has enough motor oil in it to leak :rolleyes:
Back story. Back in 2015, I noticed some rust in the typical spot in the TJ frame at the rear lower control arms. My original plan was to cut the cancerous section out and replace it with one of the online kits you can purchase that scabs over and welds to the good part of the upper frame. After some thought and finding out that the rust extended beyond where the scabs would cover, I decided that a back-half-replacement was in order. I would literally be replacing half of the frame.
My extensive search yielded overpriced frames for upwards of 1500-2000 bux...and were of a different year than my 97 with the 4.0 instead of the 2.5, so it would require motor mounts and transmission skid replacement. Too much work. I was able to find a smashed 2002 frame for $200 that took a significant hit in the front, but the rear 70% was salvageable.
I decided that since I was going to replace the rear of the frame, I needed to do it right. Sleeving, plug welds and stairstep cut seemed to be the best way...maybe even overkill. I also decided to purchase a RockKrawler long arm upgrade. Since I was doing so much work, might as well toss in a 5" stretch.
I stumbled upon a set of axles from a 1979 F250... HP HD44 front and D60 rear. The previous owner was doing a full restoration and had these sandblasted, ball joints replaced and brakes/bearings redone. He needed them gone ASAP to make room for a new chassis so I scored them for $350. GAME CHANGER.
Now I am doing a full width stretch long arm build
On to the dirty work... Step one was to fix the very cancerous frame. I started beating the frame with a welding hammer to see just how far I had to go. I decided to stair step right at the center body mount because I could use the mount itself to position the donor section onto the original section. To sleeve the frame, I cut two identical sections of frame, then cut those down and rewelded them to sleeve inside of the frame. They didnt have to be pretty, just something to plug weld and weld the seam of the stairstep cut.
Some initial fitting. This part was a ginormous pain in the ass because of the shape of the frame. You cannot just SLIDE the frame section in because at this part, the frame is angled inward. You have to shimmy the donor frame above the old frame and drop it in place. With my limited available tools, I was shoving wedges of wood between the rockers and old frame in order to drop it down low enough.
I wanted this to be fairly unnoticeable unless you knew to look for it.
I ended up being within 1/16" of perfect (length and diagonals) Since my control arms will no longer be centered off of the stock control arm brackets, this was exceedingly sufficient.
At this point, I was building a house and this project was sidelined for a few months (like...7
Originally I was going to build some fish plates to reinforce the splice zone, but since I was going to do the Rock Krawler long arm upgrade, The 3/8" steel brackets would be welded in as a C channel exactly around where I had cut. Double win! This section of the frame is arguably stronger than ever so I have no SERIOUS concerns about it breaking.
Note: Judge not my welds, for these are flux core from my Hobart Handler 140 (Cranked to max for this...)
Later, I switch to a borrowed Hobart 230 with .035 and 25/75 gas.
Nice beefy flat belly skid. Also good to know my motor still has enough motor oil in it to leak :rolleyes: