Simple'72 Revamp

[Simple'72CJ]

So the old jeep has been done a few years and it's been an absolute blast overall. It's been run hard and it's finally time to address a couple things that I've been putting off. My biggest issue with the current setup is weight distribution and the lack of travel in the rear. When I built the rig, I setup the rear with about 5" of up travel and I'm just finding myself eating the bumps way too often. After swapping in a new front end ("Hodge-podge 609") and gaining even more up travel up front, I was finding myself trying to drive faster and then the rear suspension definitely holding me back.

The overall plan is to do a shorter style trailing arm to get the coil over off tire center and to get more travel obviously with a well packaged 12" travel 2.5 Fox. Only plan to push the rear back an inch or two to bring it to 104-105", but also stretch the tub to get more storage and to get a fuel cell back behind the rear axle. Super excited to see how this will progress and how more more usable it'll make the jeep. Hoping to have all this knocked out before September!

 

[Simple'72CJ]

As she sat before deconstruction!

And starting to get stripped!

 

[gt1guy]

Hoping to have all this knocked out before September!

I guess that explains not at least washing it first.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[Scottie]

Whatever u come up with will be killer. I would assume your tub is biggest limiter for up travel?

Hope to see this thing on the trail eventually, we wheel some of the same areas.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Whatever u come up with will be killer. I would assume your tub is biggest limiter for up travel?

Hope to see this thing on the trail eventually, we wheel some of the same areas.

Yes, pretty much. I wanted to keep the rear storage area factory width in plans to eventually put a rear seat back there. The coilovers could only be mounted so far in and I didn't want to mount them angled back when I first built the jeep and honestly trailing arms didn't even cross my mind at the time. Going tube in the rear will open up way more possibilities than when I was trying to keep the factory top edge of the tub and I think I can still make it look jeep-ish. Probably gonna have to pocket the rear floor when it comes to tin work to clear the upper links as well.

What rig you running and where abouts you jeep mostly?

 

[Scottie]

Gotcha, yeah the top edge of the tub is certainly what I found to be the limiter. WOD has done some cool radius aluminum rear wheel wells. Yes I would think u will most likely have to pocket the rear floor. I was planning 5” up travel on my build as well but u have me rethinking that.

Current rig is cripple-six build thread. manastash/naches is mainly where we used to go. Have a cabin down on 410. Haven’t been out for quite a few yrs, but plan to change that.

 

[gt1guy]

Simple'72CJ​

Scottie is looking for someone to wire up his rig. Thought you might know someone that does quality work.​

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Gotcha, yeah the top edge of the tub is certainly what I found to be the limiter. WOD has done some cool radius aluminum rear wheel wells. Yes I would think u will most likely have to pocket the rear floor. I was planning 5” up travel on my build as well but u have me rethinking that.

Current rig is cripple-six build thread. manastash/naches is mainly where we used to go. Have a cabin down on 410. Haven’t been out for quite a few yrs, but plan to change that.

Definitely depends on what you intend your driving style to be lol 5.5" was plenty for majority of the trail wheeling the group does, but come snow season it was a different ball game for me. Lots of times I'd be having to lift and stab brakes where buddies would check out on me. If you're not planning on hi speed stuff I think 5-5.5" is perfect for our area.

We primarily run rimrock and your new rig would be absolutely perfect for up there! What's your outside to outside tire dimension? I'm 79" outside and it'll fit everything up there

 

[Scottie]

Haha, that’s very true. Compared to my old Suzuki build this is whole different league. Won’t really know until I get some seat time. Never been to rimrock but would love to go! I know my brother has been up there. I think I’m gonna be 82” front, a few narrower rear. I know it’s tight up in that area.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Alright I'm back with some progress! I've been ordering parts and slowly throwing tubes at the jeep for the last two weeks and finally starting to see some progress. On to some pics

More hack-age and starting to clean up and get a game plan for chassis tubes and housing tabs.

Slung back under to see what I was gonna have to work with. Ended up pushing the axle back 2" which put me at 105" for wheelbase.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Blue tape was my cut and splice line for the new part of the chassis. Made an 8" slug that was hammered into the existing chassis 4" and same with the new portion.

Shortly after getting to this point I realized I screwed up. The chassis needed be wider after the crossmember tube or I would be sacrificing way too much fuel capacity. I ended up cutting things up and jogging the rails out so it's 34-1/2" inside to inside of tube. Wide enough to get a big fuel tank under the floor and to fit a rear seat.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

The one thing I'm kinda peeved about is the whole high pinion 9" debacle... Long story short, the snout on my pinion gear was eaten up which in turn destroyed my gearset. With no gearsets available I had to make a decision to either wait it out or make the switch to a low pinion. After some phone calls, availability was not looking good at all so bit the bullet and bought a new low pinion with a spool and 5.43's.

Now that I have a low pinion my driveline angles were fawked. Obviously I rotated the pinion up as much as possible, but the 1350 on the tcase side just didn't have enough working angle for a decent cycle. Ordered a 32 spline 1410 yoke and had to turn the seal surface down to the 1.875" OD and shorten .250" to play nice with the 241. Luckily I had an old front output laying around so it was nice and easy to chuck up.

Random cage tie in plate.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

I was super back and forth on how I wanted to do a rear bumper with round tube or rectangle tube. I opted to use 2.5x2.5 square which made mounting hinges for the tailgate way easier and the tube clevis's will simply poke through the bumper. I plan to weld them into the chassis tubes and then slide the bumper on and lay another weld to lock everything together. It should be an extremely stout setup and provide a hint of old school styling.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Fender well tubes making their way onto the jeep!

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Uppers corners fit and welded on

 

[WaterH]

Nice tube work. If one side drops out, doesn’t the other tire hit the tube?

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Nice tube work. If one side drops out, doesn’t the other tire hit the tube?

Yes, you are 100% correct. The main reason I wanted to have tube for the the opening was for the flex scenario. I can get all my straight up and down bump travel, but still have a soft stop for articulation with no panel to snag or anything. May not be the best way to got, but with constantly swapping between smaller and bigger tires from summer to winter jeep I'm always looking for a solution to accommodate different diameter's.

 

[WaterH]

Yea, I suppose it won’t hurt the tire to rub there now and then. It probably won’t even make much noise. On my project, the rear tires can’t hit, but the fronts can rub in a turn. They don’t hurt anything, but make god awlful noise.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Before, my snow tires would kiss the aluminum panel in extreme scenarios at speed in the rear. Just like you said, it would make an awful noise and pop the rear taillight lenses out lol I'm hoping that now that it's hot a structural rounded surface, the tire will just slide more that wanting to grab an 1/8" lip of material

 

[Simple'72CJ]

My fronts just barely touch the front corners of the fenders under full lock/flex. Only time I'm really getting into that situation anyhow is at very slow technical stuff

 

[gt1guy]

That's looking really good. I like it.

Did you have any kind of soft top before?

 

[Simple'72CJ]

That's looking really good. I like it.

Did you have any kind of soft top before?

I built a halfcab setup with pretty intricate door jams that clip to the cage and use a set of aluminum skinned hard doors. Honestly, that's the main reason I didn't just wipe the cage at the dash bar and start fresh. I plan to graft in and come back pretty much flat at the B pillar and maybe just skin that portion for now since it's just gonna be storage at this stage. Once there's a back seat, then I'll figure out sealing it in better

 

[Simple'72CJ]

 

[Mike Honcho]

Looks good. Are you going to panel the bed area? Curious the best way to go about this?

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Looks good. Are you going to panel the bed area? Curious the best way to go about this?

Yes sir, I'm still on the fence whether to make them removable with welded on riv-nut tabs or just stitch the panels on solid. I'm planning to roll some patterns into them to help with oil canning and stiffen them up a bit as well.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Yes sir, I'm still on the fence whether to make them removable with welded on riv-nut tabs or just stitch the panels on solid. I'm planning to roll some patterns into them to help with oil canning and stiffen them up a bit as well.

Post it up! I need to do something with mine.

 

[buc4x]

looking good. Cant wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Scottie]

Heck ya, looks great! My vote is for removable paneling at your level of work. Curious what u do for tailgate latching. Trying to figure that out myself, kinda thinking a latching pull-pin setup. Not really a fan of the factory hook and chain.

 

[Simple'72CJ]

Heck ya, looks great! My vote is for removable paneling at your level of work. Curious what u do for tailgate latching. Trying to figure that out myself, kinda thinking a latching pull-pin setup. Not really a fan of the factory hook and chain.

I messed with some panels the other night with some really light gauge material to get a visual. Not real sure if I wanna do individual panels in between tubes on the tops or do one big panel that covers everything.

As far as the tailgate goes, I'm kinda leaning towards the old school route and doing the seatbelt buckle trick.

 

[Simple'72CJ]