Mod For The Day

[Spieg]

Yea that was it. I hope it holds together

Jeep frames... they don't make them like they used to (lucky for you!)

[dieseldoc]

ouch!
Ya the old frames left a lot of week points.
Then again they never thought the jeep would become the things we turn them into.

[Brucker]

My mod for the day has nothing to do with a vehicle. Had a local commercial developer need some help reworking some parts he had fabricated at another local shop. Of the 96 total pieces he received, 9 were 30mm too long. And the other shop wouldn't be able to get them reworked in time. So I stepped up and drove to the job site and retrieved the wrong pieces and got to work.

Here are the parts in question. They are heavy little buggers at just under 100 pounds each. They consist of some 1.125" thick steel plate that is about 11" square. Then there is a section of 0.500" wall 7" square tubing welded to the plate, and each has various holes drilled and tapped.







The parts were just under the capacity of my horizontal bandsaw:





Once they were all cut down to the appropriate length, they got cleaned up and prepped for some paint. Then were painted to match the existing powder coating.







These stanchion bases are getting buried in concrete, so the finish doesn't matter all that much, so long as it's coated. But the paint we use is VERY close to the powder coating used (helps it was coated at the same vendor we use a lot, so I have some of their touch up paint in aerosol cans). Can barely tell they were modified:



Got them delivered and the developer and crew was ecstatic. Which, in turn, makes me a happy camper.

[EKXJ87]

So the first shop didn't compensate for the 1-1/8" plate? I don't think the saying goes " measure once an cut 9 times" Good PR on your behalf!

[Brucker]

EKXJ87 previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

Decided to replace the 4 driveshaft u-joints while waiting for the correct barrel gear for my OD with Terra Low Gears. Not much exciting here other than that I find replacing u-joints to be a real PIA for something that seems so simple. Since the driveshafts are already out with the D18/T14 rebuild - seemed like a good time to do it. I have no idea when they were last replaced as it would have been from the PO.






Time to go put the clutch in and then wait for Herm to ship the gear....

[Jim]

Brucker previously posted:

[Jim]

FINOCJ previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

Hoping to have the needed gear on Wed - but realistically it will probably be thurs. Ready to get it back on the road, but not looking forward to putting the transmission back in. Free beer and pizza for anyone that wants to help

[Jim]

I might be making a trip to Highlands this week - and could schedule a weekday visit to help you out...

[Brucker]

In an age where everything is made to be disposable, we still find value in rebuilding and restoring what we can. It is amazing what a little hard work and elbow grease can accomplish! Just look and some of the parts we are working on today. Working the old iron until it becomes almost new once again.

[FINOCJ]

While the Terra low gear install continues to hit some roadblocks - I have been making some progress on another project: finally a winch!
Found this working Ramsey 8000lbs winch on CL a couple weeks ago - it had been on a YJ but owner sold the jeep and kept the winch for 15 years in the garage storage.


It came with a generic mounting plate that looked a bit like swiss cheese - but that is okay for me as I had to cut a good chunk of the ends off anyway to fit my narrow frame rails.


Made some angle brackets from some scrap 1/4" 4"x4" angle iron to mount the winch to the side of the front frame rails:


And here is the final mount plate with tow hooks:



Of course had to take apart some of the winch pieces and clean-up the motor and other stuff, but when all put back together:


And finally I mounted the solenoid box inside the engine compartment to hopefully give it a bit of protection (has a cover as well that is not shown in pic):


I like the overall low profile of the winch - not that I would turn down an 8274 - and that the solenoid box is a little out of the way. The wired controller does plug in at the front bumper and not at the solenoid box as well. It is also a permanent magnet motor which helps keep the overall amp draw down compared to a series wound motor. The jeep can't move under its own engine power right now - but it could winch its way somewhere if the battery will hold out!

[dieseldoc]

Nice work on that old jeep!
Hope,you get your stuff soon so the trans can go back in!

[Jim]

Brucker previously posted:

[The StRanger]

Nice work James. Love bringin back the old stuff..

[Brucker]

Jim previously posted:

[Brucker]

Besides for a few family obligations I have spent the majority of my time in the shop fixing my tubing bender. I heard the worst words one can hear about their bender a few days ago, "I bent the bender". Hasn't been the most pleasant of times but I think it it coming out well and in the end with be a much stronger product.

But it is never fun having to go from a fully functioning piece of money making equipment:



To this:



I have the majority of the new parts designed and fabed up. A couple more hours in the shop and I should have a functioning hydraulic tubing bender once again.

Note to self, If I want to bend that thick of material, I should buy a bender rated for it...

I will try and post a build (rebuild) thread for it once I get things wrapped up.

[Jim]

Brucker previously posted:

[Brucker]

Jim previously posted:

[Brucker]

Mod of the day? More like 'Mod that took two years or so'...

When I first bought my house and shop, the front of the house was split into two. One side was the actual residence, and the other was an office for the shop out back. This meant I had two front doors with only one address (I am able to split addresses but there is no need at this time). So after I got married (meaning the wife cared more than I) we took out one of the front doors, knocked down an interior wall, and made one large entrance/living room for the residence. I have an office out in the shop and don't need clients knocking on my personal door. Of course, with how busy the shop is and me hurting my back last year, this project has taken a while to complete. The interior was done in the first month. I just finished the exterior this past weekend.

Front of house as I bought it:



With the door filled in and the masonry work done:





You will notice the front yards are just dirt in the above photos. We also planted a garden on the right side under the Spruce tree. And I removed a dying spruce on the left and planted grass. Then I hurt my back and also had trouble finding siding that matched as the company had gone under long ago. But I finally received earlier this year a matching vinyl siding. So I finally got to finish (ok, so it still needs a few finishing touches) the front exterior of my house.

But first I removed the handrail and it's two posts as the wood was rotten out and the whole thing was failing down. I will eventually replace with metal. Before:



Removed:



Then I removed the old siding:



Filled in the hole left by the door with new exterior insulation:





And then hung the new siding:





I got the mailbox hung but still need to finish hanging the address numbers. Thinking about cutting a custom address plate/plaque so don't want to hang the old letter just yet. Also need to finish a small section of trim along the stone where the siding meets it where the door used to be. They don't offer any like this some I will be forming my own to match out of some thin sheet metal.