How'd the bent spring happen?
How'd the bent spring happen?
My only guess is the dual rate slider, piece between the two springs, got stuck and it over compressed the lower spring.
Jim (July 5th, 2020)
The pictures don't do justice to the damage I had on the front frame rails....when I got this all cleaned up, the driver frame rail crack was huge....
Passenger (which also had a piece break out)
outside of passenger
Driver:
Outside of driver
Got some help from a cj5 connection down in the springs to help get it back together....
Here are a few pics of where it stands - as the damage and cracking was so bad along the bottom 90 of the frame channel, the entire bottom half of both frame horns was cut out back about 9-10". Some bottom frame rails were scavenged from Chuck's pile of stuff and welded in. The shackle hangers had to be welded back on, the frame horns were mostly boxed (due to not wanting to remove the radiator and front grill, the back bit of boxing is left for me to finish this fall), a rectangular tube was welded in as a cross-member at the very front of the frame horns (how clean and easy Chuck fit that in was beauty in both form and function), and since I wanted the 20year warranty, some fish plate was added to the outside of the frame rails to reinforce the long welds were the bottom halves were burned in. And then I drove through some light rain getting home and everything flash rusted overnight....
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
nice, that should hold up a bit better
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We do not remember days, we remember moments.
Cesare Pavese
FINOCJ (July 27th, 2020)
It's good you caught the cracks!
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
Glad you caught it in time to at least be able to repair it. That type of cumulative damage was what eventually did my Scout in.
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
Putting the bumper and tow brackets back on....as the tow bracket position moved inward a bit to mount using the new front tubing crossmember, I had to redrill the bumper, and of course, some of the old holes were just in the way of the new holes, so welded those up first. Everything is mostly nicely aligned with 1/2" bolts. Will look like this....4 bolts through the brackets, bumper and then the tubing:
So my question is...this 1/4" tubing is pretty darn burly - but should I weld in sleeves for where the bolts go through? After test fitting, I used the old 1.5"x2" backing plates for the tow bar brackets behind the tubing.
That seems way more solid than what was there before (mounted through the oem bumper with bumper bolted to frame rails), I would venture that unless the tow brackets were being used for recovery (which they currently do not fit typical 3/4" shackles), there would never be a problem. But as the sleeves are not so much about pulling strength, but rather to prevent inward collapsing of the tubing from squeezing the bolt, maybe I should drill them out bigger and put the sleeves in? From what I gather, the weld on the sleeve ends is more about holding the sleeve in place when sliding the bolt through and fastening etc....its strength against the squeezing isn't really determined by the weld in any way.
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
We have 3 road trips coming up this Aug (including the upcoming ecj5 San Juan trip), and I am sure we'll add in a couple in the fall (Moab?), so I replaced the tires on DD tacoma. For the last 100k miles or so, I have run 2 sets of the Hankook Dynapro AT tire (P265/75/16) - absolutely no complaints as they have been a good mix of mostly on road and snow usage, and some easier off road stuff. One big advantage they had in snow over other more budget tires was the siping goes down through the entire tread block - so even as the tires wear down near the end of their life, the snow traction holds in pretty well (many tires are only siped half way down). I had been a BFG and Goodyear AT user for quite a long time, but the price savings of the Hankooks was significant so I tried them. I even found them on a good deal in LT30x9.5 for the 58 wagon.
Of course, now the price of the Hankook's has gotten a bit steep, as well as I was looking to get an LT rated tire instead of the P-series - starting to carry more load in the truck more often between the fully loaded raft gear and more landscaping dirt rock etc. So going to try these Nankang AT tires in an LT rating for a bit less than the Hankook P-series. The visual of the tread pattern seems a bit less aggressive for off-road use, but they also are supposedly really good in the snow (which is probably my biggest need, especially with another full winter in Montana coming up). Both the Hankook and the Nankang (and many others) are M+S rated, but the Nankang also has the severe snowflake symbol, and is designed to take studs - but I am going studless. Nankang is from Taiwan (was actually the state rubber company - so better quality than China) and they have developed a pretty good reputation among the front wheel and street racer crowds. They may not make the 50,000+ miles the Hankooks made if the rubber is really soft, but at some cost savings even with the LT rating, if they get close to 40,000 and provide good winter traction, then it will be worth it - The plan is for the truck to move on in another 1-1.5 years, so that is generally 20-30,000 miles (and put the it near 200,000 total).
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
After feeling like we waited forever to get parts and then waiting for block to be machined we have finally started a 4.7L stroker build for Wylies' truck.
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We do not remember days, we remember moments.
Cesare Pavese
Jaycifer (August 4th, 2020)
One of my rear shocks on the JKUR was really sloppy and making a lot of noise. Thought it was the bushing but turned out to be the bolt was worn. The shocks have other issues as well so I got them replaced under warranty. While swapping them out I decided to build some LCA/shock mount skid plates and mine were pretty beat up and I have broken the adjustment knob off the shock several times.
Spieg (August 9th, 2020)
Back to working on the front end repair. The next thing is to finish boxing the front frame rails...In the name of time, Chuck and I chose not to remove the grill etc to get access to box in the frame horns all the way back to the factory cross-member.
So I made some cardboard templates
Cut out the boxing plates in 3/16" - the right side came out perfect on the first cut. The driver side needed some grinding etc to give a good fit and gap all the way around - but I think I was getting to the point of any more grinding and I would have to start over. When this one is rotated just a bit CCW, its should work....
Here is the passenger side....I spent some time the last few days 'playing' with the new welder on 3/16" stuff trying to figure out a good setting and trying both .025 and .030 wire. The Hobart guide for starting setting is as hot as it goes and only with .030 (or .035) wire...I went with the .030 wire even though I felt like I was stuggling to get enough penetration inspecting my practice welds (even cutting through some), so I slowed the wire feed just a bit so I could move a bit slower - not sure it helps much, but at least allows me to feel unrushed when welding and can focus on what I see and where i am going. I don't have a lot of light in my garage and I find it difficult to stay on the joint, and of course, it a bit awkward trying to find a comfortable, easy position to weld in....but anyway....here was my first effort - I think I can live it....
Driver side was a bit more difficult - mostly due to being right handed and not being able to get good position with my body/hand/gun etc....my welding leaves a lot to be desired, but this should work...
Now its on to re-working the winch mount....
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
Nice! James That looks like it will work, Can't wait to see it on the trail.
FINOCJ (September 1st, 2020)
Front end is done other than paint....Finished getting the winch plate mounted...drilled and sleeved new holes in the frame horns but had to offset the winch a 1/4" to the passenger side......this was mostly because of the 1/8" fishplate added to the outside of the frame horns would not allow straight re-using the old mount brackets. I didn't have enough of the right scrap to make two new brackets, and didn't want to go searching around the drop yards, so I did kind of cheat a bit, and modified and used one of the old brackets, and made one new bracket on the driver side where the 1/4" is accommodated....oh well, between the bent bumper, non-square body and enough mud from wheeling, and all my other hack job work, it won't be noticeable....
Time to paint everything back nice and pretty and then I can put the normal bumper back over the front end tubing....but I think while the front grill is off, I may investigate the stripped oil pump hole in the timing cover that I think is the biggest source of oil drip/seepage on the cj. I may try to drill and helicoil it, or I may try just replacing the entire timing cover with a spare I pick up a while ago. I am ready to get the repair work on the cj done so i can get back to the 58 wagon...I drove it 40 miles to the other side of town yesterday, and when i got back it left a puddle of coolant....I think the heater core is leaking....just ignoring that for now....
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
FINOCJ (September 4th, 2020)
I spent the day embracing van life and built out a storage/sleeping platform for next week's trip. Since it'll be just me in the Jeep for a week, it made sense to make a solid (but temporary) platform to help with gear organization and a good place to sleep so I don't have to fight with the tent. Pretty happy with the results, and plan to improve this so I can keep the rear section in place when I reinstall the second row seat after the trip.
I was surprised to see that I could get about 6 feet of sleeping room by pushing the front passenger seat forward and cantilevering a section of the platform over this space with some 1" dowel rods to the floor supporting the extension. While I am a bit over 6', this seems to be just enough length to be comfortable. Hoping this works as well next week as it does in the garage.
ooooh - I like this idea!
Just went to measure the YJ - 5'9" back window to dashboard - 6' if I move a bit higher to get above the dash to the windshield glass (though the back window slants inward).
I'll be curious to hear how it works for you (soft top sealed enough to keep mosquitoes out?).
That's pretty slick!
Awesome! I use a similar mattress and adding one of these underneath made it much more comfortable, fwiw https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Thick-E...01NCEUNU1?th=1