[CRO]

Dana 18 mount

If you are going to mount to the PTO cover why not incorporate that into a transfer case brace like the Tri county gear design ( sandwiches the drain pan)

http://www.tricountygear.com/tri-country/tcg_engineered.html

 

[Mieser]

That is a good idea for sure. I will have to look into that a little more. I have a bare D20 case to measure from also.....

 

[sail78385]

You got mad skill bro and you give me motivation!

 

[Mieser]

Thank you.

 

[Mieser]

I started working on the rear bumper tonight. It seems little stuff like this takes a little more time....

I measured the rear crossmember and rear bumper a few times...like a dozen! Between the measurements from the frame and body I think I got a fairly accurate set of numbers for the rear bumper/crossmember.

Rear crossmember.
-The outside mount pair is 48" wide
-The inside mount pair is 16.5" wide
-The mounts are mirrored side to side as far as I can tell.
-In order to get the rear of the bumper/crossmember flush or just a hair past the mounts need to be at 1.125" from the rear surface of the bumper

I spent some time getting the rear mounts level again so I could try and find how much the rear crossmember drops from the top of the rear frame kick-up. So far it looks like the crossmember will have a 1.875-2" drop. I will probably measure that a few more times....

Here is the start of the rear crossmember....

Its a section of 2x4 box just like the frame. I laid out all the holes with some spray blue, scribed all the lines for locations, center punched and then drilled all the holes. I used holes a touch over .375 for 3/8-16 bolts with 9/16 heads.

The inboard mounting holes presented a problem since they are in the middle of the bumper and access would have been pretty hard no matter what. I really want the frame to be sealed when its finished. The tapered cuts on the end are going to get some simple strap caps that leave the outer mounting bolt exposed. I decided to make a little sleeve that integrated a mounting bung. I need to be able to weld up both sides so just a sleeve inserted from the bottom wouldn't work. I made two of these little bushings in the lathe really quick out of some 1" bar stock to fit into some 1" tubing I had in the scrap bin. The tubing was JUST big enough that I can insert a socket up the tube to get at the bolt head or nut.

I welded the inserts in the tubing and then turned down the bead on the lathe, faced the end, and put on a taper for welding.

I drilled both sides of the bumper with a 1" hole saw for the tube to pass through. This was a pain. I need to get some better clamps for my mini drill press. I ended up doing them with a hand drill in the vise standing on the table....

They will sit in the tubing like this. I might need to make a little jig to hold the top flush for welding and square up the bottom. Once they are welded I will sand them flush on the top.

That's it for now, more later....

 

[Mieser]

Not to much stuff tonight.....

I welded in the tube sleeve things in the rear crossmember/bumper.....

Weld, flap disc, weld in hole, flap disc, chamfer hole....

I then test fit the rear bumper on the tub to make sure the holes lined up.

IT FITS! It went together pretty well. Some of the tabs need to be straightened out a bit but it all came together.

I REALLY need to buy a better camera....taking pictures in the shop is annoying me with the low light.

Finally I measured up most of the other body mounts that I need to build. I have four that are 1.5" offset, two that are 1.125" offset, and one small crossmember that needs to be 23.875" wide mounting holes and spread the entire frame ( still need to get a height on that one too! ). The last crossmember in the rear section is the 'machine gun' crossmember. I still don't really know what I want to do for that one....

 

[Mieser]

I got a new camera so I could take some better pictures in the low garage lighting. Basically I just spent an hour or two playing with the new camera and taking lots of reference pictures and measuring things......

A few people have been asking me about the frame so I thought I would take some pics to show the fit of the Willys MB body on the frame....

Here is the rear kick and how it fits with the body. The MB frame has two steps in the rear body section. The stacked 4" tube worked out really well here I think. For a common tube size if you put the kick in the frame in the right spot at the right angle it works out pretty good. The factory frame is curved in this section and that would be REALLY hard to duplicate in a simple and easy frame.

Here is a shot down the belly section. This was a kind hard angle to get while everything is on the table. As long as you get the frame width right this are is pretty easy to work out. The 4" tube is actually slightly shorter ( I think 3/8" IIRC ) than the stock frame in this area. If I was going to do it again I might think about using 5" tall tubing in the belly area. I'm going for max belly clearance, but its going to be TIGHT to get the drivetrain tucked up THAT much. A 5" tall rail would make that easier. For most people even a 6" rail might not be a bad idea if you want a flat belly pan. With a 5 or 6" rail I think you would probably have to do something a little more exotic with the spring hangers to keep the overall height down.

Here is a view of the front fender to frame interface. I think this turned out really nice so far. For just a long cut to taper the frame I think I got it pretty close! This is with the front fender in the stock location still. When I raise and push the fender a bit this gap will get larger. I may have to add something to cover the gap to keep the big chunks out.

The spring hanger locations could be modified to leave the kicks in the same location fairly easy. If you want to run larger tires I don't think the 3" wheelbase stretch front and back is bad idea, especially if your going to all the trouble to make a new frame

These pictures are also with the body repositioned to that it is very close to the final location ( to about 1/8 front to back ).

I also measured for the rear crossmembers again. The main rear bumper crossmember seems to need a 1 5/8" drop from the top of the rear kicked rail to be in the right spot. I played around with the rear mounting taps to get them more level and redid the measurement. I will probably check it at least once more before I weld the bumper to the frame.

The rear crossmember for the two body mounts bout 1' ahead of the rear bumper ( where the K-member use to spread out to the frame ) needs to have a 1 1/4" raise from the top of the new frame rail. I am going to look around for some channel or box tube that might work well. I will probably do a full side to side crossmember at this location to help support the rear floor.

A better picture of the rear bumper/crossmember. I rounded the ends of it off to clean it up a bit. I still need to weld in some 1.75" strap to box the ends.

Here is the bottom of the sleeve I welded in for the inner mounting bolts on the rear crossmember. My cordless dremel battery ran out so I still have a little touch up to do to the lip corner after welding.

That's it for now....

 

[Mieser]

A little bit of a milestone tonight.....

First I marked the rear bumper/crossmember for the install on the rear of the frame. I like marking in blue and then using a scribe. It give a nice thin line that is fairly easy to see and doesn't rub off too easy. I then usually 'text' out what the lines are for. This way if it takes me a few days to use the line I know what the line is suppose to be for.

Next I gave the tub a body lift. I kinda like it.....NOT! It does get the body out of the way so I can play with the frame....

Getting the rear bumper clamped on the rear of the frame was a little bit of a pain. Its a good thing I have lots of scrap tubing around and a few clamps. First I clamped a short section on the bottom of the 2nd rear crossmember.

Once the piece was clamped in I aligned it to the back of the frame. This was pretty easy with the clamps snugged but not tight. I used a dead blow and some aluminum tubing scrap to 'flush' the rear surfaces. Once I had it close I started tightening down the clamps and double checking these clamps. They need to be pretty tight....but not crushing the tubing or anything.

Clamping the rear bumper was a fun exercise in balance and dexterity. The bumper doesn't weigh THAT much but its hard to run those clamps with one hand!

Next I started aligning the rear bumper with the hammer. Tap, measure, tap, tap, measure, tap, tap, measure, measure, measure. I set the rear bumper 1.75" down from the top of the rear frame rail. I think the measurement is between 1.625 and 1.75, but the tub is 70 years old so its kinda hard to tell sometimes. Once I got everything where I wanted it I started snugging down the clamps.

Then I spent about 20 minutes trying to roll the welder over to the back of the jeep. Even with only one project this garage gets tight!

A few good tack welds along with some big sparks down my sleeve and I was ready to remove the clamps...

Here is the final position of the bumper from the underside looking rearward.

And here is the tub in its final position on the frame and bumper. I was able align the holes with a pry par easy enough and then let the full weight of the body on the frame. 3 out of 4 holes lined up perfect. I could slip a bolt in by hand. Once of the bolts is a little tight on the passenger side inner bolt. This was one of the areas that saw some tub damage from the bending of the old frame. I will play around with that mounting tab a little bit more, but will probably have to open it up about 1/16 or so.

I like that the new rear bumper looks close to stock but will be a fully boxed unit when its done. I will also be rebuilding the mount for the pintle hitch and installing a new pintle hitch with a cast in molded 2" ball. I like those units the best since they are smooth and round on the bottom.

Any thoughts so far. This thread has been pretty quiet lately.

 

[craigellis77]

You're a progress monster! Loving the updates, so keep em coming.

 

[Mieser]

I hope to keep going slow and steady like with probably a touch of mad rush towards Feb. 2012.....

 

[Mieser]

A new part followed me home at lunch....

 

[sammyg]

A new part followed me home at lunch....

Sweet! I have the owners manual/parts books/ some literature for that I can email you

 

[Mieser]

Thanks. I will send you a PM shortly.

 

[m38a1jpn]

Awesome looking so far. Keep up the good work.

 

[csutton7]

it's funny how things can follow a guy home!!!! good job.....chris

 

[EricsGreen98Tj]

Man I thought about building a frame for my Tj doing just what you did(minus shackle hangars) using 5" "deep" tubing....but I found a new frame for $125 10 hrs away. I used an engine hoist to pull my tub with too! It can get kinda squirelly once you get it up as high as the lift goes HUH? It's looking great man. Keep the steady progress going, you make your deadline.

I wish I had a garage....I'm tired of doing all my work in the driveway...SUBSCRIBED

 

[BeaverTown]

This maybe just the motivation that I need to get started on my flattie project again. Course I've got to move into a house with a garage first. It's gonna be a long month.

 

[Mieser]

This maybe just the motivation that I need to get started on my flattie project again. Course I've got to move into a house with a garage first. It's gonna be a long month.

I hope so. I think the old school cool flat fenders need to make a come back.

I should have some details up on the frame in about a month if that will help. I have had a decent amount of people ask me for more information on the frame so I will have to get something worked up soon. My frame is a little different than a 'stock' frame but it would be fairly easy to modify the design and offer a few different combos. With the way I designed and built the main rails it was fairly easy to put together. I'm sure the way I did it could be carried over to other versions....

Build a flatty!

 

[mjs408]

Awesome build, love the attention to detail. Cant wait to see your tech. specs on the frame.

 

[Mieser]

Saturday morning was body mount time....

I decided to make some simple mounts out of some of the same 2x4 box tubing as the most of the frame. Its handy when you have scraps around. I only bought 2 sticks of material and have had plenty to do everything so far. The main frame, rear crossmember, rear 'bumper', and front bumper. That really helps keep the cost of the frame down.

Anyways.....how to build simple body mounts.

These two mounts are the only two mounts that are paired to be outside the frame on an MB body ( pad style ). I used these two to start the process since I could align the tub to the frame somewhat with these two mounts....

Measure, move the tub, measure, measure. These mounts ended up at an average of 7/8-15/16th away from the side of the frame. Once you get the offset number its pretty simple to build a pair of mounts....

The first thing I generally do is square off the end of the scrap of tubing after doing a quick check for square on my might saw! This will make sure that the end of the tubing is square and a good place to start from....

Then I run a wire brush over the area I am going to be marking on....

Then I spray the end in blue marking paint and scribe in all the information I need. I use a scribe for this since it seems to help eliminate compound tolerance errors. You get a tiny bit off with the marking, then a tiny bit off with the center punch, then a tiny bit off drilling, then a tiny bit off with the saw. Starting with a scribe line seems to keep this to 1/16-1/8 in the end for me.