1961 Cj5 Rookie Build

I plan on reinforcing the frame this weekend. I'm still stuck between strapping the top and bottom of the c channel or just welding in vertical plates at stress points.
Option A

Option B

I'm personally leaning on option B but will this be enough to keep the frame from cracking if I added them at leaf spring mount and body mount locations? I plan to wheel this thing and I have a problem with breaking stuff.

 

Strap, box, vertical plates... Now you've done it.

 

I know right. I read through several threads and I see multiple views on this. Which leaves me still guessing as to which direction to go. I'm most likely going to go with the vertical plates. Y'all can roast me later

 

I couldn't decide either, eventually I decided to box my entire frame and the rear cross member above the rear axle. I also added a really thick plate across the flimsy swiss cheese bumper mount cross member at the back of the frame. Prior to boxing it the clutch pedal would get stuck on the floor when everything was all twisted up, I didn't like that. Now it doesn't get stuck on the floor. I'm sure I lost some flex in the process but I think I'll gain that back when I go to the YJ spring conversion.

You can see the plate I added across the back in this pic. It's what the bumper is welded to. It's welded top and bottom and also welded inside a bunch of the holes the original cross member has.





And I made a bunch of plates to box the frame. The plates are only stitch welded in, not welded the entire length.



I'm not saying this is the best idea, just what I ended up doing.

 

Is that a body lift you have on there? If so how much of a lift is it. I'm going to incorporate a body lift when I frame the floors and bed with 1"x3" tube. I plan to run it underneath the tub . That will raise things up about an inch. Plus the body mount bushings I go with will add height as well.

 

The PO had installed a 2" body lift on it which I thought was too high and removed. I think he installed the body left as a simple solution to fitting the SM420 transmission without much modification. I left it on while I boxed the frame since it made it easier to weld the plates but took it off when I was done.

 

I'm liking this bumper. Looks tough.

 

Thanks. It's all in here

Muzikp's Sometimes Driveable Build

 

Well I'm not sure I can live up to your build but I have to say I'm headed in the same direction as you went. Thanks for documenting so many details and the pictures. It was a great learning read for me.

 

Thanks, I learned sooo much reading as many build threads as I could. Some of these guys are just out of my league and I can only hope to be there some day.

 

Worked on the rear axle. Things looked ok inside so I just cleaned it up. I'll be upgrading things in there later. I'm pretty much in clean up mode right now. Striping rust and paint and priming things.

To clean things up I used a combination of wire wheel and striping pad and of course a ton of elbow grease. I power washed it and air dried it before first coat of rust reformer primer.
I found that the stripping pads work well. I bought a cheap wire wheel kit for the drill from Wally world while waiting on the wife to shop. The smaller wheels really helped with the tight spots. They actually worked out not to bad for less than 10$ for the both of them.

 

Well I've had a busy few weeks at work. Not much progress on the Jeep. We went to 7 days a week to finish a current project.
I have the rear springs and axle cleaned up and primed. I pulled the radiator and front grill off to make room for reinforcing the frame. My rookie question of the the day is. I want to go the box the frame route and I have the sheet metal to do it. My question is what is the best way to cut the steel. I have a sawzall, a jig saw,or an angle grinder with plenty of cut off wheels. I don't have access to a plasma torch. How did some of you make the cuts?

 

If it was me I would go angle grinder out of all those tools assuming the material is thick

 

I started with an angle grinder and then found it was much faster to use my sawzall. It sorta depended on the shape of the piece tho, some the grinder was better some the sawzall.

 

Work slowed down and I had time to dig in to the rear shackles and hangers. The passenger side had some serious wear on the shackles. What do y'all think? Can this be fixed or is it time to cut off the hanger and go with a new one? Where the bushing goes in it looks pretty bad.

 

Wow that's pretty bad. Cut em off. We just made some in Rusteze's thread, you can see how we did it. Pretty simple. I was surprised how easy it was to break the center part of the hanger out of his and they were in much better shape than yours, seems like they aren't very strong. Oh, you can buy new ones with bushings for $40 and save a bunch of time making them .

 

I just read through Rusteze's thread. Really makes me want to maybe go for the yj springs. Ahh decisions decisions.

 

I think you did the right thing here. Let the suspension do the work. A cracked frame in the back country is preventable and a bad place to be. Our jeeps are 50+ years old....thats a long time for a frame to bend and flex.

 

It's not that hard to change the bushings if you don't want to cut and reweld new hangers.