Accidentally building an LJ
- Thread starter Rnuovrcj5
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2005
- Location
- Stanley, NC
Even 20 years later, H2 wheels still look good on anything except an H2!
Looks great man. I love it. Nice work.
Thanks man. I’m pretty happy with how it’s all turning out so far.
Ran out of 1.5” tube yesterday and I was down to some random shorter lengths of 1.75” so I hooked up the trailer and took a ride to Stock Car Steel. Kind of slim pickings in the drop rack for what I needed so I bought a full stick each of 1.5” .095 and 1.75” .120 DOM along with a couple 1.5” .083 drops. I need a better way to store sticks of tube before I cut them. The only way I’ve found to get them out of my way is to hang them from the rafters but that’s a pain too. Just dropped these in the middle of the floor since I’ll be cutting pieces off to finish out the front.
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2005
- Location
- Stanley, NC
Get a couple wall mount ladder hooks from Lowes Depot and screw em into studs on the side wall. Even if there's a workbench or something in the way, set the difficult end on first, then hop down and set the easy end on.
I’ll probably do something like that once I close the front of this building in. I’m pretty much working under a 12’ tall carport right now with closed in storage behind it. 40x45’ roof and slab but only the back 20x45’ “back” is enclosed. And there’s a tack room built like a building inside a building taking up a big chunk of that space. It was built as a barn with covered parking. My plan is to put up walls and a pair of roll up doors but I’m making it work for now.
Stock Car Steel just called and said my order was ready for pickup. I just got 4ft lengths for my links so I didn't have to deal with 20ft lengths.
ghost
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2006
- Location
- Hartsville/Camden,SC
I have some 12" shelf brackets on the wall at my shop. There is a tube of 1.75 and some 2x2 on it now. Works great and I've had 4 or 5 20' sticks on it.
I figured that if I had them cut it in half I’d end up needing a piece like 6” longer than what I had. Some of it is going to be the front of the roll cage so I’ll need some longer pieces for that.
I’ll do that once I have walls up. If I did that right now it’d be the same as just leaning them against the outside of the building. The roof being 12’ up means if there’s even a breeze along with rain, everything is wet.
Couple more tubes fitted for the shock hoop brace. Tube couplers from TMR should be here tomorrow to make it removable once it’s welded in.
I spent Saturday pulling the front axle back out and getting after it. Lower link mounts got treated to a little love with a torch and grinder. I don’t really know how well they were welded on, but they were welded a LOT. New mounts are on and rolled down a bit from where they were. This gives me a little bit more vertical separation and should keep the lower links off of the frame rails at full bump. While the axle was out I also welded everything on the Genright upper link bracket and the track bar mount. I also plated the side of the diff cover with a piece of 1/8” steel to reinforce it for the hydro assist ram tabs. I welded one of those on too but I’ll wait for an unbent heim to show up before I burn in the other one. Painted it all up and stuck it back under the jeep. I double checked the link lengths and sent some dollars to WOD for some blingy lowers. Upper is going to be 1.75x.120” 4130 sleeved with some 1.5x.095” 4130. I’ll cut/weld it when I install the fancy lowers.
I snagged this cool power hacksaw from the Tex Powell Racing auction. It should be a nice addition to my fab tools and now I can stop looking for a horizontal bandsaw. Everything except the coolant pump seems to work like it should and it even came with a stack of blades for it. I’ll clean it up a bit and use it.
I spent Saturday pulling the front axle back out and getting after it. Lower link mounts got treated to a little love with a torch and grinder. I don’t really know how well they were welded on, but they were welded a LOT. New mounts are on and rolled down a bit from where they were. This gives me a little bit more vertical separation and should keep the lower links off of the frame rails at full bump. While the axle was out I also welded everything on the Genright upper link bracket and the track bar mount. I also plated the side of the diff cover with a piece of 1/8” steel to reinforce it for the hydro assist ram tabs. I welded one of those on too but I’ll wait for an unbent heim to show up before I burn in the other one. Painted it all up and stuck it back under the jeep. I double checked the link lengths and sent some dollars to WOD for some blingy lowers. Upper is going to be 1.75x.120” 4130 sleeved with some 1.5x.095” 4130. I’ll cut/weld it when I install the fancy lowers.
I snagged this cool power hacksaw from the Tex Powell Racing auction. It should be a nice addition to my fab tools and now I can stop looking for a horizontal bandsaw. Everything except the coolant pump seems to work like it should and it even came with a stack of blades for it. I’ll clean it up a bit and use it.
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35xj
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2005
- Location
- Asheville NC
cool build!
CRAZY. i built that tube buggy maybe 20 years ago!
i cant believe how many times its changed hands, and still going strong!
CRAZY. i built that tube buggy maybe 20 years ago!
i cant believe how many times its changed hands, and still going strong!
That’s pretty cool! It was a good little ride when I had it. It got changed up a bit after it left me and last I heard it’s out west somewhere now.
Shock hoop cross bar is now removable. I’m an idiot and managed to solidly weld 3 of the 4 couplers in “upside down”. They still work fine and it’s really only a bit more effort to remove/install it than if I had them all the “right” way. After that was knocked out I tacked a few trick tabs on to the hoops to hold the horn, pdm, and auxbeam box. They’re all just heavily tacked because I’m not sure if that’s where they’ll permanently live. Then I chopped up one of my already heavily cut up fenders just to see what it will look like with the hood/tub corner filled back in. Looks much better and it’ll eventually get a nicer panel/tube fender made.
gslander
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2021
- Location
- Hickory, NC
Looking good!!