Family Truckster LJ build

Hokie_YJ said:
Not as much as I do. :( I actually welded some on the new rear housing yesterday. Finished up welding the truss minus one small piece, and welded on the UB cups. Hopefully won’t be too long and I can make a trip over the mountain to meet @Jody Treadway and get a 3rd built.
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Then meet up at the Ranch for a weekend and throw down like it is Callalantee in 2006.
 
I haven’t taken the the time to focus on fixing the 60 yet, so instead I waste my time and money on other completely unnecessary projects. A couple weeks ago I picked up a Warn 8274-50 for a pretty decent deal. I didn’t need it, but I’ve wanted one for a long time, and dang it I’m worth it. :laughing:

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I ended up deciding to go with the Motobilt mount. I have the Barnes bumper, and I know they make a mount as well. The Motobilt mount is a little smaller though annd I felt like it would fit better. Plus I liked the looks of it better too. I had to notch it to fit over the d-ring mounts on the bumper, and notch out the back of the bumper as well.

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I had to work today and didn’t sleep much last night so I hit the shop at 3:30 this morning and got it all welded up before work. Tomorrow morning I hope to get it painted and the bumper bolted back up.

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I made my own 125ish’ synthetic rope a few days ago on a slow day at work. I’ll probably tear into the winch and replace the drum seals and bushings and change the oil as well before I put it on the Jeep.

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I got the bumper/mount painted and bolted back on the Jeep. I bolted the winch on to check fitment but I pulled it back off and decided to do a cleanup/rebuild on it. I can’t get the winch to free spool. You can tell this winch spent some time sitting outside and I believe the brake may be hung up. The drum seal is also leaking slightly so might as well just tear it down to make sure everything is good to go.

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Finally got to rebuild the winch. Corrosion in the drum/bushing on the idler end was the problem. It’s an easy job if you don’t forget parts/put parts in backwards making it take twice as long as necessary. :laughing: I also added the new Warn contactor control box as well. Hopefully can get it back on the Jeep and the new rope on in the next few days.

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Well, as you might have seen in my other post about replacing an inner C, it’s on there and Caster is within half a tenth of a degree and camber is 3 tenths of a degree different side to side. It’s not welded yet, I’m going to tack it while it’s still on the table then hang it from my lift to get it in a good position to weld.

It started as a .015” interference fit between to C and tube, and I knew that was going to be way too much. I was going to take the C to a buddy to try to open it up on his lathe, but I came home from work the morning of the 4th and went at it with a cylinder hone and some low grit sanding screen, and then hit the tube with a flap wheel and the sanding screen. I got it down to roughly .005” and decided to try it. I didn’t even heat it, I just got it started on the tube with a few taps from a 4lb. hammer and it moved pretty easy so I drove it home. All in all it took less than an hour to open it up and get it on where it needed to go. Hopefully I can get it welded up this week then it will be on to fitting up the truss.


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Notching the 8274 mount around the shackle mounts was a way better idea than cutting them off like I did. Probably a lot easier to cut too. I’m gonna have to weld the mount to the bumper like you did the next time I pull it off.
 
Rnuovrcj5 said:
Notching the 8274 mount around the shackle mounts was a way better idea than cutting them off like I did. Probably a lot easier to cut too. I’m gonna have to weld the mount to the bumper like you did the next time I pull it off.
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I got the idea to notch it from a thread on one of the TJ forums I found hen searching. You had posted yours in that thread too. Haha. It was a pretty easy job with the plasma. I wasn’t as accurate with my cut as I would have liked, but it was close enough to fill the gap with weld. :laughing:
 
I welded the c on this morning before work. I heated it to 350* or so with the weed burner, welded it, then hit it with the heat again the wrapped it in welding blankets and left it to cool. No pictures, because I was less than thrilled with how the weld looked and it's still wrapped up in the blankets. :laughing: I hung it up from my lift trying to get it in a better position to weld, but I should have lowered that end down on a jackstand or something to keep it from moving. It kept trying to swing away from me as I welded it. :rolleyes:
 
I couldn’t take leaving it like that so before work this morning I ground it out and re-heated it and welded it again. It turned out better, but still definitely not my best work. :shaking: I’m leaving It alone though. I had turned my welder up a little bit for this job and didn’t test it out before I started. I think that was my biggest problem. I know it’s not the correct way to do it, but I generally leave my welder on the same settings for about everything with some exceptions. It’s just what works best for me and gives the best results. I’m most definitely not a professional welder, or a good one even. A hack at best. The only welding I’ve ever done in a professional setting is 480v to ground. :laughing:

So anyway after I finished the C I heated and welded one side of the tube to the center section. Before I did I set my machine back to my normal settings and it went much better. I did a little post heat, hit it a bit with a needle scaler, then wrapped it in a welding blanket to cool. I forgot to get pictures before I wrapped it up so I’ll get some later. I still need to weld the other side of the center section, and also the truss will have some welding to the center section as well.

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0.030" wire? Curious what you're using because I have some tubes/truss to weld this weekend too. I don't change my settings much either and used 0.030 when I did my rear. I was debating on switching to 0.035 to do the front.
 
mcconnell said:
0.030" wire? Curious what you're using because I have some tubes/truss to weld this weekend too. I don't change my settings much either and used 0.030 when I did my rear. I was debating on switching to 0.035 to do the front.
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Yeah, it’s .030” wire. I used to use .035”, personally I like the .030” better. I have an older Millermatic 251, I usually run it at 17.5V and about 300 wire speed. In that weld above I went up to 18.5V and 350 wire speed. My not-so-educated opinion is my wire speed wasn’t high enough.
 
I got to the shop this morning and got the other side of the center section welded. Like I said, I don’t think anybody will be mistaking me for a professional welder any time soon. :laughing:

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Just for the heck of it here’s the re-weld of the C. Lots of undercut as you can see, definitely needed more wire speed.

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Hopefully I can start getting the truss on it soon. I’ll be using the Artec Apex swap kit that’s meant for a JK/JL, but Artec confirmed it would work fine, and I have seen others use it on the TJ/LJ.
 
Made it to the shop for a while this morning before work. Got the main part of the truss welded to the tube, still need to weld to the center section. Also got the spring pads tacked in place. Pinion angle is set at 5*, with 5* caster. The knuckles will be getting the American Iron balljoint deletes with 3* bushings to get the caster to 8*.

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I didn’t get up in time to make it to the shop yesterday morning, but I did today. I got the main section of the truss welded to the cast. As well as some welding on the spring pads. I used the same process on the center section as I did for the C. Pre-heat, peen with needle scaler, post heat, wrap to cool slowly. It turned out decent enough for who it’s for. :laughing:

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There’s still a good bit more to be welded to the center section, there’s a top plate that spans the whole thing and the driver’s side spring pad also welds partially to it as well.

In my spare time at work I’ve been drilling all my link mounts for 3/4” hardware and adding weld washers to them as well. Today I brought in the 4-link subframe pieces to get them drilled out and add the weld washers to them. For the adjustable upper mounts I used Sendcutsend.com and had these pieces made for weld washers/hole reinforcement.

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Ignore the welds on the subframe brackets, they were not welded by me, and 90% of them will be ground out and re-done.
 
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Almost finished with the welding on the axle. I need to decide if I want to run the bridge piece across the diff or not. It’s really only needed with a factory style 4 link to give a mounting spot for the upper. Most likely I’ll leave it off. I’ve been very happy with the way this thing has fit together. It’s a nice piece for sure.

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I decided to do something to reinforce the driver’s side tube where the casting is cut back. I’ve seen a few pull the tube out there. The CAD work is done for that, just need to cut it out and weld it up.

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I got the driver’s side tube reinforcement cut out and welded up today. It’s a little ugly, but that tube is definitely not pulling out of the casting. :laughing:

I decided to go ahead and do the bridge across the diff too. Hopefully I can knock that out Friday morning before work. After that updates will be slower than they already are. Friday starts probably about 50 straight 12hr shifts I’ll be working. Starting a plant shutdown that includes a complete PLC swap and checkout/startup of the 1400+ I/O loops. Getting up to do anything before work will be a challenge.

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Had a couple hours of shop time today so I spray bombed the 60 and got the Sterling up on stands to start tearing it down.
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I brought the knuckles in to work with me tonight to put them in the blast cabinet to get them ready for the weld on steering.
 
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