Project -XJ Evolution

dwcjwerfner

dwcjwerfner

Well-known member
Club Member
Boatsides

Well I haven't got a lot done since I tore the truck apart in the fall, too many of my other projects detracting me, well that and keeping my vehicles roadworthy as you can see in my Excursion oil pan thread.

This is what I was working with and since my wheeling was done for the season I decided enough is enough and I have got rid of every remnant of this 23 year old floor.





Nice crack he says, and that is why my rear got cut off as the entire back of the truck was buckling and short of major reconstruction of stuff I did not want, that is why I cut and tubed.....to hold the whole thing together.



I am going at my boatsides a little different than most Cherokee and for that matter other brands and buggies. I do not have huge stanchions holding my sliders in place. I am aiming for a tight triangle which will be strong. and hold the sides of the truck together fairly well. I am planning on running either 1x1 square or angle lengths on the inside for strength and I am going to use 1/4 or 3/8 UHVW or whatever that slippery strong plastic is called bolted to the boatside which is only 3/16". Combined they will be quite strong.

Here is getting them first welded into place. It was extremely ugly because I am welding upside down and sideways and I am pretty lazy and never grind anything down.




And I had a whole bunch of plug welds that I finished welding in for a smooth frame rail.........tedious.





Well after all the welding and then grinding and then welding and then grinding I finally figured out where to get the welder dialed in to do a good job for the next side.
You can't really tell because of the glare but it is smooth everywhere and besides it is getting plastic on it anyway.






And to those of you that know my garage.......



Wow! That only took me about 30 hrs of cleaning, while drinking of course though. Note on the left......steel stand...
 
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dwcjwerfner

dwcjwerfner

Well-known member
Club Member
Twinkie said:
So you're ready for my Samurai to be moved in? LoL
Click to expand...

Well being that this is the way almost the entire underside of my sled trailer looks and I haven't even started sled maintenance I am going to say not right now lol

dj
 

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dwcjwerfner

dwcjwerfner

Well-known member
Club Member
Hey Marek, thanks for noticing that I have been slacking on the XJ and hence on my build thread.
Well I did the other side and must say it was a much better job than the first side.







Then I decided I had to finish up my frame rails in order to close the boatsides in and make them strong.
Here is how you get rid of the floor that ties the top of the frame rail together. Well that and cutting with the plasma and grinding, and grinding, and grinding the rest of the slag off the top of the rail. I replated the whole rear section with 1/8" last summer.



Since I had all the crap off the rails I came up with a way to make the frame rails pretty damn sturdy where my 2 crossmembers go through and have all the forces from the 2 suspensions and drivetrain.
What I did was insert 2x3 1/8" and stitched it in along with some pieces of angle where there were gaps due to inconsistencies in the frame. I also cut holes in the 2x3 tube so that the 3/4" bolts run through them. It was not at all an easy job as my original alignments on the bolts when I was drilling them blindly through the enclosed frame was kind of sketchy.







I then cut out of cardboard a template to close in the back of the frame at the wheelwell.



Then I plated the floor with 3/16" attaching it to the old top of the frame rail and the inside of the slider.



Then I welded in the piece I had made from my template.




Then I got distracted....I mean figured out how exactly power seats go together as I knew I had to change the brackets and they were held on with big rivets.




Then I started working on mounting the seat securely because as you can see the factory bracketry leaves a lot to be desired especially as it maybe designed to "mostly hold" in an accident it would probably not hold up to repeated "accidental" rolls.



So then I cut off the old flared out bracket and made a template out of carboard to fit between the 2 attachment points.



Then I made a piece of metal to fit in there and welded it in and repeated for the other side.....but I seemed to have forgotten to take pictures of that and the 1/4" 2x3 angle that I marked to fit around the factory rivets. I will try and remember to take a picture of that.
I also want to thank Steve's 15 year old daughter Alix which some of you know for drilling one of the brackets essentially by herself with the drill press. You want to wheel you have to contribute :D


Then I put the seat in and jury rigged a rear seat in to see what it would look like.



Oops I did it again!!! :flipoff:

 
D

Dirk

Guest
Lots of pics, will have to re-read on my computer....phone screen is too small for details.
 
D

dan_the_man

Guest
Well, if you can't buy a Commanche you might as well build one. lol
 
Kunker

Kunker

Administrator
Club Member
You, good sir, are nuts. Wish I had half of your ability to get shyte done, and I can't wait to see what you do for a cage.
 
dwcjwerfner

dwcjwerfner

Well-known member
Club Member
Kunker said:
You, good sir, are nuts. Wish I had half of your ability to get shyte done, and I can't wait to see what you do for a cage.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment Kunker, ability to get shyte done.....well those who know me know that I for some reason need a deadline to really get 'r done, nothing like a deadline....

But this year is going to be different I swear, I am going to be done by April firs....well in April. One thing that does help is that my wife travels alot and when she is home she knows that I am ......what does she say, oh yeah "obsessive, complusive" about what I am doing, I think she likes it better when I do this rather than 40 hours a week on a video game.

Speaking of my lovely lass she was in the garage last Thursday and helped me bend some tube:




We were doing really good until the last 2 bends required a 50* rotation back to the floor but the tube hit the floor at 30*.



Hmmm.....as I am sitting there considering my options she was giving me a few possibilities that weren't going to work and I told her I could cut it in 1/2 and bend the rest and then weld it back together. She says "why not bend it from the other end", and I explain how the marks where to bend are at different locations because that is the way Bend-Tech does it to have it continue as one piece. She just shakes her head and says "well then you can figure out where to mark it" and I say "yes but the rotations are different", she says "just figure them out".
Then when I was putting it back in the bender I kept saying, "I think that's right, ummmmm ....well" and she said "how much tube would you wreck?" which to I replied "$25-30" and she said "well then that is not that much money and besides you will use it somewhere else".
So thanks Connie for saving me probably over 1/2 an hour of waffling as then I just did it.

Though here is a caveat for you all thinking that "man it would be great if my wife helped in the garage":
For the entire weekend she told everybody she bent the tube and indicated to me that we should have gold engraving that says 'Bent by Connie' put on the tube (and I imagine every other tube she would ever hold).

Ahh never mind, it is worth that.

dj
 
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