Framing Up

So its been awhile since I've updated this so I figured now is as good a time as any.  This post is going to focus on the condition of the frame and some of the work I've started to do to it.

So the font half of my frame is in pretty good shape.  It doesn't look like there is much rust, it is sold when I hit it with a hammer.  I'd say its pretty good.  Its the back half of my frame which is cause for concern.  There is a lot of rust.  Too much. I didn't realize it at the time, but when I bought the frame the previous owner had already done a really bad frame repair job.

Font Half of Frame

Back Half of Frame

You can see a few of the holes in the photo of the back half, and there are plenty more.  Where the rear shackle hangers bolt on is especially bad.  You can see the poor welding job that was done to it.    

It needed to go so step one was to remove the rear axel and step two was cut out all the bad parts and rust.  A little work with the grinder and the rear end looked like this:

 

 

 

So as you can see from the above shots the rear is in bad shape. But wait it gets so much worse...

 

 

So after a lot of drinking I did decide to fix it instead of buying a new frame.  That's right, I believe this is salvageable.  So lucky for me this section of the frame rusting out is pretty common in the old CJs.  The rear of the frame didn't have good drainage so mud and water would lay in the frame.  Its lucky because it means that I can order prefabricated pieces off of the internet!  

 

 

 

Dry fitting the prefabbed piece.  It was a tight fit on this side.  Had to use a mallet to pound it in place.

 Starting to get some of the welds down.  Burned through in one place.  I'll come back and reinforce the area later.  

I felt pretty good about these welds.  I'd been practicing a lot of scrap metal and was eager to get the frame welded.  

 

The other side of the frame was in a little bit worse shape.  I had to use clamps to hold the prefabbed piece in place as it just slide on.  On top of that a lot of the frame was rusted on top too and needed to be replaced.  In the following two pictures you can see the new metal that was welded in on top of the frame, along with  the dry fit of the new piece.  

 

I was very happy with how the top of the frame welded in place.  I should have cut out more the frame and used a wider piece of steel.  While I'm not terribly happy with it, I think it'll be plenty strong.  

  

So the rear shackle hangs are back on.  Which means the next step is putting the rear axle back on and taking the frame to get sand blasted.  I'm just hoping it comes back in one piece.