trying to find a tub for my 49 CJ2A, JCW has glass ones for $1000 to my door, steel is $3K to my door, anyone have any experience with these tubs, were you satisfied? installation problems? can I use a roll bar on these or do I need to go to the frame? Im not building a show truck and dont car if it is orginal or not, i prefer the steel, just not the price.

The fiber bodys break instead of bending like steel. I have heard they are unfinished an need alot of sanding when they arrive. You can always tell when the body is fiberglass. Try to find a used steel tub and weld it up or have it welded up. I paid $400 for my tub and it was clean as heck.

I have been looking for a steel tub for a year, just cant find one that isnt wasted, mine has a lot of rot on the floor, and other places, too much to fix,

This isnt going to be a hardcore cralwler, so Im not worried about bouncing the body off the rocks too much, Im actually building this as a surprise for my dad, keeping it fairly stock/small, except for 33" tires,

anybody else have experience with these glass tubs?

steel tub wanted

4wd By Phone: Our hours are Monday-Friday, 8am-9pm, and Saturdays from 9am-5pm EST. To place an order, you can call us Toll Free at 1-800-333-5535. International orders, phone 330-482-4924 or 330-482-6414. Give them a call should be able to help you out

4wd bodies are $1700 for glass and $2800 for steel to my door, ouch!!!


JCW is $1050 for glass to my door, just worried about the quality...

I have only seen one fiberglass Jeep body, and it was a CJ7. Dont know who made it, but I was less than impressed. The person that had it only wheeled the mildest of trails, and it cracked out and looked horrible in no time. I know the spent a lot of time fitting it and working it to make it look even half way decent when it first arrived. I certainly dont believe I will ever be owning one.

If you are going to be paying that much money for a steel tub, you would be way ahead of the game to get an aluminum one from JP Offroad. There stuff is very high quality.

i have had 2 friends with fiberglass cj7 tubs. One was a real pro at fab work and knew jeeps. His fiberglass tub was great. It looked awesome, and the only way you could tell it was fiberglass looking at it was b/c all the pannels were so staight and looked perfect... His tub was built with a colored resin, so it was a good looking orange, and didnt have any paint...

The other friend was an idiot and his tub looked like a piece of crap. He drilled holes to bolt stuff down without using steel backing plates and it wore the fiberglass real bad. He also put something real heavy in the back and cracked it, he didnt do anything about it for a long time and the rain seeped in and eventually started to split the layers in.... It flexed a lot more than a steel body and that meant paint cracked and fell off a lot...

I've had the 4WDH glass body on my CJ-7 for about 16 years, it out lasted the frame.I put the aftermarket frame under it about 5 years ago. I will never go back to a steel body I hate rust. I have hit some stuff wheeling and the glass does flex where if it were metal I would have dents and rust. There is no paint on mine to worry about it is right out of the box from when the truck dropped it off.

looks to me that the 4wd glass body could be higher quality than JCW, is also $600 more

From the people that I talked to years ago when I did mine you are better to get a good body. Talked to one guy that had to re inforce his firewall and do all kinds of extra stuff. 4WDH has one now with all the holes cut even. Mine has been a DD ever since I bought I new until this year. So it will be up to you on what you pay for now or what you will have to do later. Research all the bodies and see what other people say about them, what they had to do to then, if they like them, and drop them an e mail if you have to.

Another option would be to get the cheaper body and make it stronger. Fiberglass is easy to work with. You could get some perferated steel and fiber glass it in on the inside of the tub for extra support in the firewall and floors... Just a thought

Newbie so blast away.

I'd stay far away. I used one on my CJ6 as it pretty much the only option like your facing.

The tub was very, very poorly manufactured. It was like it was taken out of the mold while still soft. Lame tollerances and little thought of how to mount it was given when they designed. I had to do a lot of mounting work to get it on, straight and secured properly. I mounted my old firewall to the glass one for reinforcement and hole locations. The 4wheel hardware kits look way nicer and from a reputable company. I used parts of thier mounting kit as well.

Overall it looks great now, but I know the crap it took to make it that way. It might break if hit hard, but I've got crusher corners, rocker armor, plus rocker skids on it.

Enjoy!

I just bought a 78 CJ5 w/a Shell Valley kevlar reinforced fiberglass body on it.I've only had the thing for a couple of weeks and I didn't have to mount it or anything so the only comment I can make is on the appearance.The fit and finish and appearance is excellent.It is gelcoated not painted,w/fiberglass hood and fenders-according to their website this is worth quite a bit more than the one being discussed but it appears to be an excellent body.It doesn't flex in any areas I seen yet,i.e. the hood is as stiff as a steel one and the floor doesn,t flex under your feet.I bought the Jeep for a little more than the body sold for but I've got a lot of details to iron out w/the wiring and other areas ,but the body appears to be the least of my worries.