So a friend of mine has an MJ that he has been SLOWLY working on for the last couple of years now. I'm tired of looking at the ugly thing so I ripped off what was left of the bed. The bed sides were already cut off to make room for the 40's. So I'm going to try to get it back half'd while he is away on Christmas vacation, visiting family. I know he wants room for a couple of bucket seats for his dogs and room to store camping gear so it has to be pretty functional but I might be able to get a little bit of design into it as well. The front axle is a waggy 44 and rear is an Isuzu with leaf springs all around. So here's what I got done today.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/erikcameron/Project%20MJ/Picture151.jpg

Sweet!

any houses for sale on your block? preferably next door? :D

It's nice to have friends. :D


Looking forward to seeing what you do with it......

So, did your friend approve of his Christmas present? :)

44's and 40 inch tires..... BOOOOM

Try and use some dimple die features in this one would you? I like your work but it really needs more dimple.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c62/95steel/rocktoberfest%202007/IMG_2567.jpg

I am going to be doing the same thing to mine this spring. Are you going to make it a walk through cab?

Break out that new "old" welder and get some work done on this thing!

Work your magic.:smokin: I always like what you build and your welds are like a work of art.:D

So break out the magic wand and start using it.:D

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c62/95steel/rocktoberfest%202007/IMG_2567.jpg

Are you going to make it a walk through cab?
I like the front bumper. Walk through like this....

What's the allure of a 'walk through' cab? You can grab a beer without stopping?

I like a cab to keep me warm and dry... If not exactly 'in comfort'.

What's the allure of a 'walk through' cab? You can grab a beer without stopping?

I like a cab to keep me warm and dry... If not exactly 'in comfort'.

That's because you're in Canadia :flipoff2:

Seriously though, If I'm not going with a full out tube buggy, I'd keep the cab enclosed.

Ok so I couldn't sleep so I headed up to the shop for some constructive deconstruction. This project took a back seat to my buggy while I was motivated to work on it and now that I'm stumped on the buggy I figured I might as well work on the MJ. To answer some questions, this cab will remain whole. He will be moving back to somewhere in Washington or elsewhere it is cold and I think it would be nice to have a weather proof vehicle. Cutting out the back doesn't make sense to me either. So anyway it's too late to turn back now and to make sure Brad didn't take it back I threw the frame in the dumpster and it should be gone by tomarrow! Bawhahahaha
I have a couple questions of my own. The rear axle is 50.5 inches wide inside tire to inside tire and 78.25 inches wide outside tire to outside tire. The original leaf springs were 42 inches apart center to center. The original frame rails were 45 inches apart outside to outside. So basically there was 2 1/2 inches between the inside of tire and the outside of the frame rail. The tires hit the frame rails flexing. So what is the widest I can put the frame rails and still not have the tires hit? The leaf springs I believe are stock, just spring over. I think the shocks he has are 14 inch travel and it might have 5 inches of uptravel. I haven't dealt with leaf springs in a while. I'm actually suprised how thick the unibody is. I'm still going to plate all around the unibody and cap the end and build off that. It will have an internal cab cage that goes through the back of the cab and connect to a rear backhalf tube chassi.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/erikcameron/Project%20MJ/Picture163.jpg

I am still running the "unicframe" in mine. I put in a 9" out of a f150, (=length shafts). With soft 8 rims; 15x8 w/ 4" backspacing and 36 inch irocks I still hit the frame, but I have to be at max articulation to do so. If you go much narrower on the frame will you still have room for seats?

I'm thinking the back of the seats will go up against the back of the cab so I don't think that will be a problem. I do want to keep the springs and shocks outboarded as far as I can for stability. The bed needs to be as wide as possible for storage room as well. It looks like 6 inches of space between the tire and frame would provide enough clearance. I may also run the frame narrow but outboard the shocks from the frame to keep the srings as far apart as possible.

I dunno, but I did build a lifed MJ in another life with the stock rear springs SOA. They work very well once the factory overload is chucked into the dumpster with the original frame.

They were much better than whatever POS garbage lift springs it had on it when I started.

I would mount the springs outboad of the frame to keep it narrow. I might have to do this with mine. I'll be running wider axles when its done too.

Couldn't sleep so I ran up to the shop to get a little more done.
Plated the bottom and sides and capped the end. All 3/16" thick.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/erikcameron/Project%20MJ/Picture164.jpg
I attached the rock sliders to the plating as well. They were held in with sheet metal screws! They leveraged against the body and the body was denting in and he's only wheeled it twice in Big Bear.
:shaking:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/erikcameron/Project%20MJ/Picture165.jpg
And I bent up the frame rails. Should give plenty of tire clearance as well as mount the springs and shocks out as far apart as possible.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/erikcameron/Project%20MJ/Picture167.jpg
So far I'm not impressed with working on a unibody. I don't how hard it would be to separate the cab from the lower portion but I think that would be a better foundation than trying to scab stuff to a frame that was never meant for modification. Oh well.

That should take care of the tire clearance issues.

I just cut the front off of an MJ and wasn't impressed with the unibody either.

IMO it needs to be plated from end to end.

It probably wouldn't be too hard to build a new frame for it with some rectangular tube thou.

I'm welding 2 cabs together so the doors from a 2dr XJ fit. A 2dr XJ door is about 9" longer so this should give me more room to get my 6'3" body in and out of it. The extra room will make it more comfortable since I have 12 bad discs and a 4 level neck fusion to deal with.

This will be the last major build I will be doing and I think replacing the frame would be a good idea.

The cab is mainly spot welded to the unirails and the front coil buckets could easily be built on a new frame.

I agree on the plating issues. I know on the backside it looked like the body mounts could easily be removed but I have not looked at the anything from there forward. The rest of the "frame" will be boxed in later. For now I'm just trying to get the backhalf done.

I've been thinking about basicly cutting the rails so about 1" is left and then welding that to real frame rails.

Since I'm going to be redoing the front suspension mounts and plating the frame.

Building a new frame would allow me raise the upper coil mounts to allow the use of a longer coil spring. The rear will just leaf springs mounted SOA with narrowed frame rails and a higher spring mounts for a lower ride height.

I will be building a custom bed that will taper to the frame width starting just before the rear of the tires. If I build a frame it would be easier to build the bed since I can just use it attach the floor to.

I also will be building a full cage once I can afford a powered tube bender.

I'm going out to take some measurements and try to decide which way to go.

Ditch the unibody frame altogether. It's stupid deep and getting rid of it would not only allow you to either lower the center of gravity but/or give you extra ground clearance. It MIGHT take more work but you'd be miles ahead in the long run. I think it would take less time to build yourself a frame when you consider all the cleaning of the stock frame, building the scabs to stengthen it up, and weld it in and it still isn't going to be nearly as strong as a standard frame.

So would you weld the cab and front clip onto the frame or just make mounts?

I like to have the car as rigid as possible to prevent distortion but some people like the isolated vibration that a separate body and frame provide. If you're gunna run the cage rigid to the body then I'd weld the "unibody" frame to the real frame. If not, then just make some mounts. If you do weld it, just stitch it.

I was thinking rigid was the way to go. Since you do this type of work and turn out awsome projects your input is greatly appreciated.:D Stitch welds and seam sealer in between the welds sounds like a good plan.

I'm thinking 3/16" wall rectangular tube is a good starting point. I'll have to take some more measurements and make a few drawings to see what size fits the build.

Basic goals are longer springs in the front to allow for maximum uptravel. The rearend sits too high SOA so raising the mounts about 3" will increase ground clearance. Other goals are a lower COG. This will be sweet.

Your input would be great.

Any updates

Updates? Interested to see what youve done.....

He's updating here..
http://www.offroadfabnet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2867

Not updating at offroadfabnet now either.... I look forward to his builds... now he has the audacity to do this to me..... :)