[Jeepermat]

When I was 11 my grandparents gave me and my brother a bitchin 67 commando. It had sat covered in Arizona since my grandfather bought it in the 70's, he drove it up Mt. Lemon once, and decided he hated it. It barely ran, and the interior was covered with shag carpeting that Rats had gotten to.
We drug it back to Co, and started tinkering. 5 years of thinking I was restoring it I came to my senses and decided to build it.
I swapped in a 44 front, 60 Rear, 350TBI, Sm465, NP205, and built a cage for it. I broke the D60 in my driveway, and the 44 front on the first trip out.

So I swapped in a 60 front, and 14b rear. I wheeled it a few times before bending the front leafs, at that point the thing wrapped so bad it would hardly climb anything.

All around it sucked, the frame was full of cracks, and I was ready for something new.

 

[Jeepermat]

I decided to build a new frame for it. The stock Jeepster frame is narrow, which made it a pain to fit the engine. One of the headers dumped out right on top of the frame, while the otherside barely fit.

Also I had overheating problems, I couldnt fit a big enough fan to keep it cool due to how far forward the engine was, it was already wedged against the firewall, so something new had to be done.
I made the rails 30" inside to inside, I think the stock was 25 or 26.
I decided to make the main rails out of 2x4x.120, and the rear part out of 2x3x.120

That was the basic frame laid out. To keep everything from warping I tacked both sides together, and used a large wieght.

 

[Jeepermat]

Next, I started the tear down. I was a little sentimental cause of all the time I had spent building it, then I remembered what a dumb bitch she was, so that made it easy.

Pimpin

Im a total retard about taking pics, but I chopped off the 4" or so of body that the commando has below the doors.

 

[Jeepermat]

Next I dropped the body onto the frame to see how it fit.

It is a bitch to move that thing alone

 

[Jeepermat]

Next I started laying some tube on the front

I usually work by myself, so I have to work with what I have

I am also horrible about stopping and taking pictures, when I start getting stuff done, I forget to stop, so there are large gaps in the pictures.

 

[Jeepermat]

I had a hard time coming up with something to protect the grill, I hate boner bars, so I decided to add some balls to the mix.

It really isnt that huge in real life...
Next I added some shock hoops, and an engine

 

[Jeepermat]

Originally I had just a power steering box, I had tweaked the pump and it worked pretty well, until it got warm. Then it completely sucked, and almost killed me a few times.
I decided to go with fulkl hydro, right now I am only on 37's, but plan to go to 40's or 42s soon, and I dont want to try and hang a box off this frame.
So I started the hydro mount, the diff cover will still come off.

 

[Jeepermat]

Made some tube fenders for the front

For the front suspension I decided to go with a 3 link with a panhard. I am trying to keep it as low as possible, so this would fit the best. I ended up with about 70% Anti-squat.
For the link material I decided to go with 2x2x.25 square tubing, it was readily available, and much cheaper than DOM. For the upper I went with 1.75x.120 DOM.
Bushings on the frame end, and Trail-Gear Creeper joints at the frame.

I mocked up the mounts on a spare piece of tube, much easier than sitting underneath it

 

[Jeepermat]

Cameras really make those welds look like crap!
At this point I forgot to take pictures for a few weeks.
I had originally planned on the SM465, it worked well, however routing the exhaust around the clutch TO fork was going to suck, and I had always wanted to try and auto, so I went with a TH350.
I wasnt sure of what I wanted, so I got out the plasma and started cutting. I completely hacked out the floor, and cut off the rear end. I have always hated Jeepster rear ends, so I killed it.

 

[Jeepermat]

I missed a few weeks of pictures...so this will get choppy.
I narrowed the rear of the frame 10", and started a cage.

 

[Jeepermat]

For the rear suspension I went with a 4 link, it has around 80% AS.

 

[Jeepermat]

Today I started working on seat position, Jeepsters suck as far as head room, so I raised the cage about 2" from where it was before. It will still be tight.
The transfer case will also make the passenger seat odd to mount, if I put it on top of the tcase there wont be enough head room, so I am thinking of setting it behind it.

 

[UCTJ]

Nice work, cool to see a rig thats been in somebodies family go under the knife and come out better than before.

 

[gtxracer]

That's badass :smokin:

 

[mountain_yj]

Sick rig, nice to see something unique like this :smokin:

 

[Skorch]

commando build

Cool build. What are you going to hold it up with coilover? And yes there is not a lot of headroom for a proper cage especially if you are going to use a hard top. I have a 69 on TJ springs with 39.5s.

 

[mrboyle]

Sick biuld! I really like the front "boner w/balls" it turned out mean looking.

 

[Jeepermat]

Cool build. What are you going to hold it up with coilover? And yes there is not a lot of headroom for a proper cage especially if you are going to use a hard top. I have a 69 on TJ springs with 39.5s.

I am using 2.0 Airshocks for now. I had them, and will run them until I can afford some coilovers.

 

[51 Jeep Willys]

nice commando, very nice willys in the background

 

[GiS]

Nice job so far man!! Your grandpa would be proud...and yes, most of us know about working alone...We just dont have a backhoe to hold things for us, thats cheating hah!