Family Truckster LJ build

hokie_yj said:

Finally got to rebuild the winch. Corrosion in the drum/bushing on the idler end was the problem. It's an easy job if you don't forget parts/put parts in backwards making it take twice as long as necessary. lol. I also added the new Warn contactor control box as well. Hopefully can get it back on the Jeep and the new rope on in the next few days.

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Did you learn the highlighted red text the hard way?

ridered3 said:

Did you learn the highlighted red text the hard way?

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Definitely maybe...

hokie_yj said:

Definitely maybe...

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That's the only way to learn sometimes.

ridered3 said:

That's the only way to learn sometimes.

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Experience taught you that, makes you sound like you knew what you were doing.

xjcrawler said:

Experience taught you that, makes you sound like you knew what you were doing.

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Precisely.

Got the winch on the Jeep and the rope spooled on and tensioned. I had some extra help in the shop today making sure I did it right.

@hokie_yj winch looks good and always good to have little hands around when installing a big winch!

Well, as you might have seen in my other post about replacing an inner C, it's on there and Caster is within half a tenth of a degree and camber is 3 tenths of a degree different side to side. It's not welded yet, I'm going to tack it while it's still on the table then hang it from my lift to get it in a good position to weld.

It started as a .015" interference fit between to C and tube, and I knew that was going to be way too much. I was going to take the C to a buddy to try to open it up on his lathe, but I came home from work the morning of the 4th and went at it with a cylinder hone and some low grit sanding screen, and then hit the tube with a flap wheel and the sanding screen. I got it down to roughly .005" and decided to try it. I didn't even heat it, I just got it started on the tube with a few taps from a 4lb. hammer and it moved pretty easy so I drove it home. All in all it took less than an hour to open it up and get it on where it needed to go. Hopefully I can get it welded up this week then it will be on to fitting up the truss.

I welded the c on this morning before work. I heated it to 350* or so with the weed burner, welded it, then hit it with the heat again the wrapped it in welding blankets and left it to cool. No pictures, because I was less than thrilled with how the weld looked and it's still wrapped up in the blankets. I hung it up from my lift trying to get it in a better position to weld, but I should have lowered that end down on a jackstand or something to keep it from moving. It kept trying to swing away from me as I welded it.

hokie_yj said:

I welded the c on this morning before work. I heated it to 350* or so with the weed burner, welded it, then hit it with the heat again the wrapped it in welding blankets and left it to cool. No pictures, because I was less than thrilled with how the weld looked and it's still wrapped up in the blankets. I hung it up from my lift trying to get it in a better position to weld, but I should have lowered that end down on a jackstand or something to keep it from moving. It kept trying to swing away from me as I welded it.

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Welding wise, the harshest critic will always be you, but nothing like something fighting you when trying to do things as quickly as possible.

Here's the original weld on the C. Definitely not my best work. Not that any of it is very good.





I couldn't take leaving it like that so before work this morning I ground it out and re-heated it and welded it again. It turned out better, but still definitely not my best work. I'm leaving It alone though. I had turned my welder up a little bit for this job and didn't test it out before I started. I think that was my biggest problem. I know it's not the correct way to do it, but I generally leave my welder on the same settings for about everything with some exceptions. It's just what works best for me and gives the best results. I'm most definitely not a professional welder, or a good one even. A hack at best. The only welding I've ever done in a professional setting is 480v to ground.

So anyway after I finished the C I heated and welded one side of the tube to the center section. Before I did I set my machine back to my normal settings and it went much better. I did a little post heat, hit it a bit with a needle scaler, then wrapped it in a welding blanket to cool. I forgot to get pictures before I wrapped it up so I'll get some later. I still need to weld the other side of the center section, and also the truss will have some welding to the center section as well.

@hokie_yj i swear you get more done in the mornings before work than I do all day.

@ridered3 It's about the only time I can get stuff like this done. lol. I work a 12 hr. shift schedule rotating between days and nights. I'm only scheduled to work 14 out of every 28 days (7 day shifts and 7 night shifts), but the majority of my off days I have the boys (5 and 2.5) by myself while my wife works. I want to get them involved and interested in the shop, and I've been taking them down there with me more lately. But doing stuff like this is not the best time to have little curious hands around.

My day shifts start at 5:48am, I don't always make it out of bed but I usually set an alarm for 3am. If I can get up I can usually be in the shop by 3:30 and work on something until 5:00 or a little after before I have to leave for work.

hokie_yj said:

@ridered3 It's about the only time I can get stuff like this done. lol. I work a 12 hr. shift schedule rotating between days and nights. I'm only scheduled to work 14 out of every 28 days (7 day shifts and 7 night shifts), but the majority of my off days I have the boys (5 and 2.5) by myself while my wife works. I want to get them involved and interested in the shop, and I've been taking them down there with me more lately. But doing stuff like this is not the best time to have little curious hands around.

My day shifts start at 5:48am, I don't always make it out of bed but I usually set an alarm for 3am. If I can get up I can usually be in the shop by 3:30 and work on something until 5:00 or a little after before I have to leave for work.

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That is some mighty good use of the time available for sure!

I got to the shop this morning and got the other side of the center section welded. Like I said, I don't think anybody will be mistaking me for a professional welder any time soon.





Just for the heck of it here's the re-weld of the C. Lots of undercut as you can see, definitely needed more wire speed.



Hopefully I can start getting the truss on it soon. I'll be using the Artec Apex swap kit that's meant for a JK/JL, but Artec confirmed it would work fine, and I have seen others use it on the TJ/LJ.

Made it to the shop for a while this morning before work. Got the main part of the truss welded to the tube, still need to weld to the center section. Also got the spring pads tacked in place. Pinion angle is set at 5*, with 5* caster. The knuckles will be getting the American Iron balljoint deletes with 3* bushings to get the caster to 8*.

Looking good!

I didn't get up in time to make it to the shop yesterday morning, but I did today. I got the main section of the truss welded to the cast. As well as some welding on the spring pads. I used the same process on the center section as I did for the C. Pre-heat, peen with needle scaler, post heat, wrap to cool slowly. It turned out decent enough for who it's for.





There's still a good bit more to be welded to the center section, there's a top plate that spans the whole thing and the driver's side spring pad also welds partially to it as well.

In my spare time at work I've been drilling all my link mounts for 3/4" hardware and adding weld washers to them as well. Today I brought in the 4-link subframe pieces to get them drilled out and add the weld washers to them. For the adjustable upper mounts I used Sendcutsend.com and had these pieces made for weld washers/hole reinforcement.






Ignore the welds on the subframe brackets, they were not welded by me, and 90% of them will be ground out and re-done.

Almost finished with the welding on the axle. I need to decide if I want to run the bridge piece across the diff or not. It's really only needed with a factory style 4 link to give a mounting spot for the upper. Most likely I'll leave it off. I've been very happy with the way this thing has fit together. It's a nice piece for sure.



I decided to do something to reinforce the driver's side tube where the casting is cut back. I've seen a few pull the tube out there. The CAD work is done for that, just need to cut it out and weld it up.

Good looking axle ya got there!