Wait, Victor's an engineer? Victor, how do you turn the switch off to getting to perfection in your work?Two engineers, two methodologies.
I’ll be the third and say get both. One to wheel and one to let sit in the garage with a stack of parts.
Sab-a-dab-a-doo! The back-country LJ build has officially started
- Thread starter sab
- Start date
gasiorv
I'm a new world samurai, and a redneck nonetheless
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Ssssh, don't tell anyone. Most people are actually surprised when they find out.
Every once in awhile when I notice the engineer come out in me I have to stop and jam to Clutch until the analysis paralysis passes. Sometimes it gets so bad that I have to put the Grateful Dead on the headphones and go hit some trail on my mt bike. That normally clears it all up and I am back to normal
Did you get another LJ to sit next to the LS in the garage ?
Already have one in the garage by the LS. The one I wheel gets driveway or storage unit duty.
Today was a bit frustrating, but I did manage to get a few things done. My TIG skills aren't up to the task of welding the Fluxor tire carrier parts back together, so a few months back, I bought a bottle of tri-mix gas for the MIG. I've welded stainless steel with 75/25 and with Argon before, but it was never for anything structural or cosmetic. The tire carrier is both, so I wanted solid welds that won't rust.
I set up to weld, and then I spent two hours clearing bird cages from the drive wheels. I replaced the liner in my gun not long ago, and I've only welded steel with it since. I finally figured out that I had cut the liner just a bit short, and I had just enough of a gap between the tangent point of the drive wheels and the end of the liner that the slightly less stiff stainless steel would bend and start a birds nest whenever the tip of the filler slowed too quickly. I centered the liner in the gun a little more and was able to get some welding done, but it took me two hours to work through that. Arrgghh.
First, I made some spacers to weld the mounting plate to the extension because I wanted to weld the face, too, but as a filet weld. I needed about .100" of spacers to create the filet on the front side, so I cut three spacers from 21 gauge sheet:
And put them inside before setting up for the weld:
After that, I set up for the weld. This photo's for FarFire70. Clamps, clamps, and more clamps:
After setting up, I went through the two hours of frustration mentioned earlier in this post, so I didn't get many pictures during the welding. Here are the first pieces welded together:
And here's the other side, with the filet welds, but after grinding the plate flat again and installing the studs:
I then got started setting up to weld that sub-assembly to the main frame:
But I ran out of time, and it'll have to wait. I may get to it tomorrow, but in the morning, I have to put the final coat of paint on the water tank stand I've built. I don't know if I'll have time to weld this after that. Stay tuned!
I set up to weld, and then I spent two hours clearing bird cages from the drive wheels. I replaced the liner in my gun not long ago, and I've only welded steel with it since. I finally figured out that I had cut the liner just a bit short, and I had just enough of a gap between the tangent point of the drive wheels and the end of the liner that the slightly less stiff stainless steel would bend and start a birds nest whenever the tip of the filler slowed too quickly. I centered the liner in the gun a little more and was able to get some welding done, but it took me two hours to work through that. Arrgghh.
First, I made some spacers to weld the mounting plate to the extension because I wanted to weld the face, too, but as a filet weld. I needed about .100" of spacers to create the filet on the front side, so I cut three spacers from 21 gauge sheet:
And put them inside before setting up for the weld:
After that, I set up for the weld. This photo's for FarFire70. Clamps, clamps, and more clamps
:After setting up, I went through the two hours of frustration mentioned earlier in this post, so I didn't get many pictures during the welding. Here are the first pieces welded together:
And here's the other side, with the filet welds, but after grinding the plate flat again and installing the studs:
I then got started setting up to weld that sub-assembly to the main frame:
But I ran out of time, and it'll have to wait. I may get to it tomorrow, but in the morning, I have to put the final coat of paint on the water tank stand I've built. I don't know if I'll have time to weld this after that. Stay tuned!
Like I said, Victor, I admire your spirit. Unfortunately, as an engineer, taking the object "too serious" is my way...
I'm not quite to the level you are Scott, but the "broken tools' thing is something I take to heart. For me, its always, "Would I feel confident if my wife were taking it out with her girlfriends." And I build so that I don't need to rescue them. She may never actually drive it, but she's always welcome to.
That and I really don't like laying in the mud, doing trail repairs. I try to avoid that at all costs.
View attachment 680806
As I've noted before, I've been distracted by other, more pressing things for the last few months. The biggest of those distractions is a massive steel stand that holds a 1,500 gallon water tank for our garden five feet off the ground. It's taken many, many fab hours (about 75 pieces in all), but I'm almost done - one more coat of paint (Sunday, 'cuz it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow.) Then I have to pour concrete footers for the legs, and I'm done!
So, today, while literally watching paint dry, I was able to continue modifying the Flux Offroad spare tire carrier. When I last posted about it in Post #768 (way back in October), I was just getting ready to cut lightening holes in it. In between then and now, I cut some of the corner holes with the carbide annular cutter I purchased just for this project, but I didn't post on that. Today, I cut the remaining corner holes with the mag drill:
View attachment 680809
And with all the corner holes cut, I played "connect the dots" with the jigsaw to finish the cutting. Since this is 304 SS, which is hard on tooling, I bought four of these carbide jigsaw blades, hoping they'd do the job:
View attachment 680810
So, with the new tooling in hand, I set to work cutting them out, a task I've been dreading:
View attachment 680811
Those blades worked pretty good! I ended up using a compressed air nozzle blowing full-speed on the blade throughout the cuts because it ran very hot! To cut those five pieces out took about 90 minutes, four M18 High Output Batteries, and I used up three of the four blades in the process.
I then used the Dynabrade mini belt sander to clean up the tangent points, followed by radiusing with a pneumatic chamfering tool and hand sanding with some emery cloth to take the sharp edges off. The finished product, with the new tire plate mocked up:
View attachment 680814
Not quite as pretty as laser-cut holes, but it'll do! Stay tuned...
Scott, how much weight did you end up removing from start to finish?
Excellent work and detail as always. Also love seeing the 1,2,3 blocks in your clamping setup. Brings back memories of the set I made back in 1984 in trade school, also reminds me I'm getting old.
This morning, I finished the final painting on the garden water tank stand outside. Then about 30 minutes after finishing, it started to sprinkle, so I madly moved everything back into the shop and blew if off with dry compressed air. Most of it didn't stain the paint, but there are scuffs and smudges from the hasty retreat. Fortunately, I'm not really after pretty, just corrosion-resistance.
This afternoon, I welded the mod'd Fluxor tire carrier, fighting bird cages at the drive wheels once more. I've order a replacement liner for the gun because it was terribly frustrating, which caused impatience, which caused even worse than normal weld quality. I wasn't having a good vision day either, so the welds are really quite horrible, but I don't think I'll have any issues with strength due to all the extra welds:
I also reduced the long top bracket to two shorter pieces and welded gussets onto them (you can see I also had some trouble with weld splatter - it was a banner day!):
And here's a picture of those brackets installed:
Here it is installed on the tailgate:
Wheel and tire installed:
Was all this effort in modifying the tire carrier worth it? If you recall, way back in Post #766, my goal was to replace my MORryde hinges/tailgate plate and Hyline tire carrier with Fluxor's aluminum tailgate skin, hinges, and tire carrier, and then add Fluxor's valance skin for no overall weight gained. Before embarking on this journey, I did a bunch of calculations that gave me confidence that the goal was achievable. Here's reality (weights are all in pounds):
So, I actually saved a couple pounds! Two other comparisons are worth discussing:
This afternoon, I welded the mod'd Fluxor tire carrier, fighting bird cages at the drive wheels once more. I've order a replacement liner for the gun because it was terribly frustrating, which caused impatience, which caused even worse than normal weld quality. I wasn't having a good vision day either, so the welds are really quite horrible, but I don't think I'll have any issues with strength due to all the extra welds:
I also reduced the long top bracket to two shorter pieces and welded gussets onto them (you can see I also had some trouble with weld splatter - it was a banner day!):
And here's a picture of those brackets installed:
Here it is installed on the tailgate:
Wheel and tire installed:
Was all this effort in modifying the tire carrier worth it? If you recall, way back in Post #766, my goal was to replace my MORryde hinges/tailgate plate and Hyline tire carrier with Fluxor's aluminum tailgate skin, hinges, and tire carrier, and then add Fluxor's valance skin for no overall weight gained. Before embarking on this journey, I did a bunch of calculations that gave me confidence that the goal was achievable. Here's reality (weights are all in pounds):
So, I actually saved a couple pounds! Two other comparisons are worth discussing:
- My modifications reduced the weight of Fluxor's tire carrier by over 30% - I started with 18 lb and ended with 12 lb. Well worth the effort!
- Disregarding the weight of the valance, I saved almost 10 lb with these mods!
Total weight on the vehicle with this build, or just the weight associated with the mods to the tire carrier? If the former, it's difficult to say until I'm done - but it will be a large overall weight gain. There's just no way around it. If the latter, I was writing my previous post when you posted, and it contains the answer.
Thanks for the kind words. 1-2-3 blocks are incredibly useful! Been using them since the mid-80s. And I, too, am getting old. Much. Too. Quickly. Where does the time go?Excellent work and detail as always. Also love seeing the 1,2,3 blocks in your clamping setup. Brings back memories of the set I made back in 1984 in trade school, also reminds me I'm getting old.
Thanks for the kind words! Watching your work reminds me of how much better I could make things look if I had your skills and perseverance!Watching your work reminds me of how little I know!
Total weight on the vehicle with this build, or just the weight associated with the mods to the tire carrier? If the former, it's difficult to say until I'm done - but it will be a large overall weight gain. There's just no way around it. If the latter, I was writing my previous post when you posted, and it contains the answer.
Thanks for the kind words. 1-2-3 blocks are incredibly useful! Been using them since the mid-80s. And I, too, am getting old. Much. Too. Quickly. Where does the time go?
It was more associated with the mods to the tire carrier. And exactly where does the time go!
I'll be 29 years at my company next month, when I started in 1997 plan was to stay a couple years and move on to somewhere else. And here I am 29 years later trying to make it to retirement.
It seems I've been posting excuses more so than project updates here lately. My latest excuse:
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/what-other-projects-are-you-working-on.57293/post-1896433
Edited to fix link address.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/what-other-projects-are-you-working-on.57293/post-1896433
Edited to fix link address.
Now if I only had time to work on the LJ...
Time seems to be in short supply these days.
Edited because I’m apparently illiterate (didn’t read the quotation or see the reference to TJ rails - sorry, Fluxor!)
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First TJ batch is in the works. Material is at the machine shop awaiting time. All 5 sets are spoken for. Front high line fenders are also in the works. If you want to place an order please shoot me an email.
Other projects keep interrupting this build. This weekend, those other projects included: painting some slippery steps off the back porch (with all the rain we've had this spring, both of us have slipped going down them - ouch!), making improvements to my blast cabinet, spraying for bugs in the attic, transplanting two trees for Mrs. sab, re-digging the holes for the garden water tank foundation piers (it's been too wet for weeks to pour the concrete, and they've filled with water and a bit of muddy clay), and welding a cracked plastic fender cap on the tractor. Have I mentioned that I have too many projects around here? Sheesh!
However, I actually managed to make a little progress on the LJ build today. I bead-blasted and painted the modified Fluxor spare tire carrier:
Only a million more tasks to go! I'm taking Thursday and Friday off, so along with Memorial Day, I'll have a 5-day weekend. My main goal is to get the foundation poured for the garden water tank stand. Hopefully, it won't take all five days, and I can get a bit more done on the LJ build. Stay tuned.
However, I actually managed to make a little progress on the LJ build today. I bead-blasted and painted the modified Fluxor spare tire carrier:
Only a million more tasks to go! I'm taking Thursday and Friday off, so along with Memorial Day, I'll have a 5-day weekend. My main goal is to get the foundation poured for the garden water tank stand. Hopefully, it won't take all five days, and I can get a bit more done on the LJ build. Stay tuned.
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Sounds like life around here. We have the project house in the UP. I'm rebuilding my Deck this spring. That required moving my pool (!), removing about 120 sq ft of sod, a little plumbing project to move a garden hose spigot out of the way...Oh, and all the design work. Plus motorhome, and all the other stuff that comes along with Spring in the Midwest (flower beds, sprinkler systems, lawn mower maintenance, etc).
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