97 frame off repair

[mike d]

hi guys, i live in the hills in western mass, tons of snow in the winters, incl salt and sand issues to deal with.
i bought my tj 2 years ago, it had low oil press, under 10 when idling. the computer would shut the engine down at stops and lights because of the low oil press.so i pulled engine out and complete rebuild, at 180,000 miles the main and cam bearings were worn out letting the oil leak out the side of bearings instead of going thru oil holes in bearings. it ran like a top and didn't leak or make a signal noise , it just needed to be rebuilt. so i decided to do this rebuild in 2 stages, engine this year, body and frame next year, which is now. i did the engine first because i had to plow snow with it last winter, then this sept i decided to do body and frame. This is how the jeep first looked when i got it

 

[mike d]

So in june of 2016 i pulled motor out and started the rebuild. You can see previous owner started to replace front fenders and started some body work, but i could only afford to do motor at that time.

 

[TJ2]

Mike d. lot's of elbow grease ahead of you - how is half doors warming you on winters up there?
I have not use mine yet down here in the Panhandle, been here for 3 months now but it gets cold on winter as well.

 

[mike d]

so i finished the engine, installed it . it ran great and had great oil pressure, i found a couple of used full doors and put them on and was ready for the winter of 2016. my only regret is i put the stock cam in it, i should have tried to find one that would work better for my application

 

[Mike_H]

4 cylinder or 6? I can't wait to see the post from the frame and body rebuild. I'm always impressed by you guys who have the heart to repair all that rust. I have a friend going through it now as well. Last year, he had to do some safety caps on the frame, this year, he got a new tub from down south and is peeping it for installation.

I also saw a couple John Deeres on that trailer. ..are you into garden tractors?

 

[mike d]

the jeep did everything i asked it to do. i finished out the winter of 2016 without any issues, except it was little sluggish on some of the hills out here when plow was on. other than that it was great.
Fast forward to sept 2017, didn't drive it much in the summer as i had other vehicles and was planning on body and chassis tear down. i decided to do a complete tear down when i could see that there were only 3 out of the 10 body mounts holding the tub on , the right front and the 2 in front of the fuel tank. i wished i could of (or should of) taken more photos as i tore it apart, but i was now in a hurry because winter was coming in less than 2 months. the first pic you can see the rockers had been repaired once, and once tub came off it was more pronouce than before. third pic you can see the hard top had a crack in it , that went all the way to the rear an leaked water

 

[mike d]

with all of the rot in the tub and under it, and rear bed was warped from only 3 body mounts being good the body was flexing bad.I decided to look for another tub. I was lucky enough to find one fairly close. it was a 2003 tub with minor rust, the 2 torx boxes and the rear floor ( 6 inch spot). i sent the tub out for sand blasting, while that was out i started frame repairs. had a surface rust, and under that was where found most damage, all in the rear of frame and where the center skid plate was.

 

[mike d]

i purchased both lower rear trailing arm mount kits for frame, the rear cross member and rear frame section where the cross member goes to. cut out the rotted sections and replaced. after that cleaned frame up and did the por 15 on the outside, on the inside i used a air hammer and loosened the rust up and while the rear cross member was off i ran my vac hose right down the frame to suck up the rust, then ran a chimney cleaning brush down the frame rails and then vac again. rinsed it out with garden hose and dried. a few days later i coated the inside with fluid film and plan on filling the frame rails with the expandable spray foam so the salt and dirt can't get inside

 

[mike d]

on the skid plate section, i decided to leave the skid plate off. It only was held on by 3 bolts, the other 3 rotted out in frame. seeing i don't plan on doing any rock crawling and those kind of activity's , i made my own tranny cross member out of 1x2 square tubing . did not want skid plate or anything big under there, it holds in the snow ,slush, salt etc.. causing the rust that it has. I welded the new trans member in and made use of the stock rubber mount, i still can pull trans out to replace clutch without issues. i also put a 1 1/2 body lift kit in

Mike d. lot's of elbow grease ahead of you - how is half doors warming you on winters up there?
I have not use mine yet down here in the Panhandle, been here for 3 months now but it gets cold on winter as well.

not the best at -10 to 35-40 degrees

 

[mike d]

Mike d. lot's of elbow grease ahead of you - how is half doors warming you on winters up there?
I have not use mine yet down here in the Panhandle, been here for 3 months now but it gets cold on winter as well.

i put a set of full doors on it much improvement

 

[mike d]

4 cylinder or 6? I can't wait to see the post from the frame and body rebuild. I'm always impressed by you guys who have the heart to repair all that rust. I have a friend going through it now as well. Last year, he had to do some safety caps on the frame, this year, he got a new tub from down south and is peeping it for installation.

I also saw a couple John Deeres on that trailer. ..are you into garden tractors?

its only the 2.5 4 banger , i do repairs on tractors and heavy equipment thanks

 

[mike d]

once frame was squared away, i ran all new brake ,fuel lines, replaced all rear brakes and hardware, front brakes and hardware, steering dampner and just made sure it was mechanically safe and sound.
after that i installed new fuel tank skid plate, the other was rotted out, and fuel tank. now i was ready to go back on the body.
I got body back from sandblaster . repaired the rust spot in rear,also at the same time took out the oblong floor plugs and welded those holes up. on the torx boxes, in most cases the front of the box is ok , as mine were ok, the back rots out where the middle and rear body mounts are located. what i did is cut where the torx boxes go down in size see pic with my finger showing it, the first pic is looking at the torx box from front to rear, you can see where it was cut and i installed the 1x3 tubing inside the torx box. i took these pics yesterday after plowing so there is some slush and dirt on them

 

[mike d]

Ah yes, those dreaded torx boxes, i fixed mine for under 20 dollars in material and my labor about 4-5 hours .
The pic with my finger shows where it downsizes to 1x3 , i cut from front to back horizontally the old sides of the torx boxes(rotted part) out right to the end in rear. i ground it all down to bare metal , test fit the 1x3 in the torx box front where cut , and marked where the body mounts would go. then pulled the 1x3 back out and on the top side of 1x3 where the body mounts are marked out, i cut with hole saw a 1 1/2" hole out of top only,( save piece u cut out) and on the bottom side of the 1x3 where the body mounts will be , drilled a 9/16ths hole that the 1/2 inch body mount bolt will go thru. i put a 1/2" nut on the inside of the 1x3 from top where you cut it out with hole saw and welded a nut in place over the 9/16 hole. so when you put your mounts and bolt in the nut is welded from inside. The piece you saved , i welded back in where it came from filling in the top side of 1x3 and ground smooth. repeat for the other 3 body mounts. then insert the 1x3 into the torx box and weld it up , there you have it for under 20$. if you decide to buy the pre made torx boxes, the labor will be a little more intense as you would have to drill out all the spot welds, grind, clean and smooth out to put new torx boxes in.
I should have taken more pics as i was going. i was in rush to get jeep done for winter plowing.
also in the front of the rear wheel house where torx box ends , that spot always rots out and it rots out the outer body in that area. so when i replaced my torx boxes , i cut the bottom of body out and made it open so all the salt dirt can't build up there and rot it again. it can be washed out easily

i hope this helps

 

[mike d]

after i got the tub in good condition, i epoxy primed complete tub , inner and outside, next day i rhino lined the complete underside and complete inside.
Then mounted body on frame with 1 1/2 lift kit.
after i installed the tub, i wanted to make it a short cab setup, i have it really close to done, BUT with winter knocking on the door, i abandoned the short top as it was going to be labor intense. i would have to cut top of windshield . i am thinking about getting another windshield frame and continue on next summer. i really wanted the short cab!!! shit!

 

[TJ2]

View attachment 27858

Mike, I will be "challenged" on this if I will do it myself.

 

[mike d]

so after quitting on the short cab set up, i continued to button up the inside, wiring , heater box, dash, seats, rugs and on and on, oh by the way, i wanted to change the interior color from the light gray to black. primed and rhino lined front fenders, installed and aligned up the nose. i put a full soft top on because i sold the full hard top that was on it.( only temporary, short cab in 2018 summer, yeah! ) lined up doors and it was about ready for paint

 

[lowranger]

I've always liked that half cab look.
This outfit makes half cabs for our TJs. A little pricey, but they can be had.
https://gr8tops.com/shop/jeepmodels/wrangler-tj-2/tj-xtop-half-hardtop-kit

I'm in the process of doing that exact same thing to my Suzuki Samurai.

 

[mike d]

this is last pic before paint. i know i will probably take a lot of crap for this, but i decided to bring it to MAACO for the paint.
Finally a little rest time, its thanksgiving and jeep is getting painted. i was a little skeptical about maaco but for 800$ i took a chance

 

[mike d]

I've always liked that half cab look.
This outfit makes half cabs for our TJs. A little pricey, but they can be had.
https://gr8tops.com/shop/jeepmodels/wrangler-tj-2/tj-xtop-half-hardtop-kit

I'm in the process of doing that exact same thing to my Suzuki Samurai.
View attachment 27870

yeah i seen that , but trying to save the 2000 $, but i LOVE the look

 

[lowranger]

You've don a lot of great work. Like following this. Can't wait to see it painted.