Austin's 98 TJ

Got a few small things done today before needing to go to work.

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Made some zipper tie thingys for my windows so that they won’t rattle anymore when I have the windows on.

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Added a couple washers to the steering stops on either side since I got new, wider tires.

Also took apart my AC/heat slider thing that was broken. (I could make it go hot, but would have to turn the actuator switch under the glove box in order to make it go cold again.) One of the bracket slider things inside of it had popped off little knob that makes it move. Fixed that, unbent the cable, and also put some wd40 on the cable. Seems to have fixed it!

And then I got the top all the way off for the first time this year! Its a bit chilly, but still nice to have it off
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A lot got done today! I was able to leave school a bit early, and had some help from my grandfather. First off, my oil fill cap somehow stripped??

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Never heard of this happening before, but I got a new one and replaced that today

Transmission fluids were changed today as well. At first I was quite proud of myself for my… creation… it was an attempt to stop the oil from draining onto the skid and making a mess, but it didn’t end up working too well and I did make a mess
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After the change, I could definitely feel a difference in shifting, so that’s good. Then I got a new oil pan delivered today from Quadratec and switched that in. Turns out the old one had a small crack/dent near the serpentine belt and was leaking pretty bad from there. It’s like my 4th time doing in the past couple months, I really hope it’s the last.

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Then I got my winch put on the jeep! And my grandfather got a matching one for his jk! He won’t really take his Jeep off-road, but has a house in the Adirondacks in NY and has gotten stuck a few times in the winter in deep snow. Last week when I told him I ordered mine, he went ahead and got one too. We did both today, it was really straightforward and pretty quick to do. Only small problem we had was a bit of confusion with the ground wire and where it had to go, but we got it figured out.
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Zeak seems to be a bit of a no-name brand for winches, but all reviews I saw were good, including a couple on this forum, and the price was relatively low with a 1 year warranty, so I went for it. We’ll see how it ends up working out I guess.
 
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I’ve been taking a smaw welding class for almost 2 months now, so far it has been a ton of fun, and I’m doing quite well with it. I wanted to actually start welding something though rather than just small metal plates. So I decided to start working on making some tube half doors for the tj since I want the doors off, but mother wants some sort of protection there.

I didn’t have school today, so I had the whole day to work on it. It took a very long time this morning to figure out the dimensions and angles needed to get the outline of the door, but I eventually got it figured out so I went and got some pvc pipe to make a mock-up. I do want to put one or two cross pieces in the middle to make it stronger, I just ran out of pipe.

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This is what I got done today - doesnt look like much, but it took forever to figure out. Went and got some steel pipe as well as a metal blade for my miter saw, and I plan to start getting it all cut up in the next few days, then find a time sometime soon when my instructor is available to let me weld it all together.
 
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Austin O. said:
I’ve been taking a smaw welding class for almost 2 months now, so far it has been a ton of fun, and I’m doing quite well with it. I wanted to actually start welding something though rather than just small metal plates. So I decided to start working on making some tube half doors for the tj since I want the doors off, but mother wants some sort of protection there.

I didn’t have school today, so I had the whole day to work on it. It took a very long time this morning to figure out the dimensions and angles needed to get the outline of the door, but I eventually got it figured out so I went and got some pvc pipe to make a mock-up. I do want to put one or two cross pieces in the middle to make it stronger, I just ran out of pipe.

View attachment 410931

View attachment 410932
This is what I got done today - doesnt look like much, but it took forever to figure out. Went and got some steel pipe as well as a metal blade for my miter saw, and I plan to start getting it all cut up in the next few days, then find a time sometime soon when my instructor is available to let me weld it all together.
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Cool project. I bet the welding class is a blast.

Is your miter saw made for cutting metal?
 
NashvilleTJ said:
Cool project. I bet the welding class is a blast.

Is your miter saw made for cutting metal?
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So much fun.

I wasn’t sure if it was, I tried to figure it out online, couldn’t. Called the manufacturer and the lady said “it’s totally fine to do it occasionally, but that’s not its primary purpose.” I’ve never used it for metal, so I’ll call this my “occasionally”. If I actually get into fabricating stuff anymore often, I’ll invest in a chop saw, but I don’t see that in my near future.
 
Austin O. said:
So much fun.

I wasn’t sure if it was, I tried to figure it out online, couldn’t. Called the manufacturer and the lady said “it’s totally fine to do it occasionally, but that’s not its primary purpose.” I’ve never used it for metal, so I’ll call this my “occasionally”. If I actually get into fabricating stuff anymore often, I’ll invest in a chop saw, but I don’t see that in my near future.
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A metal cutting chop saw designed to run a blade runs a good bit slower than a wood cutting mitre/chop saw. The problem with the higher speed is it will tear up a metal cutting blade in short order. For occasional use, an abrasive blade would work much better than a toothed metal cutting blade.
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
A metal cutting chop saw designed to run a blade runs a good bit slower than a wood cutting mitre/chop saw. The problem with the higher speed is it will tear up a metal cutting blade in short order. For occasional use, an abrasive blade would work much better than a toothed metal cutting blade.
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For that reason, I got the abrasive type!
 
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Austin O. said:
View attachment 411572

Got one door cut out today. Will start working on the other tomorrow. This looks a bit empty though, think I might add another bar going horizontal through the middle of them.

Also finally got my oil pan leak to stop today!
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I'm not a tube door guy for me but I respect others that run them. I much more respect you building your own! Look great.

You had mentioned a plan for a cross bar and I through you might as a literal horizontal cross bar. The angle support looks much better and likely adds better triangulation and strength. Best of luck to you as you weld this as your project! Looking forward to the final complete set.
 
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FarFire70 said:
I'm not a tube door guy for me but I respect others that run them. I much more respect you building your own! Look great.

You had mentioned a plan for a cross bar and I through you might as a literal horizontal cross bar. The angle support looks much better and likely adds better triangulation and strength. Best of luck to you as you weld this as your project! Looking forward to the final complete set.
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Thanks! I’m excited to get it all together sometime soon!
 
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Austin O. said:
Thanks! I’m excited to get it all together sometime soon!
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There was a recent post about OEM vs aftermarket hinge. With you going with a build door, you can make your own. Recommend you take a look for it as it was good feedback on the aftermarket (garbage) and maybe worth making your own for the 'post' portion of the hinge.
 
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FarFire70 said:
There was a recent post about OEM vs aftermarket hinge. With you going with a build door, you can make your own. Recommend you take a look for it as it was good feedback on the aftermarket (garbage) and maybe worth making your own for the 'post' portion of the hinge.
Click to expand...

I’ll look. Thanks. Was planning on making one myself, but didn’t know exactly what yet.
 
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I ended up buying a cheap little welder with good reviews on Amazon, nowhere near as nice as the fancy Miller welder I use at the community college, but it gets the job done. It took a bit of trial and error to get used to the welder, but eventually I figured it out and my welds became pretty decent.

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I got one door completely welded except for the latch/hinges. The other one is tacked up and ready to be welded sometime soon.

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