Wildman's TJ is getting a face lift

[Apparition]

Ryan said he could get a Wilson on Amazon. And it was similar to the one I got.

I know the HF one isn't a heavy duty vise but it won't see a lot of heavy work. And if I sell this place soon I'd hate to leave a nice vise here.

$419 when I bought mine on Amazon. USA made at the time and I believe they still are even though that link I had above says Taiwan.

Wilton 63200/1755 Tradesman Vise https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004XPVH/?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[Wildman]

$419 when I bought mine on Amazon. USA made at the time and I believe they still are even though that link I had above says Taiwan.

Wilton 63200/1755 Tradesman Vise https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004XPVH/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Did you LOOK at the price NOW??? $1,300. No FUCKING WAY..... Maybe if I used it everyday and it was for my job.

Yep every one of them I looked at said it was made in Taiwan.

Like I said if I break this HF vise no BFD as it wasn't super expensive. And I won't be using maybe once or twice a week at most.

 

[Apparition]

Did you LOOK at the price NOW??? $1,300. No FUCKING WAY..... Maybe if I used it everyday and it was for my job.

Yep every one of them I looked at said it was made in Taiwan.

Like I said if I break this HF vise no BFD as it wasn't super expensive. And I won't be using maybe once or twice a week at most.

Looks like they changed production to Taiwan in 2019. That’s disappointing.

 

[Wildman]

Looks like they changed production to Taiwan in 2019. That’s disappointing.

Looks like only 2 versions are now made in the USA.

 

[Mike_H]

Do they still make bench vises? I can get a new Wilton bullet on Amazon.

I keep watching FB for someone who is selling one that doesn't know what they have. I have a 4" Columbia from my Grampa that serves me well, but after using a Wilton Machinist a few times, they really spoil you. The 4" works for 90% of what I need it to, but having a 6 or 8 inch vise around would be tits.

 

[Wildman]

I keep watching FB for someone who is selling one that doesn't know what they have. I have a 4" Columbia from my Grampa that serves me well, but after using a Wilton Machinist a few times, they really spoil you. The 4" works for 90% of what I need it to, but having a 6 or 8 inch vise around would be tits.

Yep that is what I was doing along with watching the local Buy/Sell groups and either they were trashed or they knew what they worth.

This HF vice will work for what I'm doing.

 

[Alex01]

Cough Wilton cough

 

[Farmergreg]

Ryan said he could get a Wilson on Amazon. And it was similar to the one I got.

I know the HF one isn't a heavy duty vise but it won't see a lot of heavy work. And if I sell this place soon I'd hate to leave a nice vise here.

My point was they more or less take the HF vice and slap the Wilton name and price on it.

I'm awful sick of the major brand name sourcing in china. Timken is one. #50 chain bought last fall used to be made in the usa. This spring China. Product doesn't even look similar.
Vote with your dollars....

 

[Wildman]

My point was they more or less take the HF vice and slap the Wilton name and price on it.

I'm awful sick of the major brand name sourcing in china. Timken is one. #50 chain bought last fall used to be made in the usa. This spring China. Product doesn't even look similar.
Vote with your dollars....

Yes it's a shame we've come to this. It's even more a shame that a Built in the USA carries such a high premium price wise. I'd rather buy stuff made here but there is a limit too.

 

[Wildman]

This is a view I haven't seen for a long while. This is sitting in the drivers seat.

People had asked about the clearance around the seat and the GR center console.

I needed to install the drivers seat to figure out where to mount the ball valve. This is going to be the parking brake.

My first thought was to install it in the floorboard. But that doesn't work with my prosthetic on the right side. So then I was looking here.

But after sitting in the seat I decided I wanted to mount it a little higher.

Now to just get it all plumbed in.

 

[Wildman]

The really hard part is getting around all the other CRAP I've got under the Jeep and getting the lines where I need them.
After spending a while looking I'm considering getting flexible lines to do this. I'll have to get a good measurement for length and then go from there.

 

[Wildman]

This valve is a surface mount setup so my thoughts are that I'll need a hole the rotating stop can fit into?

The handle fits on top. It's 1.25" as close as I can figure.

 

[Wildman]

Got the ball valve mounted temporarily until the hoses arrive.

The handle can be moved 33⁰ off center. So I came up with this position as what I liked best.

This is the Open position.

And then the closed position which would be brakes set.

This is open with the handle inline with the valve.

And closed

With the handle off just to show what it looks like.

Open

Closed

I did try it with the handle moved towards the dash but it would have hit it once the overlay way installed.

 

[Wildman]

And of course after sitting in the seat I moved the handle back to the inline position.
My knee would have been hitting it in the other position.

And then closed

 

[Wildman]

I'd decided to try and repurpose the old XM tuner and line input bracket I'd made before. It was welded on the crossbar so I'd have to cut it off if I couldn't use it.
I have a Lowrance GPS that used to be mounted to the top bar of the cage. But the V bars are in that spot now.

I drilled holes for the mounting bracket and installed nutzerts.

The GPS bracket fits great.

The Insane Audio stereo I have already has GPS but this will give me a stand alone unit. I might upgrade to the type @NashvilleTJ has someday too 🤔. But this will work for now.

 

[TJosh02]

I admire your work. Wish I had the shop and the determination. Your tweeter mount, which I am seeing the first time gives me some ideas. My cage isn't like that, but still gives me ideas.

 

[Wildman]

I admire your work. Wish I had the shop and the determination. Your tweeter mount, which I am seeing the first time gives me some ideas. My cage isn't like that, but still gives me ideas.

Thanks. There are days where I'm ready to throw in the towel 🤪. Things just seem to fight me every time I do something.
I spent a long time without a garage to work in. So I understand.

 

[Wildman]

Performance Coating just called and said my parts are ready for pickup. I've got a doctors appointment on Tuesday so will most likely go over on Wednesday to pick everything up.
Being a long weekend I am not going to go over to the westside today (Friday) and then have to deal with the traffic coming back. Would have been nice to have the exhaust parts here for the weekend but it's not worth the frustration.

 

[Wildman]

Been trying to get little things accomplished while I'm waiting for the exhaust.
Yesterday I'd started hooking up the transfer case shifter. Now doing a single cable shifter I'm sure is frustrating and doing a dual cable shifter that much more frustrating. 🙃
Doing a triple cable shifter is just about enough to put you in the funny house.
And what makes it even more difficult is dealing with a gear driven t-case.

I played with it enough to finally get the low range selector to pop into neutral. This gives me a reference for where the front and rear shifters sit.

Per the instructions I started with all three shifters in either all the way one direction.

But then I needed to be able to shift them to check the adjustment. But for those who know gear driven t-cases it needs to be slightly spinning to make it shift. And since I'm not able to run the engine the other option was to spin the driveshaft.

Here's what I have so far. Once I have a second pair of hands I'll be able to shift the front and rear shifters. This is with the low range selector in neutral.

 

[Wildman]

Wow tons of FUN.... I hope it's easier to shift once it's spinning. Been too long for me to remember. I do remember it being hard sometimes but not like this.

Got all three in neutral. Got to make some adjustments on the front axle shifter.

Once I get it adjusted I'll play with it some more and see how it does.