Project Ruby Lee 2

[LoneWolf]

do the dana 60 hubs stick out past those h2 wheels?  i just bought a set for my front dana 60 but havent get them on there to test fit them yet

yes the front hubs stick out about 2 inches past the wheel. The rear does not... It's flush. 

[mike4089]

im thinking i might buy drive flanges instead of the lockouts....they seem to be alot tougher just in case they do get banged up on the rocks...have you thought about changing them out at all?? or are you not to worried about it???

[YJ_Aaron]

Drive flanges are much stronger than locking hubs. 

If you're going to upgrade to 35 spline outers then I would do flanges instead of spending $300 on a pair of lockouts. 

RockCrusher was offering great prices on them on Pirate.

[LoneWolf]

im thinking i might buy drive flanges instead of the lockouts....they seem to be alot tougher just in case they do get banged up on the rocks...have you thought about changing them out at all?? or are you not to worried about it???

I'm not worried about it right now. I've got too many other irons in the fire. Though, I'm sure I'll worry about it later. 

[Jeeper guy]

So whats next for the cj, any updates?

[LoneWolf]

I've been busy working on some new tube fenders and hoop. I wanted to build something that would follow the hood, so that's what I set out to do. I used 1.75DOM and then some 3/16" smooth plate on the outside. (cutting out the pieces with a sawzall is not my idea of fun) I'll skin the inside with 1/8" smooth plate. I wanted to tie into the hoop but also wanted to be able to remove the fenders without cutting so I took a piece of 1.5DOM and welded to the hoop for the hood bar to slip over. This enables me to remove the fenders by first removing the winch plate. I'll get some more pics this week. The fenders are done, save for adding some putty and smoothing it all out real nice like. I also still need to skin the inside (fender wells).... and plan to come up with some sort of removable flare made from Kydex or something similar. I got the idea in my head. 

I don't happen to have a press brake, so this is my way of bending flats. Works great on small stuff!


The front hoop bent and cut ready to weld on. Alignment looks great.


Driver side installed and hooked to the hoop. I'll drill holes and either use a tractor pin or bolt to secure the hood bar to the hoop.


Passenger side installed. Front hoop is tilted a smidgen forward because I don't have the front bumper on. The tabs from the bumper/stinger I do next will put it back to plum.


You can notice in this pic I sloped the hood down quite a bit. I really like how it turned out.


more to come...

[gdowling]

So just out of curosity - Did you trim the bottom of the back part of the hood so that it wouldnt hit the cowl when it is in down position? What did you do with the grill, cut it? lower it? It is progressing nicely I dig!

[LoneWolf]

So just out of curosity - Did you trim the bottom of the back part of the hood so that it wouldnt hit the cowl when it is in down position? What did you do with the grill, cut it? lower it? It is progressing nicely I dig!

No trimming on the hood... I trimmed off each side of the grill. I had to cut more off of the drivers side to clear the steering box. It's all hidden can't see it unless you stick your head down there and look for it. I also lowered the body mount for the hood about 2". The YJ's hood body mount is higher than the CJ.

[xj42]

Unless you need it for strength, 1/8" for the inner fender will make them heavy and may not be necessary.  I would go with some along the lines of 16ga, my opinion.

[LoneWolf]

The inside skins will serve no purpose but to mount a few things to and keep mud out of the engine compartment. I figured anything less than 1/8 would be too flimsy... for some of the things I am wanting to mount...as far as extra weight, it might equate to 10lbs. tops. I'll check it out though. thanks.

[gdowling]

I need to do the same thing on my fenders so put up some pics when you get it done, as I have multiple ideas of how I might do it but not really sold on any of them!

[jeephacker]

That's looking really good! How's the new welder?

[LoneWolf]

Thanks Scotty. I'm just waiting to get my steel for the inner skins, couldn't swing it this week. The new welder is awesome... I love it!  Can't wait to get my plasma next.

[gdowling]

Not trying to get off topic but curious as to what welder you have? Do you burn flux core?

I just ordered a new Hobart Handler 187 mig, and last week I bought a Lincoln plasma pro cut 25(awesome). Thing to keep in mind on the plasma is that they take a fair amount of constant air pressure(mine wants a constant 65lbs) to work properly. The one I bought can be plugged into a 110 or 220 and it will reset itself accordingly - with that said I have been running it off of a 110v 20amp circuit hooked to my 8 gallon air compressor(to small) and I can cut 1/4" like butter, but only for about 20"-30" then I have to let the air compressor catch back up other wise it wont blow all the way thru. In any case I don't think a guy is any better off with 50 gallons of storage, I think it is way more important to have plenty of HP to compress the air faster. Anyways just thought I would chime in.

[OJTV8CJ]

Not trying to get off topic but curious as to what welder you have? Do you burn flux core?

I just ordered a new Hobart Handler 187 mig, and last week I bought a Lincoln plasma pro cut 25(awesome). Thing to keep in mind on the plasma is that they take a fair amount of constant air pressure(mine wants a constant 65lbs) to work properly. The one I bought can be plugged into a 110 or 220 and it will reset itself accordingly - with that said I have been running it off of a 110v 20amp circuit hooked to my 8 gallon air compressor(to small) and I can cut 1/4" like butter, but only for about 20"-30" then I have to let the air compressor catch back up other wise it wont blow all the way thru. In any case I don't think a guy is any better off with 50 gallons of storage, I think it is way more important to have plenty of HP to compress the air faster. Anyways just thought I would chime in.

I run my plasma (Hypotherm) off of a 6 horse 2 stage and it will cut forever.  Just watch craigslist and find a deal.  I used to do the "wait for the compressor" and it was less than fun.

End Hijack