Fabri-Cobbler

Stuck it back together. Now to score some bigger tires.

Polishing a turd Pete. And I'm considering it. It needs some bigger shoes for sure also.

Took time today and finally got it one color scheme. Slowly but surely.

Tagged it today. Went for a spin around the block... Snapchat-1711686708.mp4

Messed around with a bunch of small stuff today. Some finish welds, painting some parts of the frame. Tail light wiring. Took the flares off and they were rough behind, may patch in the bedsides, may not. I'll weld a tab to the inner bed to brace it for now. Hopefully maybe I'll test drive this thing in the next few days.

Was having issues with the way I had the tail lights rigged up before. So I decided to just return to the Cherokee wiring to make it work out. Used my knockoff Dremel to make the Cherokee sockets fit.

Love these little clamps.

Yeah, definitely easier to deal with than this.

I'm not sure it'll see much off-road use. With the wheelbase this thing has I'd drag going over an anthill.

Got my conversion joints today and put a Jeep Yoke on this Ford Driveshaft and lo-and-behold it actually fit. Threw up a temporary crossmember just to hold it up there. I'll engineer a drop/open space so I can orient the carrier in the correct position. While trying to tighten the rear up, I snapped a bolt. Nothing can ever go smoothly. Welded on a nut and got it out thankfully. Progress in the right direction, hopefully I can keep the momentum going.

Finally.

The driveshaft I ordered came today. With any luck, I may not have to shorten it at all. My conversion U-Joints should be here tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see if she fits tomorrow afternoon!

Small bump. Life has unfortunately gotten in the way the past year. The main holdup from getting it on the road was a driveshaft. I wanted a one piece shaft but after talking to numerous shops, I've been steered toward a two-piece. I've ordered a shaft from a 05 F-150 and will have it shorted and swap joints to make it work hopefully. Today I got it fired up and did some body work I'd put off. Hope to have it finally going soon!

Rear seatbelts installed finally. Ordered 6" brackets from Seatbelts Plus and mounted them into the seat brackets. It worked out pretty well. The buckles and lap belt were from the Cherokee.

Added an outlet to the back of the console before putting the interior back in. Convenient for anyone in the back, but mostly to keep my son's tablet charged for entertainment.

Thanks Pete! It's getting there.

Pulled the interior back out since it's finally getting warm. Painted the floor and seam sealed everything. Put my sound insulation down, now to put it back together. Had a friend come over and do bodywork on the roof, not my cup of tea.

Cut the hole for the filler door in the rear of the bed. Good thing... I set the bed back on and it ran out of gas.

Face-lift and sorting out the tailight wiring. Used a trailer box to make the lights work correctly.

So I found an easier way after I did all the work on one side. Mostly have the door sealing now. More work to do. It'll get there eventually....

Boring stuff... Got one rocker put in the other day. And went to the JY to grab a set of 97+ mirrors and the caps for the grab handles.

So I ran out of welding wire the other day... so I moved on to messing with other things till I got more. Redid the headliner, not perfect but it works. I tried to match the cab trim to the Cherokee fronts, but it was a little darker.

I have considered hitting up other Tractor Supplys for more.

So I'm too cheap to go buy 2x6 tube because I have a ton of these 2x4 tubes laying around the shop. So I made my own. Also bought all the clamps Tractor Supply had, they were on clearance for 6.50 or so a piece.

Thanks!! And I'm not talented by any means. I'm just hacking it together with a wing and a prayer. It's not perfect by any means.