neohic

Ask freakjeep93!... for anyone who's been around long enough to remember that, anyhow. :laughin: Boy, I've been feeling old lately. There are a few good threads here where others have plated their frames. It really comes down to removing everything that isn't good metal and cleaning it before welding. Some nice long fish plates are also your friend here along with thinking through your cuts to make sure everything goes back together properly. Here's some stuff to think about at while crawling under your truck with a square and tape measure... Z-cuts: These are to extend any stresses of cutting over a larger area. They also make it easier for lining things up again if you do a good job of measuring. Fish plates: See the ends how they come to a point? Those are also there for moving stress points. Welds don't like straight lines that are perpendicular to a long frame... it'll only crack in the future. Plug welds aren't a bad idea either. They further tie in the fish plates to the good material under them. How far back to add in new metal: Cleanliness! CLEANLINESS! CLEANLINESS!!!... cannot be stressed enough. Grab a chipping hammer or a punch and just start knocking around under there. Does it poke through? Soft? Then grab a grinder and just take off the layers of under coat and paint. The frame shouldn't look pitted at all if you have intentions of welding over it. If it were me, I'd tie in at least a good 6-8" of known solid steel with my fish plates. Before any cutting starts though... ANY CUTTING!!! :smart: ... make sure that the frame is level and make a good road map of some dimensions that you can refer back to when it comes to start gluing it all back together. How about some pictures of what you're working with?

Another round of bed liner! It's getting warmer outside and it was super nice to have the door open while working out in my shop. The sun went high enough that it cast a shadow into the shop and all my heat suddenly went away. Ah well... the torpedo heater worked really good last time so it went back to assume its position. I taped off the VIN also in case of any impromptu future reference. Mmm... more progress...

I think it's cute and I kinda dig it. In my head I'm trying to justify liking it. :rotf: Wait!... the bed side! :idea: Put the outside on the inside and things start looking familiar! ... AND?!... There you have it! It's pretty much the same truck we already love! :D Anyhow... I still like it.

Real nice, BJ!

Had a nice stack of tires waiting for me today. :banana: Now to find time to have them mounted.

Definitely. We're more interested in a small house though. Not tiny, but not more than 500 square feet. My brother is an architect as well and he loves the idea too. He drew me a 22'x22' footprint house that we're hoping to make happen eventually. Small house... big shed/shop though.

Alright, so I didn't let it sit for the week. Everything was dry and looked great, and I needed something to do this morning. So it got flipped... ... and then I lost all sense of accomplishment. That needed to change. Bed liner next weekend I suppose and then new parts start going on.

This is getting good!

Another work day that seems slow with not much to do but watch things dry. Ah well... needs to be done! Made a tape line at the rear and around the front beam mounts. Used course scotch brite pads to rough up the finish. Half prepped: I've used the Herculiner bed liner in the past with really good results. I've had zero issues with it over the last six year in the bed and along the sides of my Eliminator. It really comes down to the prep. Application goes fast especially in a flat position like this. Nothing finer than bed liner! I'll let it really dry over this week and then it'll get flipped back right side up.

You're right, Don. No kids here and there never will be either. I've got six nieces and nephews though and my love them all! Best part about them is that they go home. :yes: Kids are great and someone needs to repopulate the world but they just aren't for me. As far as being young... :roll: ... we both turned 30 in January and February. Pete, I already told the wifey that I want to live somewhere for longer than four years. The first house was four years and then we moved. This place is year number four as well. Time to pound in the tent stakes a little deeper.

Well... I suppose it's time to $#!& or get off the pot, eh? This is happening THIS YEAR... period! My wife and I are done spiffing up the house and are getting ready to put it on the market soon. She's done with school in May, and then after that we really don't have any reason to stick around this dying island of a town anymore. Plans are to be making a trip from April 27th through May 1st to do some recon. She's making a list of (temporary) apartments to look into while also putting out the feelers on potential jobs. Maybe even set up some interviews? It's kind of difficult to make any sort of for sure start dates as of now, but we really need to start kicking over rocks to see what's underneath. I'm currently wrapping up projects as far as I can in the mean time and I just applied for a welding instructor position at Lincoln Tech. in Denver. Could this actually be the year the sun, stars, and moon align for us? :crossfingers:

PAINT!!! Just over six years after shortening the pan, but it's paint none the less! There's a ton of trash in the paint where I rolled it on, but it's getting bed liner on the floor pans too. Really happy with how the bottom side is turning out though! I used Rustoleum as I've had really good luck with it in the past. It's currently still drying, but I'm helping things along.

It is March! The seasons are changing (I hear), the snow is melting (for those of us who have it), and it's time for a new month of MJOTM (that's why we're really here, right?). This month is another one of those way overdue type members who currently has a lot on his plate. All this after a huge swap on his truck, anyhow. This one really goes without saying... YEAR/MODEL ● 1991 Pioneer 4x4 ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● 3.3L Cummins 85hp-215ft/lbs DRIVETRAIN ● "Stock" Swapped in an AX15 COOLING ● Stock radiator 2 electric fans (switch/thermostat) ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Stock SUSPENSION/STEERING ● 4.5" Rusty's lift INTERIOR ● Stock Reupholstered swapped in bench seat Hand made gauge cluster A-pillar gauge pod BRAKES ● Stock LIGHTING ● Putco wiring harness Delta H4 conversion housings 130 watt Narva off-road motorcycle bulbs LED plate lights EXTERIOR ● 97+ doors, fenders, front clip Freshly repainted to original midnight blue WHEELS/TIRES ● Powdercoated Silver Turbines! 235s but 33s coming soon MISCELLANEOUS ● Factory roll bar Built my own factory looking rear bumper "krustyballer" hitch FULL BUILD THREAD HERE Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● I don't really have a best story. But its always nice to hear people tell me that i have a nice truck. Its even better when people get in it (tire shop workers, windshield installers) and start it up and "freak" out from the rumble and noise of the little Cummins. It can even put smiles on other diesel owners when i "smoke them out". Its just something most people don't expect! CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● When i first got my MJ the site was a GREAT source of information and now its helping me grow my "business" as I'm selling hitches, sliders and bumpers on the site! Oh, Brandon... there are so many of us around here who dream of a diesel MJ and you just went and made one for yourself. Very cool to watch your progress and see the production of all the custom parts! Congratulations and good luck with your future endeavors in fabrication. Here's to you! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

Saturday was nice. Spent about seven hours watching a frozen hole. Beautiful weather... well enough fishing... whiskey IN the rocks... :)

Seat belts came in super quick! I had them earlier in the week and found the time this morning to make up some mounts. Pretty straight forward... tab at the top and a bigger tab at the bottom. The belts and mechanisms themselves are a nice quality. Everything around the belt spool at the bottom is covered nicely without any of the rotating assembly exposed. That's really what I wanted... no risk of anything getting snagged in there should anything be stowed behind the seats. The female end of the belts have a large plastic cover on them that's kind of stiff though and makes for a goofy kink when wrapping around a seat. I would bet a hair dryer would make short work of getting them the right shape. Anyhow... Then I took it all apart to the point that I could flip the chassis over for final finishing on the bottom. Feels really good to finally be at this point! :D ... and it wasn't super sketchy at all getting things to this point by myself. :shake:

Might be able to help you out with this. Let me have a look at what I have up in the rafters in the morning.

Wow... I was thinking about the last time I put tires on this truck and it was 10 years ago. What's sad is that I still had the old receipt from them and the price was $461.13 for just the tires. Just ordered up a set of Treadwright Wardens and never would I have ever thought that I would've purchased tires for this truck for cheaper than I did 10 years ago! How much you might ask?... $455.81 after shipping! :banana:

I don't know, Don. Any plans for more than just the black glove box cover. :hmm:

Looks like this little truck is getting a set of Treadwright Wardens. Been doing a lot of looking around for who's got a better deal on BFG ATs, and 4 Wheel Parts was the best I found at about $600/set. Treadwright is having a sale on their Wardens right now that'll put a set on my doorstep for about $460. Slightly bummed that they don't have a raised white letter, but I guess it'll be better than the current look of advertising for my no-name cheap-@$$ tires. :oops:

Ordered: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Retractable-Front-Shoulder-Seat-Belt-3-Point/252276368896?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Dcb3c8988c7d34f22ae7762d1f72186d4%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D221039320884&rmvSB=true

I've got a huge pile of chassis parts in the basement right now. Disks will be going on front and rear. :wrench:

Side crash bars done. Filled holes in the floor and added more where they needed to be. Scratched off a few other small things on the list too. Went to the local salvage yard in search for some seat belts too without any luck. Right now I'm leaning towards just ordering up a set of three point belts and being done with it: http://carcraftstore.com/3-pointretractableseatbeltsharnessset.aspx. I like the idea that they'd be fresh and new, but I'm sure a cheap used set would work just the same. We'll see. I'd like to find something soon so I can get the cage 100% finished and out of the way so I can get working on the chassis.

Everytime I see this thread... ... sorry, Bo. Been sitting on that one for a while now. :rotf:

Does this mean that a 4x4 swap is in order, Don?