FRAME RESTORE STAGE - Started in January of 2005. Took about 8 weeks (working weekends) to complete.
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1/8/2005 I finally finished removing all of the pieces off of the frame. I was carefully taking pictures along the way AND tying labels to each piece so I new where each of them went. Here you see the expose frame is ready to be taken to a Frame shop and straightened out. I hope the front driver horn can be fixed as its bent pretty bad.
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1/8/2005 This picture is not real clear, but you can see what I had to deal with Bubba's welding. I removed all shackle hangers and replaced with new ones.
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1/22/2005 After having the frame straigtened and the front horns reviewed, I decided that I would need to have the front horns replaced. I went ahead and planned to replace the shackles as well since the welds were done by bubba
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1/15/2005 New horns replaced and a new repo f marked bumper and gussets bolted on. I was pleased with the outcome, but the cost was a little steep.
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2/22/2005 I took a while to decide whether or not to replace the rear crossmember. In this picture, you can see I had to much to replace to make it look good. Since this is a very visible piece, I decided to replace it.
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2/22/2005 After I took off the rear crossmember I noticed that I had some real weakness on the frame to crossmember connections. I had to fix it with a few welds.
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1/25/2005 I purchased a repo pintle plate and rear crossmember from Ron on G503. Looks good. Installed the rear crossmember, welded the pintle plate into place, and painted with Lusterless 319 paint
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2/3/2005 At this point, I am ready to blast the frame. Although Southern California had record rain this winter so it was hard to find a good dry day to blast
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2/22/2005 After sandblasting finished, I bolted the new rear crossmember and pintle plate to the frame to see how it would look. Not bad.
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2/22/2005 Preparing to paint required a wipe down with cut Xylene so the primer would stick.
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2/22/2005 Primered the frame with the Red Oxide primer and gave it a couple coats and let it dry in the sun. I waited to do the front because I had to get the spacers and wood filler.
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2/22/2005 Before I installed the rear crossmember, I painted the inside of the frame that would be obstructed when the rear crossmember was to be installed with welded pintle plate.
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1/15/2005 Before I installed the rear crossmember, I found that the two rear horns needed some additional support. I took a piece of 18 gauge and welded on each side (where there were holes in the frame. The welding is not the best as this is one of the first weld jobs I did on the jeep.
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2/22/2005 Brent Mullin's Jeep parts created these great Rivet looking bolts. I didn't have the means to put the original Rivets back, but these little jewels screw on with a normal socket. I installation was simple and they look great.
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2/22/2005 I installed the rivet bolts on the rear crossmember and front gussets. They give the look of true rivets, and appear to hold the pieces together nicely
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2/22/2005 Installation was pretty simple. I show here how I used a socket to tighten them down. You just tighten them till the ends break off. You can then file the broken end, and both sides look like rivets.
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2/22/2005 When the Rivets break off, they need a little filing so the look nice.
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2/22/2005 I am now ready to weld the new pintle plate and finish the Rivet bolt installation on the rear crossmember. Looks pretty good when completed.
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2/22/2005 Here you can see the right side of the rear crossmember with the Pintle plate installed and the rivet bolts. Looking good and ready for the Red Oxide primer
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2/22/2005 The frame gets its first coat of lusterless 319 olive drab paint.
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2/22/2005 I welded the new shackles to the Gussets for support, and prepped them for primer and paint. I will install the rivet bolts and finish the painting shortly.
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2/22/2005 Once the gussets were installed with the rivet bolts I added a support weld to the frame all the way around the gussets. That way they are nice and firm and don't put so much pressure on the rivet bolts I installed
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2/23/2005 I installed the shackle hangers and primed, and installed the bumperettes. Note, the bumperettes are wider than the holes in the rear crossmember. So here I am using a screwdriver to line up the holes so I can slap in a bolt. I also preped the front gussets, placing shackle hanger welds on them for support.
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2/22/2005 Now, she's starting to look good. Final coat of 319 paint and ready to install the front bumper and bumperettes are installed. I got a skid plate from the Tower Park meet, so I painted and installed it as well.
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2/23/2005 I picked up a stamped skip plate at the Tower Park Meet. I primed it and painted and then installed it. Looks good. These were pretty hard to find cheap. I got a deal at the meet along with other heavier pieces that would have cost alot in shipping.
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2/23/2005 Here I flipped the frame over and gave the bottom of the frame one last coat of 319 lusterless paint. Bumperettes are installed and look good.
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2/22/2005 Flipped the frame right side up and finished some touch up painting. I am very please with the outcome. Its looking good, no runs in the paint, and the paint is coated well to protect the steel.
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2/23/2005 Front bumper now installed and painted. The spacers and wood filler were a little tight fitting all together. But looks great.
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2/23/2005 Reassemble the front bumper with everything on and front bumper installed with wood filler, shew this phase is completed.
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2/23/2005 Wood filler from the back side. I painted for protection.
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