TJ Frame Swap

Hey guys I started a frame swap for my TJ. The frame rails just after the LCA brackets in the rear of the frame are rotting out and the body mount surfaces on two body mounts are rotted out. It's going really slow right now but it will pick up once it gets warmer out. Here is the work that I managed during a few weekends starting this January.







I used a 4 1/2" angle grinder to remove the rust that I could get to. For the smaller cracks I used 40 grit sandpaper and a wire brush as best I could. For the inside of the frame rails I wacked the sides with a hammer to remove some scale and then tilted the frame while blowing compressed air through all the holes. I removed almost all of the scale that way. After everything was cleaned up I washed out the inside of the frame with a hose and used Marine Clean and Metal Ready to prep for POR 15 on the outside. I let the Marine Clean sit for 10 minutes for each side of the frame (top and bottom). I could flip the frame by myself just be sure to put towels under the body mount brackets so they don't get dinged up. After washing off the Marine Clean I sprayed the Metal Ready on and let it sit for 30 minutes on each side. It was really cold out the days that I was grinding and cleaning so I moved the frame into the garage to dry out. It took 2 days to completely dry inside the frame rails. The Metal Ready etched the outside of the frame very well and the base coat of POR 15 went on very smooth. While the POR 15 was still tacky I applied the Flex Cote. POR 15 is not UV resistant so they recommend top coating it with Flex Cote or something similar. It took a day to do each side of the frame. Again I put the towels under points that would contact the ground when I was flipping the frame. Once everything dried and cured for two days I moved the frame back out to the car port and sprayed Eastwood Internal Frame Spray at every angle I could in the frame. It provided great coverage and I ended up using 3 cans. I should have done this part first because some of the spray ended up dripping out of the holes in the frame so I tried to clean it as best I could.





Playing in the snow



And ripping out the interior this weekend

damn, now that's a project. Perfect time to upgrade anything and everything you want.

It's sure going to make a lift install easier haha. Here's my plan for the rebuild:

Fix both front floor pans in the tub and a tiny 1" square section in the back floor
Fix the rust under the tire carrier hinge on the passenger side
Raptor bedliner in the tub and 3m undercoating on the bottom of the tub after painting it with POR 15
Repair two rotted body mounts

And the mods/replacements all in order of importance:

New exhaust manifold/cat back
Rear Main Seal
Brown dog 1" mml (can't decide on poly or rubber, probably poly)
Daystar 1" body lift
Rokmen Gas Tank Skid
3 inch lift kit (RE superflex or Currie springs along with mixed CA and whatnot)
Tom Woods CV
Currie AR if I can find one used on CL or ebay cheap enough
UCF lo pro skid
Advanced Adapters SYE

Nice project. Looks like fun. Lots of work but lots of fun too.

i installed a poly trans mount and had to remoe right away ,it vibrated alot. i used moore bomb proof torsion rubber motor mounts . and woork great in combination with stock trans mount. i do not believe you need poly motor mounts. just my opinion, but i have installed a ton of moore mounts .

I just like the idea of poly mounts because they won't be affected by harsh weather as much as rubber. Worst comes to worst if the vibrations bother me enough I'll swap the poly out for rubber. I don't plan on driving this in the winter after I rebuild everything so rubber might not be a bad idea.

looks good.

Any progress on this? (I have no idea what icon this is. A seal?)

Edit: apparently it's a monkey?

None yet! The frame is still patiently waiting in the car port. Snow and cold weather kept me from doing anything extensive. I'll be dropping the gas tank and moving the fuel/brake lines (depending on their condition) over spring break. I'm sort of afraid to start ripping things apart under the hood haha.

Once I get out on summer break would anyone be willing to lend a pair of hands ripping the heep apart and putting it back together? I'll have plenty of beer to go around if people want to come by.

kvesi122 wrote:Once I get out on summer break would anyone be willing to lend a pair of hands ripping the heep apart and putting it back together? I'll have plenty of beer to go around if people want to come by.

Where are you located and do you have a spot for me to pitch a tent since beer is involved?

kvesi122 wrote:Once I get out on summer break would anyone be willing to lend a pair of hands ripping the heep apart and putting it back together? I'll have plenty of beer to go around if people want to come by.

Absolutely! Just let us know! (Assuming I finish my axle sitting in the basement before my wife disowns me, ha ha ha)

Count me in! Just make the date known and we'll even put out an announcement if you'd like!

Schweet! I really appreciate it man.

Someone broke into my jeep and spray painted it while I was at college this week.

WTF? Who does that?

Did they just spraypaint or did they steal things as well? Let us know if there's anything we can do.

They broke in (not hard with a soft top haha) took a bunch of tools and used MY OWN PAINT to spray my car and the frame I spent so much time painting. Oh well looks like it's getting a coat of rustoleum now. I had a work light in my car port that was also painted but I might be able to scrape most of it off the glass. The weird thing is that no one knows that it's back behind my shed and you can't see it from the road at all. The only people that know it's there are my ex gf and my neighbors who are all over 50. I'm pretty d*mn sure it wasn't my neighbors...

*sigh* hate reports like this. Do you have a good relationship with your ex, you sure it wasn't her?

kvesi122 wrote:The only people that know it's there are my ex gf ...

Damn man. I'm so sorry to hear that. She with a new guy that might have helped her? Did you file a police report?

I filed a police report when I got home Saturday. I don't think she's with another guy and the "work" that was done to my car seems too dainty to be a guys work. The cover that was on it wasn't ripped or cut and the pioneer deck that I had in there wasn't stolen or painted. I figure a 20 year old guy would have painted the dash and ripped out the deck. All the paint was in random scattered areas and there wasn't a note written in paint or anything. It almost seems like the work of a 13 year old kid but there aren't any in my neighborhood and no one knows the jeep is back there. I just bought my dream motorcycle so I'm paranoid about anyone noticing it.

Maybe the next project we do should be a small locking shed for you? Wouldn't take long at all. Eight 4x4s, 4 dozen 2x4s and a couple sheets of plywood with a door.

I've been looking up a bunch of building plans for one this weekend haha. We have a shed for our lawn stuff but there isn't really room for a bike in there. Once I get the wood for it anyone is more than welcome to come by if they want to! I appreciate everyone's help and concern.

Ugh... that sucks... unless they used primer and spray painted every inch of the tub... but I'm going with "sucks".

That really sucks. People are screwed up.

Okay guys i'm looking for opinions about which direction I should go with disassembly of the jeep. Should I take the tub off first and start moving brake/fuel lines over? Or should I take the axles off first and put everything up on stands?