Jeep Rebuild

Hey guys... some people may know I have been working on this jeep i purchased after it was in an accident about 1.5 yrs ago. I have been getting parts from a lot of you guys and I have greatly appreciated all of the suggestions, tips, tricks and opinions I have gathered from posting on this forum.

Last summer I was able to get it tagged and on the roads . Towards the end of last summer the steering box went out. Realizing I was going to need to repair part of the frame where the steering box attached, and other spots on the frame; I did an analysis on whether or not it would be effective cost wise and structural wise to repair it or just look at getting a new frame. The frame is the last piece of this puzzle, I like to call my jeep, that is keeping it from wheeling.

I was told about this YJ located at a junkyard. I went to look at it during last week. This frame and tub of this jeep are CLEAN!! so Saturday me and two buddies went to get this frame. It was probably the easiest work I have ever done on a jeep. Every bolt broke loose without much PB blaster and cursing..lol.. The jeep was practically all together... except for the two front seats, transmission, transfer case, hard top and doors. We started by pulling the front fenders, grill and hood. Then we disconnected all of the wires/hoses attaching to the engine. Which BTW is why the jeep is there. The guy with the forklift came over pulled the engine right out then he pulled the tub off after we disconnected everything. or so we thought... lol

Here are some pic from saturday.

Forgot to disconnect the e-brake cable... pair of bolt cutters fixed that ;D

it was really cool seeing the forklift taking the body away

jeep frame fully taken off.. axels/stock springs on the right still fully intact.

The tub, axles, stock springs, front grill/ radiator, hood, and 20 gal poly tank are all still there if anyone is interested in that stuff.

After about 4 hrs of work on saturday we were able to take apart this jeep and pull the frame. the next step is to clean up the frame and re-coat it with something... rattlecan or por15 just to make sure rust doesn't become an issue again.

In the next two weeks or so I will be starting a rebuild/ re assembly of my jeep onto this new frame. i probably will be starting the first weekend of march. If anyone wants to come to southern DE and start this rebuild with me feel free. beer and pizza will be provided ;D

oh yeah.. my jeep as it sits right now has 2" BL and 4" suspension... i was thinking about dropping the BL to 1" and getting a shackle lift to make up for the 1" lost on the BL. so i still sustain a 6" overall. what do you guys think?

Quote from nirvanarules1

few questions where is this junkyard and what motor was in this jeep so i can figure out gear ratio in axels?

Good question.... the jeep engine was a 6 cyl... but it looked like it was fuel injection (started in 91) and the jeep as you can see was a kid crusher (ended in 90)... i was thinking that the engine had a fuel injection conversion... or an engine swap... i may be wrong.

and the junkyard is in Georgetown.

Quote from nirvanarules1

wrong kid crusher ended in 91, 90 was last year for carb and 91 was fuel injected but nevermind it has 3:07 gears

Guess i was wrong then

yeah it is

Quote from gmfull

Beside coating the outside of the frame, you will want some way (Ziebart?) to coat the inside channels. They have a tendency to collecting; dirt, water creating mud thus moisture, and if we ever get snow...the salt from the highways and byways (perfect ingredients for rust).
Have fun and patience with the rebuild.

This weekend coming up is frame prep weekend. I am going to be stripping down the rust where visable and sealing it from future rust. I am going to really clean off all of the dirt so that i may try and expose any exterior surface rust. As far as the inside of the frame I'm not sure what I am going to be able to do. The best thing I can think of is just cleaning it out as best I can with a power washer.

As far as the rebuild I got new parts all lined up including total poly mount kit/ new body lift kit / new clutch kit/ some exhaust components/ brake lines. I'm sure some other stuff will come up but I imagine in a few fully worked weekends This FRANKINJEEP will be alive again...

status as of 3-3-08

this last weekend I was able to get the body off and start building up the new frame. I am going to need to weld a new floor pan and rocker on drivers side, but other than that not much work is needed for the body. The new frame has been fully cleaned and repaired where needed... one shock mount started to show some bad rust so its been preped for some welding. I have installed the new 20 gal poly tank/ front and rear bumpers/ and new shackle poly bushings. The next step is to pull the motor and replace the clutch. after that I am going to make the new frame into a rolling chasis. then the body work. I am actually going to repaint the jeep a new color. I am thinking military flat green. Then I am going to hurculine the interior.

here are the pics from the weekend.

After taking off the roof rack and hood i realized that some people would like to see some pics.

you can see the body rot on the rocker from this pic.

rolling chasis (old)

new frame with parts attached next to old rolling chasis

progress as of 3-10-08

so I only had myself and my buddy chris to help out this weekend but overall I must say was a good weekend.

Last weekend we finished with the old jeep in a rolling chasis.

This weekend we finished with a rolling chasis without engine installed under the new frame.

Pulled the engine and started working on it in the bay while it was pouring down saturday.

Installed the new clutch kit and reassembled the engine.

Sunday we got the old frame disconnected and all the bushings changed out.

Old frame. Check out the condition should have done this sooner.

New rolling chasis

First poser shot with the new frame.

Overall a good weekend. A few more weekends and FRANKINJEEP will be up and running

sorry no pics...

The engine has been installed. This upcoming weekend the body work is beginning. After repairing the body (rusted out floor pan/rocker pannel) I am going to re-paint it with OD military green and make my own version of a YJ willys.. I am going to put the willys decal kit on it as well.. and i'm going to change the decal on the side of the hood to say 41MB-90YJ

Quote from Magnum79

I think I saw your Jeep at Lowe's in Camden today. I was wondering about the sticker combo on the hood. Looked nice from a distance.

I Don't think you saw my jeep. It doesn't even have the body on it right now.

I imagine you saw either a 04 or 05 TJ with the willys package on it.

Teaser shot of new paintjob. OD GREEN!! Also you can see my new tailgate. (CJ-7 fold down) This week I should have all my body work done and the body mounted by next weekend!

Quote from Slimer

Wow, your radiator is sticking down LOW! Is that how low they normally are?

The radiator was sticking down that low to allow for the 2" BL. I am going to relocate that when i step down to a 1" BL. But no normally it doesn't stick down that low.