NV4500 Transplant

[GP4Play]

Wow Dave,took me all lunch time to catch up with ya.Looks great,like the seat,and the dash floatation set-up.

[inVERt'D]

Punching Bags For All!

Thanks Dennis. I have to admit the "floating dash" mod may be one of my best yet. A serendipitous malfunction indeed! What could be better than driving down the road without having to worry about your airbags sucker punching you (new meaning to "punching bag")? Not only that, but now I have an extra space in my dash that can be used for something more useful. Tried the CB, but it's too long...of course, it's only sheetmetal in the way...

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I can do this mod for you at no charge; all you have to do is sit in the driver's seat. You'll also be featured on YouTube. :wink:

[bails85]

its not looks the same as the last time u saw it. anti theft device

[inVERt'D]

its not looks the same as the last time u saw it. anti theft device

Sorry to hear that. What's the holdup--time? money? enthusiasm? all of the above?

[inVERt'D]

Skid Plates

Well, I cut my B-B seat support bar too short :bonk:, so that particular piece of 1.5" DOM will be going elsewhere (I measured twice, honest). I ordered another stick of DOM, this time 1.75" .120" wall.

While I was waiting for my tubing and some other parts, I started working on my long-awaited tranny skid.

Finally got my plasma cutter fixed after I cut out the overall shape of the tranny skid, but before I had to do the radius work.

Here's the skid work in progress. Feels great to finally have a flat skid up there.


Adding two frame brackets for the front of the skid.


Here's one being test fitted. The exhaust is actually centered in that radius.


Here's the bottom of the oil pan/ bell housing skid.

[jonah]

Nice looking skid. Is that 1/4" steel? I have to start mine soon, unfortunately mine is not going to be nice and flat like yours.

[inVERt'D]

Thanks, yeah the tranny skid is 1/4", and the front (bellhousing/ oil pan) skid is 3/16". They're both "scrap" steel, but I got lucky with the 1/4"--no rust.

If I could afford it, I would have tried alum. like rat patrol/ Kurt made (finally backtracked through the rest of his build a couple of days ago), but this was probably 1/10th of the price.

That one side of the front skid that sticks out will have to come off. Was going to add another frame bracket for it, but as I was looking at it the other day, that's probably right about where my lower link will need to go. Yeah, I can't stop thinking about suspension chocolate :homer:

Anyway, I have lots of ideas, but now that that's functional I'm back onto the seat mounting.

[jonah]

Yeah, I was looking at aluminum at the metal shop the other day and they had some nice 6016 in the remnant bin(I think that was the number, maybe 6160?, damn dyslexia kicking in again). Only problem was it was only 12x40". If only I could weld aluminum to get 24 wide.

Anyway, have fun seat mounting!

[inVERt'D]

yeah, 6061-T6 (T6 being the temper) is a good choice because it is relatively hard and resilient for aluminum. Problem is, when you weld it, the temper (and much of the strength) is lost in the HAZ (heat affected zone). The weld itself will likely be stronger than the surrounding metal (depending upon choice of filler). Then you have to heat treat the entire part to restore full temper...

[inVERt'D]

Anyway, have fun seat mounting!

Thanks, spent most of my day moving tubes around and second-guessing myself at every opportunity. See, I'm even second guessing my own posts! The Rock Star that gave me a good solid headache earlier is now keeping me awake. I go now.

[jonah]

I didn't think about the tempter situation. I will keep looking for a big enough piece of steel or aluminum that is cheap. I will probably have to go with steel due to the design I will have to use.

I know what you mean about the tubes for the seats. I measured a ton, sat in the jeep with stacks of blocks under the seats to figure a height and angle. I think I ended up with 5 inches off the deck to the back of the seat slider and 7 up at the front of the slider. I sure hope I like it because it would be a pain to change it now.

Step away from the rock star (as I chug some coffee).

[inVERt'D]

Setting your tubing up poorly is little more serious than a bad haircut, isn't it? Part of what's affecting my freedom to set things up is that my cage is now one with the body. I have to set things up so that I can weld them.

Things were a lot easier with my skid, but my stock skid was tweaked to where the holes are probably 3/4" to 1" off from one side to the other, so I had to employ the latest in CAD technology to get the holes to line up right.





That's right, cardboard aided design--tomorrow's designs from yesterday's trash.:homer:

[Materdaddy]

Setting your tubing up poorly is little more serious than a bad haircut, isn't it? Part of what's affecting my freedom to set things up is that my cage is now one with the body. I have to set things up so that I can weld them.



That's right, cardboard aided design--tomorrow's designs from yesterday's trash.:homer:

Be careful with a cardboard skid... the bottom might fall off (Hint: 0:57 seconds).

[inVERt'D]

I prefer to think of it as an aluminum skid with a corrugated paper backing.

[inVERt'D]

New Shoes For My Donk!

Now I know who Art's Brown Santa is, because he brought me these today. Very slightly used/ basically new Goodyear Wrangler MTRs w/ Kevlar, 35X12.50-15, delivered to my dirt for $700 shipped. From what I can tell, they were probably driven indoors only. eBay is my friend.

As you can see, I'm inspecting them for defects. I like 'em a lot!