CJ7 style tail gate or not?

[Materdaddy]

The only thing I don't like about the CJ is it's name; that is my x wifes name... boooo hissss...

Careful there rat... my daughter is CJ? :gun:

I still vote for the tailgate!!!!!

[mrblaine]

Most likely I will makes for a nice work bench.

Coming from one who has done this and later regretted it, I'd find a way to prop the gate in place to resemble the finished product and try to access your tool bags and what not.

It's not nearly as convenient having to reach over or around it as everyone would lead you to believe.

I found it so annoying on the trail that I eventually dispensed with the flip down part and just made it so it wouldn't open.

Even worse is it takes a bunch of work to the section below the tailgate opening to get it stout enough that you can sit on the gate. You need some really good hinges that won't bend as well, and in all likelihood they should be from a CJ gate.

As far as the convenience of a workbench goes, I have a trailer for that and on the trail, I'm rarely parked where the gate would be useable.

[curtis]

I agree with Blaine. Since it is going to be a trailer jeep I would put your money and time in to other stuff.

[aw12345]

We will see where I am at after the rear frame is cut straightened and what not. Steve's Jeep just has an aluminum plate there and I kind of like that.It is better to just make it one piece for tub integrity.
There is just not a lot of strength in the back of the tub.
Most likely, I'll make a tonneau cover out of some aluminum plate that will open up to get at my tools and supplies

[bullysteve]

you know Art if your going to be stealing ideas from mine you might just want to buy it and save yourself a lot of trouble ......

[aw12345]

Where is the fun in that Steve any old soul can get something store bought

[aw12345]

Got to hand it to Jeep engineers they sure managed to squeeze a lot of stuff in a small space.
So the question is this how do you keep a dana 60 front axle pumkin away from the lower radiator neck, without longer bump stops. Right now the flat belly will be about 23.5 of the ground and that is where I want to keep it. Without any kind of truss the axle can move up 5" before it nails the lower radiator hose and outlet.
To me it seems the easiest fix would be to have other tanls put on the radiator or get one that reverses the inlet and outlet on the tanks, Would give me all the clearance I want and work out pretty well with the location of the waterpump inlet and thermostat housing location on my 4 popper. If anybody has any better or easier ideas that make sense I would like to hear them

[dirtman13]

Art,
can you post a picture? Sounds like you need to relocate the axle.

[aw12345]

Haven't gotten real elaborate with it yet but this gives you somewhat of an idea where I want the axle Chuck

[Jeeperator]

Does the jeep have a body lift? Maybe doing a 1"one will get the radiator up a little out of the way a bit. Or move the axle back a little with those big ass tires I dont think you have to worry about approach angle problems. Allthough I am not sure if the wheel wells will be big enough. WTF! I remember the 32 inch tires you had and went everwhere with lol. Monster trucks with big ass tires are for running over cars not rocks LOL! I dont know if the 4 banger radiator is different from the straight 6 but I have a 2 row radiator (brass type) you can have art. It just needs a little solder on a mounting bracket on the tank it weeped a little. It worked fine before I took it out for the 3 row. As far as the gate is concerned work bench sounds good but I think you have to do alot of other things that are more important(I should talk LOL) you can always come back to it later.

[aw12345]

A brass and copper radiator will work, that way I can swap the in and outlets. The thing has a 1" body lift and that is all it's going to get. I guess this is the fun part to make things work the way you want and deal with any and all challenges that pop up

[Jeeperator]

Its yours buddy. Just give me a call before you come so I can find it. I actually think it cools just as good as the 3 row I put in. I was wondering what transfer case route you are going to do on that beasty?

[aw12345]

Been ogling the Atlas 4 speed, how is your axle project coming along?

[Jeeperator]

I just got the carrier thursday I cant decide on gears still 4.56 for just the front or spend the extra cash and do 4.88 in both. I did score a new set of Alloy axles on the bay for ~$210 shiped to my door though. I just read a a read a
d300 stacked to a 231 article seemed like a cheaper option but 7.29:1 ratio might be too low. I think its considered a 3 speed but 2 speeds are the same.

[mrblaine]

Haven't gotten real elaborate with it yet but this gives you somewhat of an idea where I want the axle Chuck

Good Luck. It looks like you're trying to push the axle forward about 6" or so. Even if you solve the radiator issue you're still going to fight links, steering, and uptravel by moving that stuff into the lower part of the frame instead of keeping it back into the higher part of the arch.

I would also encourage you to resist the urge to limit your uptravel just to make stuff work.

When we built Jon's, we were able to have the upper link on top of his front 60 come up high enough that it was just shy of hitting the bottom of the factory frame mount for the motor mount. That was with about 8" of vertical separation between the links.

What size are the tires?