New project at Ahole Fab

[RAT]

I think that is one of the best looking flattie cages I have seen. Nice.

Those are some serious mounting plates!

Thanks. Yes the rear fender plates are beefy. I just didn't feel comfortable using such a small surface area to connect those to such thin sheet metal. A little extra weight but worth it. It should look pretty once Daniel paints it. Speaking of that; Daniel, I recommend you paint it in the Jeep. It does come out but it's a behatch to get in and out. Couldn't be helped since you wanted maximum leg and head room. If you do decide to take it out, get some friends and some beer; you're gonna need both!

[Jason]

That is so not the Jeep I towed back for you. It is coming along very nice. I should have driven it when I had the chance. Oh, wait! I did.

[GP4Play]

I think that is one of the best looking flattie cages I have seen. Nice.

Those are some serious mounting plates!

Yes, very nice Kurt, and look at that leg room! Cool

[daniel_buck]

It actually is a good amount of leg room! It's going to be nice driving this thing every day We'll see how bad the fender wells rub while off road. I WILL be putting on springs that are 1-1.5" taller, with new shackles.

At that time, I'll see if bump-stopping the axle will prevent major rubbing without constantly riding on the bumpstops. I'll play around with that when the new springs go on.


Ok Kurt, I'll see about painting it inside the jeep. See if I can get some paint on the A-pillar by the dash, if not I'll just unbolt everything, and rock it back to get some paint in there. I've got a few guys who will be around on Sunday who are going to help me take the cage out if needed, we'll see.

[RAT]

A few more pics. I'm sure you'll see more. She is ready to go home to daddy


fin 1006 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1004 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1003 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1002 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1007 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1008 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1009 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1010 by MJR RAT, on Flickr


fin 1011 by MJR RAT, on Flickr

That is all. Hope it doesn't rain soon...

[daniel_buck]

My garage is full at the moment with a few other projects, so I'll have to pick up another tarp to cover the willys up at night! My existing tarp is being used elsewhere.

[daniel_buck]

ooh yea, got it back! :-D

I'll tell you what, it's quite comfortable driving around, and getting in and out is actually a lot easier than it used to be, since there's something to grab on to now and the seats are farther back. And getting in and out is no problem with head room either, even the first time I got in and out it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable.

I don't know if it's the extra weight of the cage, or if it's the suspension seats (probably a bit of both?), but it seems to ride quite noticeably smoother over big bumps now. So much so, that I think I'm going to skip the custom made springs, and just get off-the-shelf springs, 1-2" higher. In these photos, that's the high side of the jeep, it leans to the driver side (the "willys lean"), so it doesn't actually set this high, it's a bit lower than it looks in these photos.

The seat distance feels good on the clutch and steering wheel, but it's actually a little far back for the shifter, I have to lean forward just a bit to get into reverse or 2nd! So I'll bend the shifter knob back a bit, and a little bit towards the driver side too, the overdrive shifter is kind of in the way sometimes. So I imagine I'll have to bend the overdrive shift a bit too. Not a problem though, I did the same thing in my TJ

Thanks for the great work Kurt! Now it's time for me to finish things up on my end, get it all painted up and finished I'll probably put some leather wrap around the part of the tube that is the arm rest, it's a perfect spot to rest your arm, some leather will be perfect there

If this jeep gets more hardcore later on, I'll look into some modifications to the cage. but for now, I think it's perfect. I'd like to keep this one mild though. My TJ is much more suited for rocks

[RAT]

OK. I'm gonna do it. I'm designing a tube chassis. Gonna build a rock buggy chassis. May take a million years but it's gonna happen.

[daniel_buck]

A tube chassis is the best thing for an old Willys, it gets rid of all that old rusted out metal frame and body, haha :-D

[daniel_buck]

Drove it to the hardware store today before it started raining again, man it's incredible how smooth the ride is now. There is absolutely no jarring bumps. Sure it's still bouncy and bucks back and forth a bit, but it's a soft bounce, not a jarring hit. I went looking for pot holes and speed bumps, haha! I can't believe it, I had no idea the seats would make this much of a difference. (and maybe the extra weight of the tubing too?)

I got the windshield wiper back on, I mounted it upside down and it fits PERFECTLY! Also cut off the footman loop on the top of the windshield so that the windshield rests flat against the tubing, the latches that hold the windshield down are much easier to operate now, not under near as much tension. I'll put some thin padding inbetween the tube and windshield frame.

[Gary]

Very nice work RAT. Looking good Daniel.

[RAT]

Drove it to the hardware store today before it started raining again, man it's incredible how smooth the ride is now. There is absolutely no jarring bumps. Sure it's still bouncy and bucks back and forth a bit, but it's a soft bounce, not a jarring hit. I went looking for pot holes and speed bumps, haha! I can't believe it, I had no idea the seats would make this much of a difference. (and maybe the extra weight of the tubing too?)

I got the windshield wiper back on, I mounted it upside down and it fits PERFECTLY! Also cut off the footman loop on the top of the windshield so that the windshield rests flat against the tubing, the latches that hold the windshield down are much easier to operate now, not under near as much tension. I'll put some thin padding inbetween the tube and windshield frame.

I'm guessing it's the seats. Big difference from the buck boards you had in there. Glad that it is working well for you. Can't wait to see it all painted and with the bikini top on.

[daniel_buck]

You know what, it probably is the seat. I forgot that about 4 months ago I took about 300 pounds of scrap steel (old bumpers, and skids from my TJ, and other misc metal items) to the scrap yard in the CJ, and it didn't ride a whole lot differently with all that weight.


So I'm wondering what's the best way to bend the transmission shifter? I'd like to bend it back so the knob is a few inches farther back, to better fit the new seating position.

I'm looking at it, and it's alot thicker than my TJ shift stick, and it doesn't look like I can remove just the shift stick, it's some type of assembly where the top part of the transmission is attached to the stick. (from what I remember when I removed it while installing the overdrive)

I've got a shop press now, so I assume that's going to be the way to do it. I'm going to try and bend it as far down as possible, so it's only a slight bend, and gives the most movement of the knob up top. But the stick is pretty thick towards the bottom (it tapers the entire length) Should I still heat it up, even though I probably have enough pressure to bend it cold? It's quite thick, I had to hold a butane torch to my TJ stick for probably 10 minutes before it glowed, I imagine I'll be here for 20 minutes with this shifter. And there will be oil on the underside of the transmission cover that is attached to the shift stick, doesn't sound like a good idea to heat all that up? Any ideas?

[aw12345]

Heat it with a torch is the best way to handle that. Take it out of the Jeep and go to a muffler place or something like that, they should have a torch and be able to bend it where you want it

[daniel_buck]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see if I can find a place to do that when I get back from my drive to Louisiana for the holidays. Unfortunately I won't have a chance to start working on the soft top until then either :-\ I did quickly spray some green on the cage this sunday though, to keep the surface rust at bay. Didn't grab any photos though.