Fully Welded Floor Pans

My floor pans are trashed, I've been rough on them and I've always told myself I will fix them when I get everything dialed in how I want it. Well now I'm close enough that I want to fix up the floor pans and I'm thinking about just fully welding up the floor and all the holes. It's going to be easier then trying to get everything lined up with a removable floor. What's the general consensus on no removable floor pans? This thing is not stock so that's out the window with all the mods I have done to it.

I'm trying to think about the downsides of not being able to remove them and not coming up with anything major.

 

I think it would be very difficult to remove the trans & tcase with the floor being solid.

 

At least the tunnel should be removable

 

I rebuilt the bolt in floor sections welding in panels that were rotted out. Then I used pre-made floor pans to weld in.

http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/inde...825/full&lightbox=1&last_edit_date=1542498930

They use snap in square nuts that fit in the square holes to mount the trans pans.
You can fab up these holes by drilling and filing the hole square or just weld on a nut to the round hole you drilled.

McMaster-Carr
These are 1/4 - 20.



Dave

 

Jeep gave up on the removable floor panels in 1975, welding-in all but the small cover with the shifter boot. They went to new one-piece stamped floors in 1976, again with only a small panel over the actual shift top.

I'll be contrary here and say weld them in if you want to. It won't change service much. You just won't be able to remove the transmission through the floor - not much of an advantage IMO.

 

My preference is to keep the bolt-in tunnel/floorplate and the upper firewall panel. Otherwise, It is very difficult the get to the bellhousing bolts without removing the tub. Some of the aftermarket repair pan (like Classic) line up quite well. I have cut out the old pans rocker to rocker, leaving the toolbox attached, and vice-gripped the new pans at the rockers, then assembled the removable floor plates to line up and hold the center area, then when it all fits, start welding. I think it would be a big mistake to just weld them up solid.
Its so much easier to service the trans/TC on a CJ5 as opposed to a flat-fender, except an M38 which has removable floor plates.
-Donny

 

‘76 and up had transmissions with removable shifter stick, stalk, lever, whatever you choose to call it. This means there was not such a need to have the larger opening in the floor to clear the shifter when the transmission is removed.

 

Hmm. Surprising that Donny's post gets so many likes. This is offered in the spirit of friendly discussion. I spent a few years at the Jeep dealership both hanging out and working, and was good friends with one of the line mechanics (that's what they were called then - "technicians" now). Never did I see them remove the floor pans - it's just too time consuming on flat rate. I have only taken transmissions out from underneath, both back in the day and recently my T-18. The removable floors seem like a nice shade-tree feature that carried over from the military, where labor is plentiful and real expertise is scarce. And I'd think that, once the transmission is out, you could lower the back end of the engine a bit and get some room to remove the bell housing. Not as easy as when the floors are out, but still manageable ... Jeeps are dead easy to work on compared to passenger cars, and work seems to get done on those.

 

Personally, I prefer to remove my transmission from above by hand or with a cherry picker. On my latest build, I went to great lengths to make a huge portion of my floor removable. I’d rather do repair work on my feet than on my back.

 

What you putting in that vegan jerky?

 

Of course. JMO - you can do everything from underneath with a transmission jack that they could do with a hoist. Faster with a hoist, granted, but not difficult in either case. I have pulled the transmission and transfer case from underneath with only the factory scissor jack provided for tire changing. Not difficult then, I expect it would be harder today at my age.