2X4 frame for my CJ2A

The tip for my Ox/Acet. Victor torch is a $20 2-piece propane-specific unit, but I've never needed to replace it. Take it apart to clean it. Propane rosebud tips are pricey too. I use my propane weed burner for that.

Other than that, everything else is standard oxy/acetylene stuff. If the hoses need to be different, that's news to me. Mine works great.

Even though it is a few hundred degrees cooler than acetylene, the flame tips are more concentrated and actually seem to melt steel faster than O/A or MAPP. YMMV.

 

We use propane at work and it seems like it uses way more propane to do the same job as acetylene not much savings if you need to fill the propane every few days. And it is less efficient at cutting thick steel. Just my opinion.

 

It's not very well-known, but the fuel (acetylene, MAPP, propane...) is only used to heat the steel to a molten state. When you pull the trigger to blast the puddle with O2, the O2 rapidly oxidizes (burns) the steel.

Try this: next time you are torch cutting, reach down and shut the fuel off. It will have zero effect on your cut until you stop and need to re-start your puddle.

I used to play a trick on a coworker where I'd shut the acetylene tank off while he was cutting. By the time he'd finish his cut and go to re-start another cut, I'd be long-gone... laughing at the other end of the shop while he tried to figure out the problem.

 

^ This is why, with proper technique, a quick torch cut will heat your steel little more than a plasma cutter. The hottest spot is the preheat (which is minimal if you start on a sharp corner), the rest is a "burn", not a "melt" as most think.

Sorry for the derailment.

 

This is not a derailment at all. No need to be sorry. The greater use of propane is one detriment to not using acetylene. You are supposed to use a different fuel hose, but i have read that some have never switched and never had problems. Plasma cutters heat the steel too and will warp sheet steel. I remember reading about the preheat and being able to turn the fuel off and just oxidizing the rest of the cut.

I am still not going to buy a set of tanks and sold my torch set and gauges for what i paid for them. I really can do what I need to with cut off wheels. It seems real low tech and for a long time I felt inadequate. but I have embraced my lack of cutting torches and can stand proud and a lot more money in my pocket.

One time i was working in a weld shop as one of the painters. I got pulled off to do some grunt work and a guy told me to use the plasma cutter to cut some steel. I had never used one before, never even seen one. The guy just told me to go fire it up. No one ever told me that i needed any PPE other than safety glasses and gloves. One of the older guys comes over and freaks out. no welding hood, no nothing.

I learned a lot on that job.

 

Got done with a job and worked on whats important.

I don't know what I was talking about with hammer marks.

got that front corner to come down more flush with the bed
Like those clecos but I still had to drill and tap for 1/4-20's to pull it tight.

 

Use self taping sheet metal screws to hold and press the metal down into place............easy to adjust by just drilling another hole...........then when you have it where you want it pull them out and plug weld behind them all.....saves the time of messing with nuts & bolts.............I still use cleco's all the time on aluminum or sheet metal but they will not pull down the heavy gauge metal.........

 

Thanks Terry! I have used sheet metal screws in the past and they work fine. I just happen to have about 20LBS of 1/4-20x 3/8 socket head screws kicking around and a pile of 1/4-20 taps. I just drill a hole to #7, drill a through hole at 1/4 in the first layer and then tap the second, screw in the cap screw and done. It only takes a second. well a minute..

The clecos are great if everything is perfect on this heavy gauge stuff. If there needs something to be pulled together even a little bit, I find I need more clamping power.

I was going to make the double angle on the front of the wheelhouse to replicate the look of the original wheelhouse, but decided I didn't care enough to do it.

Tomorrow I get this side ready to weld and then fab the passenger side wheelhouse.

 

passenger side


just thrown in there.


The inside of the outside side panels are now ground flat and ready to spot weld on the wheelhouse on the drivers side. Passenger side still need the gas filler position decided upon. The tail lights I have are from a HUMMMV or some other military thing.


They are huge and might make it impossible for me to put the fuel filler in any logical location. I might just put the old round brake lights back on.

 

That body is so robust you don't even need a frame, let alone the dump truck frame you built! Looking good.

 

Thank you Ryan!
Its all overbuilt. I didn't mean to do that, it just happened that way.

Pretty sure there are no toolboxes being fabbed into the wheelhouses. There just isn't any real room with the big tires, and filler hoses on the passenger side.

If I was smart, I would just have ordered a new tub from a supplier and modified it to fit. I do have time to screw around with this, so I saved a couple grand. I don't need the body to be this strong. But, then again my family likes Christmas more than my JEEP...

 

Here, I fixt it for ya.

 

Ryan, you like others here are much too nice to me. Thank you.

I cut the hole for the filler. I took tape, covered the front in 2 alternating layers and used a razor to cut the inside profile and stuck it to the outside of the rear panel. Worked perfect the first time.


its precisely where I want to put taillights.
The seat belt bolt will get trimmed so as to not interfere with the filler hose.


Yes I am wearing the PA flannel uniform in DC. People sometimes get confused when they realize I live here.

 

Boy, having that side off and wheel-well out sure makes working on the filler neck easy, huh!

I've been with my wife for almost 12 years and just found out last night that she hates flannel. I don't know how that happened.

 

My wife is from PA and she hates flannel too, a lot. She especially hates it when they become crop tops because of all the times they get lit on fire in the front. I just keep wearing them until there is nothing below my chest. I happen to think its really funny, she thinks its really sad. Years and years of her asking why can't i just wear "normal" clothes. I have pics of me in scouts shooting shotguns when I was 12 wearing sleeveless flannel shirts.

I made sure to position the filler and cut the hole before I tacked the wheelhouse side on because its so much easier to fabricate it now. It all will come apart and back together at least twice anyway.

 

I hate when people type "LOL", but I seriously just laughed out loud. Good stuff.

 

Welded in the passenger side wheelhouse. Its straight and pretty square. The rear panel is tied in to the wheelhouse on the inside with some 1/8 strap I welded in square. Its really strong.


Looks alright on the inside. The outside, not so much.


Bondo, bad dents, rusty, where you hit it with the welder and the metal vaporizes.

I will probably cut the square corner and weld in a triangle like the stock wheelhouse after I weld in the drivers side wheelhouse tomorrow. I went to the dump today and threw away all the parts of the old frame that I will not use. I also threw out the wheelhouses too. I feel bad about it, but seriously, what could I possibly do with some dented pitted rusty junk? Build another jeep with them as the starting point?

This is the best sheet metal work I have ever done. Its not great, but its great for me.

 

simple and rugged works for me too

 

Welded in the drivers side wheelhouse

outside panel is better on this side than the other. Still pure trash.

This is inside the wheelhouse where it connects to the rear panel. I made the support pieces out of 1/8th strap welded at 90*.

all that got pulled tight to the rear panel with screws and plug welded.


This is real strong. Overbuilt and unnecessary, but free sheet steel is the best stuff to use.