1973 CJ 5 Trail Rig

Had to re-fabricate a mount for the cage because of the wheel well notch so I welded that up today. Welds aren't the prettiest but they will do

 

I also sat down and made a list of everything I need to get it back where I want it before I start driving it and taking it on trails. 4 pages of items lol. I'm hoping I can knock them all out in the next 3 months

 

I'm not a welder, so you can take this with a grain of salt. I'm self taught. Welds that are safety related I have a certified welder do. But my welds look pretty good most of the time, Looking at yours I'd say you might want to slow down a little. This is especially true when you push the puddle either from the plate up or from the tube down, when the wire jumps down into the "V" where the tube and plate meet, you have to "pause" there for just a moment because you are filling that in. The distance from the weld to the wire changes enough to make a difference so you need to move in slightly with the wire to keep a hot puddle. Make sure you have a good ground as close to the weld as possible. Like I said, I'm an amateur, this is just stuff that I learned along the way and it works for me. Some of the weld looks like it didn't get hot enough to burn into both pieces.

 

thanks for tips man. I've only been welding for a few months and I will always take the criticism

 

also most of what you see is a second pass to widen the weld after filling the gap that you are talking about

 

Try some welds where you are pulling the puddle rather than pushing the puddle. What welder are you using? You should be able to make that weld with one pass. I think you need to slow the travel down.

 

A harbor freight 90amp. Could be part of the problem

 

Kyle , that 90 amp 110 volt welder is a problem..........that angle looks to be 1/4" thick and that tube perhaps 3/16" wall? need at least 140 amps with a small Mig welder.........looks to cold.
Are you using a flux wire? On that roll cage I would grind that weld back and wait till you can have someone with a larger welder do that up right............90 amps OK on the light stuff.

 

Floor done and bedliner in. I know it's not perfect and I don't expect it to be. This isn't a full resto for me. Just cleaning some things up and making it durable so I can start using it.

 

I might re-weld the cage, or I might just leave it. To be perfectly honest with you, this thing won't be seeing many trails. Mainly hunting, and maybe the Rubicon if I'm lucky. I hit it with a sledgehammer with a few good whacks and it wasn't going anywhere. And I'm no slouch lol

 

Started stripping the firewall and the rest of the accessories off the engine. Waiting on a few gaskets to show up and then it's time to disassemble, clean and paint some of the engine parts and accessories so I have a cleaner engine bay!

 

It's good to see that you are making some progress. keep it up.

 

Thanks man. Hoping to get the engine accessories torn down, cleaned, painted and reinstalled by end of day Monday. Then I can finish the body work and start putting it back together so it can drive again!

 

I just remembered something...I had the heat on low when I did that cage weld. That might explain something lol. So I will definitely cut it off and re-weld

 

Use your highest setting for welding that. One of my biggest problems when I started welding was going too fast. Experiment on some scrap of the same thickness and try pulling and pushing the puddle and see which way works best for you.

 

I'm surprised it held so well on low, so I'm hoping that higher heat will make it even stronger

 

Painted the firewall flat black





Started stripping and painting the motor parts that I want to clean up





Everything that is getting cleaned and painted (valve covers and oil pan too but they are still on the motor)





Most things were just disgusting








Teaser shot





Clutch fan, alternator bracket, pulleys and power steering bracket will all be black. Water pump, valve covers, air cleaner, oil pan will all be grey

 

Slowly putting pieces back on after paint





Starting to look like a motor again

 

Also, Tarry99 stopped by today and checked out the build. Good guy! I need to make it over to his place to see his rig

 

Hey Kyle , Thanks for the invite and keep up the hard work she'll be on the road soon!