New dashboards for early Cj5s

Whoa. When I made mine, I used an 8' Brake they had at the Votech school I was attending at the time. The problems with the HF brakes are:

1) they're too short. The jeep dash is almost 58" long and their brakes are
only 3' to 4' long IIRC.

2)Although the HF brake (I have the 3' model) claims to be able to bend 16 gauge steel, a 30" long piece of 18 gauge is pushing the limit. I found this out when making my welding cart.

I made a form to bend the cutout for the glovebox that works pretty well. I'll get a pic and post it later.

tommy b

 

Here's the dash that I fabbed up out of 18 gauge. The mistake I made was welding flat plates where the windshield hooks to. The stock plates have a bent up section in them for the hooks to grab. I have some from a scrap dash that I'll spot weld on after I remove the ones that are on there now. Also in the pic is the jig I made to form the glove box opening. I bolted the two pieces of MDF on the front and back of the panel and hammered the edges over. Hint: Use a rubber mallet instead of a plastic or steel hammer for this. That way, you won't put any dents in the metal.

tommy b

 

so Rondod was able to make a five foot dashboard using a 36 inch break, Ron if you see this post. Let me know how difficult it was in and if it came out to your satisfaction
Doug
I have all but got the check for my Ford F-350 diesel should the sale be finalized this afternoon. I will have the money to go ahead and get a break

 

tommy b, that glove box opening turned out really nice. Great looking dash.

 

I must agree that dashboard looks like it was made at the factory. Especially the glove box. How did you get the coners to roll over so nicely.
again, beautiful job
Doug/Tucson

 

The bottom 3/4" thick MDF form fit just inside the top, bottom and right side flanges of the dash. The top form bolted through the dash and bottom form through three dash mounting holes using 5/16"-18 bolts. I flattened out the flanges of the glovebox of an old dash (you can see it in the first pic between the two forms) to get the cutout lines for the new dash. Then, after cutting away the material in the center of where the glovebox was to go, I just gently started bending the flange over, using a soft rubber mallet, the kind you use to install hubcaps. I finished up the corners by placing a piece of steel pipe of a slightly smaller radius than the corner, and tapping it with a steel hammer. I'm satisfied with the way it turned out.

tommy b

 

How about the holes for the ignition, light switch, choke and hand throttle?


Ooops! sorry, still asleep, I guess. Missed the whole second page!

 

Nope, not me, I never made a dash. I don't have the tools or the skills. I was referring to TommyB and the dash he made. It looks great, but I was mistaken about him using the 36 inch HF brake, I didn't realize he made it at the Vo-Tech with an 8 foot brake, than makes a lot more sense.

I'm lucky, my dash is reasonably unmolested. It has one 2" hole cut in it for an amp guage, and one hole drilled in it for a toggle switch. Not sure yet if I'll patch those or just use them.