Hardline90's CJ7 RE-visited

You might think about adding a couple of gussets to your motor mounts.I have 3 total at each mount.2 going to the frame.You can see in the pic.And one going to the shock tower.Since my back shock tube is inline with the motor mount


I also have gussets on my motor mounts similar to yours. Just the two going from the mount down to the bottom of the frame on both sides.

No, I havent tied my hoops together, wouldnt be a bad Idea though, Ive just plated the frame where I welded my hoops in, plus I bent and welded flat metal around my hoops and trussed the heck out of it. there is a picture on my build thread, kinda mid-evil looking.


After searching the 900 pages of your build thread I finally found the picture. Looks to me like your shock hoop is very strong, but will allow the shock to twist or flex the frame which could be causing the cracks. That is the reason I tied the hoops together, that way it uses the strength from both frame rails to keep as much flex out of the frame as possible. I am also looking at tying the hoops into the hood bar at two points. That should really stiffen up the front end.
 
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You might think about adding a couple of gussets to your motor mounts.I have 3 total at each mount.2 going to the frame.You can see in the pic.And one going to the shock tower.Since my back shock tube is inline with the motor mount


I also have gussets on my motor mounts similar to yours. Just the two going from the mount down to the bottom of the frame on both sides.




After searching the 900 pages of your build thread I finally found the picture. Looks to me like your shock hoop is very strong, but will allow the shock to twist or flex the frame which could be causing the cracks. That is the reason I tied the hoops together, that way it uses the strength from both frame rails to keep as much flex out of the frame as possible. I am also looking at tying the hoops into the hood bar at two points. That should really stiffen up the front end.

yea, sorry about all the pages, yea I agree, my Hoops are really tall, giving plenty of leverage to flex the frame and along with the side pressure of the pan/ hard bar leaves the frame seseptible to cracking, Im going to have to tie them together too. I like the idea of tieing them into the main hoop also.
 
I did mine yesterday and it turned out pretty good. I also extended the fish plates to the bump stops, so hopfully the front end is pretty stiff now. My son took some pics and will be updating the thread soon.
 
Alright, heres the update. Well my dad seemed to explain it pretty well, so ill just post the pics :p

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I know it has been a long time since the last update, but my son has been slacking. The work has been continuing and for the most part the Jeep is about 98% done:) (Have I ever said how much I hate painting!!!), It is a royal pain in the butt, but everything has paint on it now and put back together. I have to say I am really please at how it turned out. It doesn’t even look like the same Jeep that went to Crawlfest. I will try and get some pics up soon. With the new springs on the coil over’s, the Jeep sits and few inches higher then I wanted it to, but I have to say, I really like the stance and think it will end up being better in ride and clearance. Last week I ran it around the neighborhood with about 1 pound of air in the tires to try and get them to break in a little more and from what I could tell, it rides really nice, but soft. (Maybe the 1 pound of air in the 42” tires) May need to put an Anti-Rock sway bar on the rear, but we will see after hitting the trails a few times. So after 5 months and around 400 to 500 hours, (Every spare minute I could come up with) I'm ready to go wheeling!!!! Pics soon to come.
 
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Any updates on this? How are you liking it? Everything you imagined?

Wow, you must have looked deep into the archives to find this old link. The only updates I have done since the photo's were taken is playing with the tires and the springs on the coilovers. I played with the spring rates to get it more dialed in and changed the tires around, but I have to say that I love it!!! The tires leave a lot to be desired.... They work fair in dry conditions, but if it gets wet, they are slick and good for nothing. For my first full build and my first linked suspension, I have been VERY happy how it turned out. I will try and post more pics and videos later. If anyone has any specific questions about how I did anything on this, just let me know.
 
I can't believe this is your first build. It looks even better in person. Well done.

Thanks!!! First ground up and first linked suspension, but I did a lot of other stuff prior. Now I'm looking forward to making hardline into a full buggy, but I have to wait a while for that. Once the body is just to beat up, then it goes full tube. :) That will be another fun build!!
 


How is this type of truss holding up over the years? Any issues? I'd want to kind of use this same idea but put the links fwd rather on top of the truss. It wouldn't change the geometry (at least from what I know?) but would fix some of my packaging issues with a trussed 14 bolt.

Any issues with welding to the 14 bolt casting? Is that mig or high-nickel stick weld?
 
I hate to tell you this, but it didn't hold up for one weekend. It ended up bending so I had to cut it off and went with the blue torch fab trust for the 14 bolt that mounts to the front of the axle also. I didn't build it out of strong enough material, if you build it out of 1/2 it might hold up, I built it out of quarter and it bent on me. I would go with a quality truss and do it right the first time.
 
Any pics of your current setup? How'd your welds hold up and such? Did you have some bracing in the front? If so, did you weld that to the housing or ?? :D


(sorry for the questions :D)
 
Send me your number and I'll text you some picks. The Blue Torch truss bolts to the front of the pinion and goes up to the truss and bolts there so it can be taken off.
 
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