New Shop!

The week before we were set to start on the Jeep, a tree fell on my shop and completely demolished it. Finally, the new (and 10 times better) and bigger (24x30x10) shop is up. After the holidays and some work on the inside of the shop, we'll start on the Jeep.

Since my last post, I've scored a brand new Rough Country 2.5 suspension lift for $100 less than retail. Hopefully, I can get a Rough Country winch from the same source later.

Hold up...Wait a Minute

So I hit Craigslist to find a new old frame and it didn't take long. I found a 89 frame and a tub in great condition in North Mississippi...a 3 hour trip one way. The tub was a bonus since it would save me lots of time and money on body work. On an Thursday, My wife (Janna), a friend(Mingle) and I loaded up and hit the road. $100 in gas, 7 hours, 6 energy drinks and 3 pit stops later, we were back home with the parts Jeep. Now, we have the Jeep and we have the parts Jeep...What else do we need? We need a WE...meaning I need help. I struck a deal with two friends (David and Mingle), which included beer for them everyday they helped work on the Jeep. They couldn't wait to get started the next weekend. 

 

Sunday - It hasn't rained in over 6 weeks and there's a chance of thunderstorms tonight. I'm watching the Walking Dead Marathon and the weather is starting to get hairy. The wind is blowing, lawn chairs are sliding across the porch, trees are swaying...here comes the rain and then, right in the middle of the season finale of Walking Dead, I hear a crash.  A 125 foot tall tree with a diameter quite a bit larger than my Jeep tires has smashed through the middle of our shop.

Now, we're building a new shop, so we can build the Jeep. Stay tuned...

Where to start...Update

I decided to start with the frame rust and bought a Safety-Cap frame repair kit from Auto Rust. These kits are prefabbed frame sections that are made to fit over the existing frame and to be welded to the original frame. I couple of friends and myself thought this would be a nice weekend project. We jacked the ole Jeep up and took the wheels off to get a better look. At this time was when things went south...my friends (the welders) explained that the frame was rusted too bad to weld to...the welder would blow holes if we went any further. So after I recovered from what felt like a kick to the junk, I decided to opt for a frame swap. It really didn't take too long to recover...the 20 minute drive home with the top off did the trick. This is where we start...frame swap.

Where to start?

I took the Jeep to the vocational school today, where they have an auto body class. After looking over the Jeep with the instructor he agreed to have his class replace the body panels and work on the body. The plan it to start after the July 4th holiday. I also, talked to a friend of mine that does body work and he said he'd help me on the weekends do the things that the vocational school wouldn't...floor panels and frame work.
This weekend I hope to pull the carpet and take a closer look at the floor panels to see how bad the damage is.

How did we get here?

I have been a Jeep fan for years. It started with a 92 Jeep Cherokee Sport that I owned. It was 2 wheel-drive, but I could take it almost anywhere I wanted. It had the inline 6 cylinder engine, which had accumulated just over 330, 000 miles when I sold it...that was in 2008 and I still see it around town. It wasn't long after I sold the Cherokee until I got Jeep fever again.

Sometime in late 1991, the YJ rolled off an assembly line in Canada. It came off the line powered by a 180 HP, 4.0 liter,  242 ci engine with a TF999 automatic transmission behind it. I don't know where the next stop was...I don know the Jeep spent sometime in South Dakota and Missouri before it ended up in Tennessee.

My wife and I picked the Jeep up in Northwest Tennessee and drove it home. When we talked about names, naturally,  Rusty came to mind... because of the condition of the body and frame. There's a lot to do to get it were I want it. I plan to start by attending to the frame rust, then floor panel rust and followed by fixing the body rust. After all the rust is fixed, we'll look into a tune-up and suspension.

This will be a long project and I plan to post updates and pics along the way.