my flatfender build thread with a lot of pics

[1tonflattie]

getting pretty excited about my flatfender build here, i wish i had taken more pictures of everything so far but my digital camera always has a dead battery but i figured id throw up some progress pictures here because a picture is worth 1000 words





as you can see in the picture the frame is getting lengthened in the front and rear. now most people would turn their nose up at the thought of using the stock frame but it is nice and light and the previos owner did a lot of nice work with the chevy v6 engine mounts and roll cage tie-ins. its kinda hard to see but you can see my weld in the front at a 45 degree angle. I wanted to have the angled cut so that there is less shear on the weld and more surface area welded. there will be a gusset on the inside as well. if anyone is interested ill keep posting pics as i go. thanks for looking

[grundlepunch]

sweet, looking forward to seeing this progress.

[rckrdyxj]

Deffinitly interested, i like to see older jeeps get built up. Not a fna of the grill being so far back bu ti trust you that you know what you are doing alot more than i do. Keep up the good work. I look foward to more progress.

[1tonflattie]

yea kind wierd looking with it so far back but i think it will "blend" ok once the tires and winch are on there. some people stretch the hood and fenders which i think looks a lot worse not to mention less forward visibility, and theres really no need unless your running a v8. i have seen some tastefully done tub stretches but my tubs is already done nice with a 1" square tube "skelleton" which i dont want to change. anther popuar option is 4 link but im kind of on a budget here, (most of which will go towards the dana 60).

the front leafs that im using include a main leaf from a 3" lift jeep wagoneer spring and other random leafs. i had them in my truck before and the flexed pretty nicely:


The rears are going to be cherokee mains with some other springs added as well, i havent built them yet but i probably will sometime this week

[Jeep Creep]

pizza-cut-ers

[1tonflattie]

haha yea they are 11R16 michelin XL military that i grooved. Tall and skinny ( about 39" tall) but they worked incredible and with the tire and rim combo i used i would run 6psi front and 4 psi rear and never lost a bead

[1tonflattie]

got some more done...

heres another shot of the front



i had fabbed front hangers out of 3" angle and i was going to just weld them on to the frame but i wanted to have them lower so i kinda made a crossmember and added it to the front of the frame as you can see in the pictures





heres the finished product, all capped off




I really want to use the stock front bumper (it is a piece of history). I took the stock bumper and cut it to fit the front crossmember. not sure if im going to use it the way it is or narrow it, because it looks like the tires might hit

[1tonflattie]

heres a couple pictures of the rear, nothing fancy. the rear bumper was on the frame when i got it and i decided to keep it




thats all for now

[1tonflattie]

heres a michelin xl holding a bead at 4psi haha

[Rico]

[Jeep Creep]

nice i cant wait to see the rest of this build and see this thing finished.

[rckrdyxj]

Those welds make me soil myself. Great work!

[1tonflattie]

thanks for the compliments, been welding since i was pretty young.

got more done today despite a lot of visitors... i cut a bunch of carboard templates out for the piece to box the frame in and started to plasma cut the pieces out of 3/16" plate. welded in the rear section but too lazy to take pics... i will tomorrow.

if anyone is ever in the killingworth area shoot me a pm and you can come check it out if you want

[1tonflattie]

ok got a lot more done today. about 1/3 of the frame is boxed now using the pieces i cut out yesteday. heres the front, between the added section of frame and the stock funky round crossmember:


heres the rear


i flipped the frame over to finish all the welding on the bottom, before it gets too heavy. im going to finish boxing it, then strap the bottom with 1/8" strapping. heres another shot of the rear upside down



here's the front again, with the section from behing the FRC the the engine mount welded in



i also found 2 hole toward the front of the frame that are the same on both sides, to use as a reference for setting up the rear shackle hanger which will be through the frame. the bushing is 1.5" ID and 2" OD so i found the center point for the shackle bolt, center punched it then used a hole saw to cut the hole through the frame:


and i did measure my wheel base. not exact because the springs are not compressed but it should be about 95 - 96 inches.

[Jeep Creep]

sick! what are u using for drivetrain?