DJ's TJ: Low and Slow
- Thread starter Dev
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If that's the case I'll definitely get some. Years ago when I took my tig class we only welded 6062 T6 and we could only use 4043 filler so I still have a ton left over so it's what I've been using. I'll have to look into that because this tray will see some flex
It depends on the aluminum alloy you are welding. In your case, AirborneTexasRanger, you were welding 5052 alloy, which isn't heat-treatable. Using 4043 rod isn't the best choice for that alloy because the 5% silicon in the 4043 rod mixes with the magnesium in the 5052, and in that mixed zone, it becomes heat-treatable, so it's susceptible to cracking more easily. The 5356 rod has far less silicone, so it's a better choice for the 5052 alloy.
It's H32 because I'm using 5052. I believe 5052 is the only option SCS offers if there's a bend in the design because it's formable.
Garage time has been a little slow lately due to preparations for the move. I decided to hold off on all my electrical management plans and just focus on what needs to be done. That includes remotely locating my battery to inside the cab and installing my bulkhead battery terminal fittings in the firewall. The fittings I'm using are $50 from Amazon and have a 550A rating. There's a nice flat spot on the pass side footwell area where the factory battery tray sits that's perfect for these and I made sure my electrical tray had enough clearance.
Simple install..
I'll grab some terminal covers for protection of the footwell area. I bought some but don't fit very well.
I'm using 2/0 cable here so it has the amperage room for the high load that the winch will use. I made the cables a bit long because I'm not set on where the battery will live yet. For now I have the battery placed on the floor behind the seats, sitting in a beautiful Motobilt battery tray covered in Steelit black. Btw These odyssey 1500 batteries have become my favorite AGM to use as a starter/do it all battery. Highly recommend over Optimas.
On to the front brakes. I flared each end of the brake lines that we ran and welded on some tabs to the frame. I'm using standard inverted double flare on these ends but went with some Fragola -3AN adapters so I can use AN to AN brake lines. This way I can easily and cheaply find brake lines in the future (The ones I have may be a little long). On the caliper ends I'm using Summit 35* AN banjo bolts.
I did some misc. work like tightened all the steering hardware and replaced the ORI mounting bolts. I think all that's left to do is bleed the brakes and it'll be good enough to load onto a trailer and into the new garage.
Simple install..
I'll grab some terminal covers for protection of the footwell area. I bought some but don't fit very well.
I'm using 2/0 cable here so it has the amperage room for the high load that the winch will use. I made the cables a bit long because I'm not set on where the battery will live yet. For now I have the battery placed on the floor behind the seats, sitting in a beautiful Motobilt battery tray covered in Steelit black. Btw These odyssey 1500 batteries have become my favorite AGM to use as a starter/do it all battery. Highly recommend over Optimas.
On to the front brakes. I flared each end of the brake lines that we ran and welded on some tabs to the frame. I'm using standard inverted double flare on these ends but went with some Fragola -3AN adapters so I can use AN to AN brake lines. This way I can easily and cheaply find brake lines in the future (The ones I have may be a little long). On the caliper ends I'm using Summit 35* AN banjo bolts.
I did some misc. work like tightened all the steering hardware and replaced the ORI mounting bolts. I think all that's left to do is bleed the brakes and it'll be good enough to load onto a trailer and into the new garage.
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I moved a couple months ago. My buddy was nice enough to bring his flatbed which made things crazy easy.
I'm currently building the new garage how I like it. I already built shelving on both side walls, a 14' work bench and ran a 220v subpanel so I can use my welders. Once I get it all built and organized I'll throw up some pictures. I'm also actually really happy this garage faces north so I won't have to battle the sun anymore.
Since I have my electrical ran I was able to continue working on my power management tray. I was originally going to weld the two pieces of this tray together but in order to actually install it, the two pieces need to be installed separately, so I welded some tabs on it to make it modular. My aluminum welding skills were NOT on par that day. I drilled some pass-through holes and used grommets so all of the wires will be routed underneath.
Oh.. and @AirborneTexasRanger I edited my last post when we were talking about what aluminum I'm using. This is 5052 and I used 4043 filler rod which is a must because it'll see a lot of heat in the engine bay.
This took a lot of time to figure out, but this is the layout the hardware will be. There wasn't enough room for my Auxbeam relay module so I mounted that on the OEM relay panel.
This is the relay panel I'll be using for my specialty switches (I'll go into detail on the next post.) All of my other non-specialty switches will be ran off of the auxbeam module. This relay panel can be bought pre-wired but they use 16awg wire for the load side of the relay so I decided to do it myself and used 12awg.
Here she is wired up (without the hardware covers on), ready to be installed. Once installed all I need to do is terminate my switch wires and load wires from the jeep onto the tray and we're good to go.
This factory wiring from the engine to the relay panel was a mess too so I cleaned it up.
I have a couple packages on the way for my dash mounted switches so I'll be posting about that soon. But....
THIS is what I'm excited for.
I designed this in Fusion360 and am currently waiting for this to arrive. Let's play another round of guess what it is.
I'm currently building the new garage how I like it. I already built shelving on both side walls, a 14' work bench and ran a 220v subpanel so I can use my welders. Once I get it all built and organized I'll throw up some pictures. I'm also actually really happy this garage faces north so I won't have to battle the sun anymore.
Since I have my electrical ran I was able to continue working on my power management tray. I was originally going to weld the two pieces of this tray together but in order to actually install it, the two pieces need to be installed separately, so I welded some tabs on it to make it modular. My aluminum welding skills were NOT on par that day. I drilled some pass-through holes and used grommets so all of the wires will be routed underneath.
Oh.. and @AirborneTexasRanger I edited my last post when we were talking about what aluminum I'm using. This is 5052 and I used 4043 filler rod which is a must because it'll see a lot of heat in the engine bay.
This took a lot of time to figure out, but this is the layout the hardware will be. There wasn't enough room for my Auxbeam relay module so I mounted that on the OEM relay panel.
This is the relay panel I'll be using for my specialty switches (I'll go into detail on the next post.) All of my other non-specialty switches will be ran off of the auxbeam module. This relay panel can be bought pre-wired but they use 16awg wire for the load side of the relay so I decided to do it myself and used 12awg.
Here she is wired up (without the hardware covers on), ready to be installed. Once installed all I need to do is terminate my switch wires and load wires from the jeep onto the tray and we're good to go.
This factory wiring from the engine to the relay panel was a mess too so I cleaned it up.
I have a couple packages on the way for my dash mounted switches so I'll be posting about that soon. But....
THIS is what I'm excited for.
I designed this in Fusion360 and am currently waiting for this to arrive. Let's play another round of guess what it is.
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My creation showed up today!
Not sure if I'll have time to weld it up anytime soon but it looks like it'll work nicely.
Once I cut my hood for highlines it'll be more noticeable.
Not sure if I'll have time to weld it up anytime soon but it looks like it'll work nicely.
Once I cut my hood for highlines it'll be more noticeable.
I have some exciting news.
I got married!
Now that we're back from the honeymoon and it's all behind us I can get back to kicking ass in the garage. Today is garage organization day.
I got married!
Now that we're back from the honeymoon and it's all behind us I can get back to kicking ass in the garage. Today is garage organization day.
Congratulations on the nuptials, and we're looking forward to the butt-kickin' (after the re-organization, of course)!
Alright fellas, time for more updates!
So we officially planned another Rubicon trip for July to make up for missing this year's trip due to the ol' girl not being finished. I set timeline goals for each item that needs to be done to be able to make this trip happen. Of course that also means getting it done asap to work out any kinks before we hit the Rubi.
To follow up with my electrical portion I needed to add switches in the dash to control everything. I wanted my switches to be in a location I can reach while I'm harnessed in which doesn't leave me with many options. While my harness is tight, I can really only reach the radio, so when I'm on the road everything else is hard to access. When I listen to tunes I don't listen to the actual radio, I just use my phone via bluetooth anyway, so I decided to ditch the head unit altogether. I bought this double din dash panel hoping it would give me more room to mount my switches and whatever else where the head unit normally sits. After it came in I realized it wasn't going to work very well. The double din opening is taller which is nice but it's also way narrower. I ended up just ditching the idea and gave the panel to my dad so he can actually install a double din unit in his jeep.
Back to the drawing board..
Overall, the only switches I need are two rocker switches: one to control my radiator fan and one to control my trans/steering fan, everything else will be controlled by my 6 gang Auxbeam switch panel. So I designed this simple switch mount that fits into my existing head unit housing and had it 3d printed by my neighbor. His printer plate had the perfect texture to match the factory bezel too. I added an extra rocker switch slot into the design which will mount a bluetooth controller to power my speakers for music. It was the first print and it fit perfectly. I can now easily reach everything important while I'm strapped in on the road. I also ripped out the lower section of the dash panel that had the factory switches/accessories I'll never use. When I get some time I'll design another mount for phone chargers/voltmeter and whatever else for that section.
way too many pictures incoming...
And onto what I have been super excited to announce!
I got my.. "creation" completely welded up and put together.
I used a piece of lexan as a view port.
And here she is installed.
And for the big reveal, if no one guessed what it is, it's a... completely over the top, way too expensive windshield washer fluid reservoir
It actually has another purpose too. The radiator throws so much heat directly onto the electrical hardware that it was worrying me a little. This resy now acts as a giant heat-sink and protects the entire electrical tray.
Here it is after I plumbed it all and added some washer fluid. It holds exactly 1 gallon of fluid.
I also added a small white LED on top that shines down into it, because why not.
It's hard to tell on here but I cleaned up all of the factory wiring on the grill. It was a giant mess before. I removed everything I'm not longer using and now nothing's in the way.
So if you guys remember I said I was going to tackle this small coolant leak at some point. One of my welds had a tiny pinhole in it causing a tiny drip when it built pressure. I promised to be transparent with my mistakes on this forum so here it goes. The last thing I wanted to do was completely remove the radiator, drain it, flush it and plug the hole so I said eff it and tried to weld it as is. Huge mistake! As I was developing my weld puddle I dipped the tungsten, panicked, pulled back hard which somehow led to my hot tungsten kissing the radiator just above my weld and pierced a small hole completely through it. Hot coolant sprayed out and covered everything including my gas lens. After a huge cleanup job I removed some coolant from the radiator so it sat below my new hole. Welding this new hole was a NIGHTMARE. If you're unaware, in TIG welding, your material needs to be insanely clean. And here I was trying to plug a hole with literal antifreeze mixing into my weld. I saved you all an absolute horror of a picture of what that looked like. I don't think I've seen that shade of blue that was on my weld. Once it was plugged up with enough filler rod I was able to burn some of it back to get it clean on the outside layer. I used a file to knock it down a bit. And for my transparency, here's a pic of how it ended up.. and of course it's one of the first things people will see when the hood is opened.
Moving along.
The front end, for the most part is done! There's a few small things here and there to do, and fab up some fenders but the rear is what really needs to be done.
I turned the jeep around in the garage, got it to where it's going to be for the next few months and...
So we officially planned another Rubicon trip for July to make up for missing this year's trip due to the ol' girl not being finished. I set timeline goals for each item that needs to be done to be able to make this trip happen. Of course that also means getting it done asap to work out any kinks before we hit the Rubi.
To follow up with my electrical portion I needed to add switches in the dash to control everything. I wanted my switches to be in a location I can reach while I'm harnessed in which doesn't leave me with many options. While my harness is tight, I can really only reach the radio, so when I'm on the road everything else is hard to access. When I listen to tunes I don't listen to the actual radio, I just use my phone via bluetooth anyway, so I decided to ditch the head unit altogether. I bought this double din dash panel hoping it would give me more room to mount my switches and whatever else where the head unit normally sits. After it came in I realized it wasn't going to work very well. The double din opening is taller which is nice but it's also way narrower. I ended up just ditching the idea and gave the panel to my dad so he can actually install a double din unit in his jeep.
Back to the drawing board..
Overall, the only switches I need are two rocker switches: one to control my radiator fan and one to control my trans/steering fan, everything else will be controlled by my 6 gang Auxbeam switch panel. So I designed this simple switch mount that fits into my existing head unit housing and had it 3d printed by my neighbor. His printer plate had the perfect texture to match the factory bezel too. I added an extra rocker switch slot into the design which will mount a bluetooth controller to power my speakers for music. It was the first print and it fit perfectly. I can now easily reach everything important while I'm strapped in on the road. I also ripped out the lower section of the dash panel that had the factory switches/accessories I'll never use. When I get some time I'll design another mount for phone chargers/voltmeter and whatever else for that section.
way too many pictures incoming...
And onto what I have been super excited to announce!
I got my.. "creation" completely welded up and put together.
I used a piece of lexan as a view port.
And here she is installed.
And for the big reveal, if no one guessed what it is, it's a... completely over the top, way too expensive windshield washer fluid reservoir
It actually has another purpose too. The radiator throws so much heat directly onto the electrical hardware that it was worrying me a little. This resy now acts as a giant heat-sink and protects the entire electrical tray.
Here it is after I plumbed it all and added some washer fluid. It holds exactly 1 gallon of fluid.
I also added a small white LED on top that shines down into it, because why not.
It's hard to tell on here but I cleaned up all of the factory wiring on the grill. It was a giant mess before. I removed everything I'm not longer using and now nothing's in the way.
So if you guys remember I said I was going to tackle this small coolant leak at some point. One of my welds had a tiny pinhole in it causing a tiny drip when it built pressure. I promised to be transparent with my mistakes on this forum so here it goes. The last thing I wanted to do was completely remove the radiator, drain it, flush it and plug the hole so I said eff it and tried to weld it as is. Huge mistake! As I was developing my weld puddle I dipped the tungsten, panicked, pulled back hard which somehow led to my hot tungsten kissing the radiator just above my weld and pierced a small hole completely through it. Hot coolant sprayed out and covered everything including my gas lens. After a huge cleanup job I removed some coolant from the radiator so it sat below my new hole. Welding this new hole was a NIGHTMARE. If you're unaware, in TIG welding, your material needs to be insanely clean. And here I was trying to plug a hole with literal antifreeze mixing into my weld. I saved you all an absolute horror of a picture of what that looked like. I don't think I've seen that shade of blue that was on my weld. Once it was plugged up with enough filler rod I was able to burn some of it back to get it clean on the outside layer. I used a file to knock it down a bit. And for my transparency, here's a pic of how it ended up.. and of course it's one of the first things people will see when the hood is opened.
Moving along.
The front end, for the most part is done! There's a few small things here and there to do, and fab up some fenders but the rear is what really needs to be done.
I turned the jeep around in the garage, got it to where it's going to be for the next few months and...
never in my life did i think i would be jealous of a windshield washer reservoir. this whole this is absolutely stunning
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