10-Aug-2015
Closed and tight
The latch and catch work pretty good..
19-Aug-2015
Tube door paint complete
After priming and sanding the doors I had to weld together some sort of stand to hold both doors for the final top coat. I then shot a couple coats of Butterscotch Gold then I added a flattening agent to the clear for a satin finish for the final two coats of clear.
19-Aug-2015
Paint complete
Both doors are complete, color and clear coat
19-Aug-2015
Just letting them dry now
Ow that the top coat paint and clear is complete I will et the doors dry a few days and then I will attach the aluminum insert.
20-Aug-2015
Patterns transferred to the aluminum
Now that the tube doors are painted I can finish the aluminum inserts for both doors. I made a pattern then transferred it to the aluminum and now oth inserts will be cut and the he edges sanded.
Inserts installed
I drilled and tapped the tabs on the tube doors for some 10-32 machine screws and fastened both inserts to the doors. Now it's time to install them on the Jeep.
21-Aug-2015
Tube door catch
I bead blasted then powder coated the catches for both doors. I previously marked the catches to that when I reinstalled them all I had to do was line them up with the mark and the latch would work great.
Tube doors installed
After mounting the catches I installed both doors and tightened down the hinge bolts
A shot of the finished driver side
I'm glad that I went with a satin finish on the doors to give them a slight contrast from the glossy paint.
21-Aug-2015
Full profile view
The doors turned out good, fit well, and don't rattle.
11-Sep-2015
Dana 300 front output shaft
Since my original Dana 20 is "wore the heck out" and a bungy cord is now needed just to hold it in 2 wheel high, it was time to rebuild or upgrade the TC. I found a good deal on a built Dana 300 that has all new bearings, twin sticks, a 32 spline heavy duty rear output, and a JB 4:1 low range kit. I figured the last weak link to the 300 was the front output so I will do the slight machining to the aluminum bearing housing and install the heavy duty 32 spline front output shaft.
I was surprised at the huge difference in the size of the new 32 spline output shaft as compared to the OEM output shaft.
13-Sep-2015
Shift rod modification
I did a modification on the shift rod that will allow front wheel drive high range to being engaged if for some reason a rear driveshaft or something is broken and front wheel drive is the only way out.