Nothing was done to the Jeep last weekend because it was just two cold and nasty out. But after putting the jumper pack on it fired up no problem. Of course it sounded like a Sherman tank because of the lack of exhaust, and that will get worse before it gets better because the Y-pipe will be coming off.

We did not just dive into the frame work. We moved around keeping things in motion since many different things are planned and Rob bought a lot of parts. I didn’t fib on one point-we are bringing it back from the dead.

The left front fender had a nasty hole in it where mud, salt and rocks get thrown at it. The first step is to remove the dum-dum, or factory undercoat around it along with dead metal. I would suggest wearing a facemask. The entire shop was filled with the smoke from that dum-dum.

Using metal cut from the hood of a junk car, a patch is made that fits over the hole. Once the outside of the hole and the patch is down to bare metal I used a metal bonding adhesive from Lord called Fusor 110B.

Put a generous amount of glue around the outside of the patch, place it over the hole and attach it with self tapping screws. It will harden in 2 hours, then the screws can be removed and reused later, or left in. I mixed up some body filler and put that over the patch.

After it hardened I ground it down some and then we sprayed it over with undercoat. Some people may have done a better job, but it is hard to tell we were ever there, unless you really look, and it keeps the carpet dry.

The brakes are all brand new, as you can see from the picture to the right, there is a bag over the new rotor, caliper and pads to protect them from over spray and dust. The oil is drained at this point and that stuff was just mud. I am not sure what we plain to do about that right now, so look to future installments to find out.

We got out an old bumper jack and placed it under the transfer case to hold up the trans once the crossmember is removed. The bolts came out on the driver side without a problem but the passenger side was so rotted out that it had to be cut out. Once all the bad metal was removed, the first of the new pieces was fabricated and tacked in.

As you can see there is not much left and we have a job and a half cut out for us. Tune in later, same Jeep time, same Jeep channel, for the next exciting installment.