WJCO's Build Thread, 1999 WJ

[WJCO]

I'm looking forward to seeing this along with everyone else. Awesome!

Thanks. Me too. I'm hoping it goes smoothly.

I see you're doing 4.56 gears. Is the plan to stick with 33s?

And I assume that's what the rear is already at?

Yep. I re-geared to 4.56 in December. 33s is a lot of tire for one of these. I actually had to shorten steering radius to keep from rubbing as I couldn't trim anymore.

You could check ruff stuff specialties. But a machine shop sounds like the best first option. Atleast it would be in person and you could easily explain what you want done.

Thanks for that info. I'll check them out.

 

[WJCO]

Working on building a trail welder for this thing. Got a used RW gun and a couple of batteries.

 

[2Cross]

Portable welder
You're getting serious now
Do you anticipate a lot of issues?
Seems like your rig is solid

 

[WJCO]

Portable welder
You're getting serious now
Do you anticipate a lot of issues?
Seems like your rig is solid

Just one of those things I've always wanted to have in there. Also it's nice even in town to be able to weld something without driving the Jeep to a power source. I won't keep it in there full time, but nice to have the capability.

 

[WJCO]

Just played around with the new welder. It puts out a lot of amps! It can weld up to 1/2 inch steel. I was really surprised how well it worked.

 

[wayoflife]

Good welder. What I used to have and if it weren't for the Trek 180 that I now have, it'd be what I'd carry

 

[WJCO]

Spent some time building a battery box/carrier for the welder. And the cool part is that I used the portable welder itself to do the job. Loving this thing. I have full confidence that this thing will work great out in the sticks if I needed it.







Now it's off to paint.

 

[USMC Wrangler]

Nice! I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those guns.

 

[WJCO]

Nice! I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those guns.

They're typically around 500-600 bucks. I've been eyeing them for about a year and was just getting ready to buy and saw a used one on eBay for 300 bucks with good seller feedback. What's really cool is that it's adjustable wire feed speed and can use flux core wire. So no gas and no sticks. :thumb:

 

[HooksNRounds]

You got a great deal on that gun. Battery carrier is looking good. I don't usually buy much at harbor freight, but they do have a pretty cool magnetic mig gun holder that would be great on the trail to keep your gun out of the dirt when you have to set it down. I have had a couple for quite some time and they hold up really well.

 

[WJCO]

You got a great deal on that gun. Battery carrier is looking good. I don't usually buy much at harbor freight, but they do have a pretty cool magnetic mig gun holder that would be great on the trail to keep your gun out of the dirt when you have to set it down. I have had a couple for quite some time and they hold up really well.View attachment 225028

Thanks. Never seen one of those. Cool. :thumb:

 

[WJCO]

Paint is finished. I now have a fully mobile trail welder that doesn't take up too much space. The batteries are heavy as hell though.

 

[NecessaryEvil]

I know the premise of the setup is for emergency trail use; however, I wonder how long you can weld with that setup before it is no longer effective? Any input? Cool setup. And you defiantly have to have more confidence on the trail in case of a break.

 

[WJCO]

I know the premise of the setup is for emergency trail use; however, I wonder how long you can weld with that setup before it is no longer effective? Any input? Cool setup. And you defiantly have to have more confidence on the trail in case of a break.

That's actually the first FAQ in the manual. It says there's a lot of variables but roughly 45 minutes. Building this thing last night and both batteries still showed full charge. It does say that if you're welding straight for 90 seconds that you need to let the gun cool down.

 

[swampdog]

Do you just recharge it by hooking the batteries up to a trickle charger?

 

[WJCO]

Do you just recharge it by hooking the batteries up to a trickle charger?

Yep. Just one at a time. I was going to convert my Jeep to 24v, but with how little room I have under the hood, it would have been a big project. Plus this is way easier to use regarding the wiring, and portable enough to take away from the Jeep if I had to help someone else or help out family/friends away from a power source.

This thing runs a lot of amps though. I was blowing holes through .125 steel really fast. Just for kicks, I may try one battery just to get a feel for that output too.

 

[wayoflife]

Paint is finished. I now have a fully mobile trail welder that doesn't take up too much space. The batteries are heavy as hell though.

Nice! I always just ended up pulling 2 batteries from the Jeeps closest to where the welding was needed but if you have the room, this is a much better setup.

I won't lie though, I'm really not a fan of Optima batteries or at least, not anymore. Hopefully they've made changes to them and they'll hold their charge for you.

 

[WJCO]

Nice! I always just ended up pulling 2 batteries from the Jeeps closest to where the welding was needed but if you have the room, this is a much better setup.

I won't lie though, I'm really not a fan of Optima batteries or at least, not anymore. Hopefully they've made changes to them and they'll hold their charge for you.

I've heard that too about recent Optimas. I've had good luck with them in the past and hope these work out. Luckily they won't often be used.

 

[NecessaryEvil]

That's actually the first FAQ in the manual. It says there's a lot of variables but roughly 45 minutes. Building this thing last night and both batteries still showed full charge. It does say that if you're welding straight for 90 seconds that you need to let the gun cool down.

View attachment 225041

45 minutes is very impressive. 90 seconds makes sense not being a actual machine with a duty cycle. Still awesome.

Nice! I always just ended up pulling 2 batteries from the Jeeps closest to where the welding was needed but if you have the room, this is a much better setup.

I won't lie though, I'm really not a fan of Optima batteries or at least, not anymore. Hopefully they've made changes to them and they'll hold their charge for you.

It funny I was just talking about this. Johnson control outsourced optima to a plant in Mexico. Ever since they have not been the same. I have had both yellow and red top after the fact and they could never recover after going dead once.

 

[WJCO]

Got the locker manifold on.