One item I often see on older jeeps are cracks, patches and general ugliness along the front 2 feet of the frame rails. Sometimes, patching simply isn’t enough and an amputation/replacement is in order.
Over at Pirate 4×4, there’s some great pics of a rebuild that were posted during 2009. Below are just a few of the many pics posted regarding this surgery. If you want/need to do this to your build, I suggest you visit the site and check it out.
View all the pics and information here. Here are some excerpts:
The Surgeon reports, “The front frame section was kinked I think from an incident with the tow bar hitting the ground at speed. It was like that when John bought it. The frame pointed at the ground and the front shackle lay flat against the front bumper meaning no suspension. I cut the fubared frame off and built a new section and front bumper out of 2×3 box tubing.”
The patient prior to Surgery, a 1947 CJ-2A:
Here’s a closer look at the problem. Note how the frame still trends downward rather than traveling horizontal.
And, a closer look:
The front of the frame has been removed:
In this photo, you can see the new sections, build out of 2″ x 3″ square tubing that I would guess is 1/4″ thick.
And here’s another view:
