Anyone ever taken the tub off of a Jeep frame? I'm debating on whether to take my body off my CJ-5 frame. It would make the clutch replacement and inspection of all the worn out components much much easier, and also be able to de rust and coat the frame and underside of the tub for corrosion resistance.

From the Jeep forums it sounds like the biggest issue is getting the 6 body bolts to turn after 35 years of rust (most end up sawing them off). I'm more worried about all the wires and lines connected to the body that I will need to pull and keeping track with everything.

What say you tww? Pull it or no?

2/19/2012 4:54:45 PM

Dont be a pussy.

2/19/2012 5:03:58 PM

pull it

2/19/2012 8:32:47 PM

IIRC on the yj the harness usually splits from chassis to body. I've done a body lift before but never taken the thing all the way off.

It's pretty easy

[Edited on February 19, 2012 at 8:51 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2012 8:50:56 PM

yes, pull it!

2/20/2012 7:25:49 AM

My serious suggestion would be plan on breaking a couple bolts and do a 1 inch body lift for 3 reasons...

1 you should probably replace all the hardware anyway
2 a 1" body lift is safe but allows you more room to work in tight spaces (i'm not up on CJs much but on yjs it makes getting to the top side of the bell housing much much easier for future clutch swaps)
3 its the cheapest inch of lift you'll ever get.

[Edited on February 20, 2012 at 8:47 AM. Reason : .]

2/20/2012 8:46:31 AM

yea i've done it several times.

The main problems are:

- the captive nuts inside the tub may spin free, which is a pain in the butt to fix
- you'll find other things wrong that you want to fix, which makes it just turn into a bigger and bigger project

i'd say pull it if you have plenty of time to work on it for the next few weeks. you souldn't have problems with gas lines and brake lines, those shouldn't be connected to the tub.

its a good time to clean and paint the gas tank as well as replace the sending unit

2/20/2012 10:19:28 AM

^Haha want to come swap a car wash for some help taking this damn thing off?

I took off everything connected to the body today, and got one body bolt off. The rest......they are spinning.

Damnit.

2/20/2012 8:41:16 PM