ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[Nlped]

Looks good as usual!

My dad made it to Suprise AZ last week. One of his wheelin’buddies at Happy Trails, Don Phelps, really bragged on your Jeep. He apparently did some riding with you last week in Moab.


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[zmotorsports]

Nice job stacking dimes there sir!

Thank you, I appreciate that.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks good as usual!

My dad made it to Suprise AZ last week. One of his wheelin’buddies at Happy Trails, Don Phelps, really bragged on your Jeep. He apparently did some riding with you last week in Moab.


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Wow. It sure is a small world. Glad your dad made it back to Surprise safely but sad I didn’t get to meet him or wheel with him.

I did meet Don while we were there and spent quite a bit of time at happy hour talking with him. We wheeled with him and his wife on Metal Masher one day and my wife and I were able to visit with them for quite a bit on the trail as well. They sure are a great couple, very friendly.

 

[zmotorsports]

Tonight we made some progress on my son’s mud flaps.

Fixturing the bracket for welding.


Capping the end. A little trick is to put a few tacks on the inside then square off on the disk sander to provide a “shelf” for the cap to sit on for an outside corner joint.






Test fitting before mounting permanently.




After capping the ends we changed mounting locations so now I get to cut about 1.25” off and re-cap the ends before painting.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Craftfab]

Thats a great tip on the caps! I have fought many of times with keeping them in place.

How do you like the Crummy fixture plate? Not aluminum like his, but saw today that Fireball Tools will be releasing a 12x24" cast iron fixture plate for $275 ea.

 

[Duker]

Thats a great tip on the caps! I have fought many of times with keeping them in place.

How do you like the Crummy fixture plate? Not aluminum like his, but saw today that Fireball Tools will be releasing a 12x24" cast iron fixture plate for $275 ea.

I was going to ask the same question.... [emoji16]


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[zmotorsports]

Thats a great tip on the caps! I have fought many of times with keeping them in place.

How do you like the Crummy fixture plate? Not aluminum like his, but saw today that Fireball Tools will be releasing a 12x24" cast iron fixture plate for $275 ea.

I was going to ask the same question.... [emoji16]


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I am really pleased with Roy's fixture plate. Very nice quality material and excellent machining/finish.

 

[aka Larry]

Looks great as always Mike.

BTW, did you make the caps or buy them? I use 1" square tubing on a lot of my welding projects so that is of interest to me.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great as always Mike.

BTW, did you make the caps or buy them? I use 1" square tubing on a lot of my welding projects so that is of interest to me.

These ones were made by my son while I was welding the brackets. I agree if you do repetitive capping of the same size it is usually more economical to purchase some pre-made ones. Back when I was fabricating ATV sand drag chassis I purchased .750", .875" and 1" round caps to cap off the 4130 tubing. I purchased them in lots of 25 and it was nice to grab a few out of the drawer and keep on going.

 

[tncumminsguy]

after I sell my dedicated crawler I would like to build a JK rubicon with an LS swap, I really love wheeling but hate owning something that isnt street legal nor really could be without a lot of work

 

[zmotorsports]

after I sell my dedicated crawler I would like to build a JK rubicon with an LS swap, I really love wheeling but hate owning something that isnt street legal nor really could be without a lot of work

I don't think you will regret it, although you may not be doing the same obstacles and/or trails. One of the things I disliked about having our ATV's and sand rail was having to trailer them to the trail/dunes then set up camp and not having a vehicle to run around with. This way I have it all in one package. My son and I waffled with the idea of building a dedicated trail rig back when we sold our sand toys in 2012 but decided against it for the same reasons of having to trailer it to the trail and not having access to run to town or go sightseeing. Also many of our RV trips are not off-road trips and this way I have our Jeep for general sightseeing and/or touristy things which still allows me to drive the Jeep and have all of the creature comforts of A/C and heater to enjoy it no matter the climate.

I know my Jeep is built to tackle much more than I will ever put it through but I love being able to do all of the following with it in one vehicle: daily drive it, flat-tow it behind out coach, drive to the trail no matter how many miles of interstate or two lane highway, air down, wheel it on probably 80+ percent of the trails, air back up and drive back home or to camp and relax then do it all over again the next day.

Thanks for following along and good luck with the LS JKUR project when you get rolling on it.

 

[PhantomEB]

The threaded holes in your welding table..... I would love to use mine as a fixture plate now I getting more into fabrication. What size bolts do they take?

 

[LXCam]

That fixture plate is pretty slick mike. What material is it? And a major pat on the back for a totally successful family outing, what a great story.

 

[bigsteve2011]

https://crummywelding.com/

1/2"-13 threaded holes.

 

[rattle_snake]

... One of the things I disliked about having our ATV's and sand rail was having to trailer them..

yes, some of our big boy toys take a lot of work just to play with them. Same for a dedicated drag car, boat and so on. Have to load up and take them someplace far away, break something, repair($), clean...

Nice job the flap hangers. Are SUV required to have them in UT? Just trucks here in AZ.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

This sounds ridiculous, but the idea of using the bolt heads for alignment on the fixture plate is great! I typically just use the clamp set studs, but that can be a pain in the **** due to their height above the work piece. I only keep fine thread hardware on hand, but I'm going to grab a handful of 1/2-13 hardware for this purpose.

 

[zmotorsports]

The threaded holes in your welding table..... I would love to use mine as a fixture plate now I getting more into fabrication. What size bolts do they take?

My table is just flat with no holes, the holes in the picture are of my fixture plate and they are 1/2"-13 so I can easily use the same work holding clamps from my milling machine.

Personally I don't care for holes in my welding/fabrication table because I work on such a wide variety of things. If I used it for production runs or something like that I can see where the fixturing holes may be of benefit. Back when I was building sand rails and sand quads I built fixture plates specific to those chassis and/or components and would sit them on the fabrication table rather than using the actual table for fixturing. Just personal preference I guess.

 

[zmotorsports]

That fixture plate is pretty slick mike. What material is it? And a major pat on the back for a totally successful family outing, what a great story.

Thanks Cam. Yes, it was a great trip and left me thirsting for the next one.

The fixture plate is aluminum. I bought it from Roy over at Crummy welding. I follow him on Instagram and thought it was a reasonable price for what it was and I like to support fellow fabricators when I can. I've only used it a few times but I sure like it.

 

[zmotorsports]

yes, some of our big boy toys take a lot of work just to play with them. Same for a dedicated drag car, boat and so on. Have to load up and take them someplace far away, break something, repair($), clean...

Nice job the flap hangers. Are SUV required to have them in UT? Just trucks here in AZ.

Agreed Justin, your boat would be the same situation. With my Jeep I didn't want to design in a similar situation that I just eliminated so now it provides the best of both worlds.

UT law requires the rear tires not be exposed from axle centerline up. With the way we undercut and narrowed his rear bumper it actually exaggerates the look even more and he got pulled over last week as they were leaving their home and headed for Moab for no mud flaps. This mud flap modification is so he can get the ticket waived as it was a "fix it ticket". There are a LOT of vehicles running around our area worse off than his WJ and in his 13 years of driving he's never been pulled over for something like this and he's never driven anything even close to stock. Personally I think the LEO was wanting to run his tags and license and used this as a way to access that. Either way it was illegal so we'll make it legal and move on. The flaps will be easily removed for off-roading.

 

[zmotorsports]

This sounds ridiculous, but the idea of using the bolt heads for alignment on the fixture plate is great! I typically just use the clamp set studs, but that can be a pain in the **** due to their height above the work piece. I only keep fine thread hardware on hand, but I'm going to grab a handful of 1/2-13 hardware for this purpose.

One suggestion would be to use 1/2"-13 socket head cap screws (SHCS) rather than the hex heads. With the hex head you have to have the hex positioned properly but with a round head on the SHCS it won't matter. I simply didn't have any 1/2"-13 SHCS on hand that weren't too long and had a large shoulder so I will be picking up some 1/2"-13x 1" SHCS fasteners for this very purpose.

 

[jjeffries]

What a great thread...one that I always check in on. When I came to the US (from England) many moons ago, we lived in SoCal and got to do some travel into AZ, NM, NV and CO, so I appreciate the varied terrains you guys play in and all the cool machines that can enable such fun, but agree it can liberating when one figures out that less is often more...the versatile Jeep you've created being a prime example. John in CT.

 

[lilscorpion]

... saw today that Fireball Tools will be releasing a 12x24" cast iron fixture plate for $275 ea.

Excellent, I’ve been waiting for a bigger version. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[zmotorsports]

What a great thread...one that I always check in on. When I came to the US (from England) many moons ago, we lived in SoCal and got to do some travel into AZ, NM, NV and CO, so I appreciate the varied terrains you guys play in and all the cool machines that can enable such fun, but agree it can liberating when one figures out that less is often more...the versatile Jeep you've created being a prime example. John in CT.

Thank you John. I appreciate the comments and for following along on my projects.

 

[shortykorte]

That fixture plate is a great idea for us that don’t need it that often. I was thinking about incorporating holes in my future bench modification project. For the same money I can get a fixture plate. Matter of fact, I could have used it Saturday. The site that keeps on giving. Thanks Mike.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

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[PhantomEB]

Exactly shorty, I already got the holes drilled into my mobile table so just need to open up then tap out.

 

[zmotorsports]

That fixture plate is a great idea for us that don’t need it that often. I was thinking about incorporating holes in my future bench modification project. For the same money I can get a fixture plate. Matter of fact, I could have used it Saturday. The site that keeps on giving. Thanks Mike.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

Exactly shorty, I already got the holes drilled into my mobile table so just need to open up then tap out.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments and thanks for following along on my various projects.

 

[zmotorsports]

My son was putting his winter tires/wheels on and detected a slight amount of play out of the driver’s side upper ball joint.

While it was on the lift we figured we’d hurry and replace them.


He told me he has also detected a very slight pulsation in the pedal so we had the front rotors turned.


New ball joints installed.


Set down, wheels torqued, road test and brakes burnished.


On the way home from work I stopped by and picked up the filters and oil for our coach as it is time for a full service again so it’s ready to go for the next travel season.


Thanks for looking.

 

[lilscorpion]

On the way home from work I stopped by and picked up the filters and oil for our coach as it is time for a full service again so it’s ready to go for the next travel season.

No one else is wondering why your coach has like 13 filters?! [emoji857]

 

[Bob Heine]

No one else is wondering why your coach has like 13 filters?! [emoji857]

I was thinking at least two fuel filters for the main engine, another for the generator, an oil filter for each engine and a filter for the transmission. Looks like about 32 quarts of oil as well (unless those two gallon jugs are another kind of fluid).

 

[zmotorsports]

No one else is wondering why your coach has like 13 filters?! [emoji857]

I was thinking at least two fuel filters for the main engine, another for the generator, an oil filter for each engine and a filter for the transmission. Looks like about 32 quarts of oil as well (unless those two gallon jugs are another kind of fluid).

Not servicing the generator this year as I haven't come close to the hours yet but the filters are primary and secondary fuel, oil filter, coolant filter, also changing the hydraulic filter this year and the desiccant cartridge for the air system is also due this year. Then the 7-gallons of 15W-40 oil. That will hopefully be Saturday's little project.

Also I found a very small air leak that I want to address but access is going to be tough as it is up behind the passenger side headlight and in between the entrance step well. Not looking forward to having to squeeze myself up into that area at all.

Thanks for checking in guys.

 

[mmsheb]

No stone left unturned when you are present! Your knowledge, skill, determination, diligence, etc. is admirable. Preventative measures and being prepared must be on plaques correctly placed and properly attached with appropriately machined fasteners to your shop walls!

 

[4 FN 27]

Mike what Motor is in your Coach? Have you ever checked with the manufacturer on their preferred Maintenance Schedule?

I was shocked the last time I was at Cummins and check with them based on the serial number of the ISX15 in ours. They suggest 25000 miles for an oil and lubricating filter change...knowing it is in a Motorhome.

We've had 3 oil changes done in 23000 miles. Been having Cummins do it since we purchased the Motorhome from my Dad who bought it new. He enrolled in the Cummins Power Club which gets you a slight discount. And since it is a 2011 and an emissions motor I'd rather have them scrutinize it and review all the diagnostics and codes.

 

[aka Larry]

We've had 3 oil changes done in 23000 miles. Been having Cummins do it since we purchased the Motorhome from my Dad who bought it new. He enrolled in the Cummins Power Club which gets you a slight discount. And since it is a 2011 and an emissions motor I'd rather have them scrutinize it and review all the diagnostics and codes.

Mike damn near had a panic attack when the dealer insisted they replace the air bag in his Jeep, and he was right there beside the tech while it was being done. Could you imagine his level of anxiety if he dropped off his coach for service?

Not knocking you Mike, just poking a little fun. Your attention to detail is awesome.

 

[4 FN 27]

Mike damn near had a panic attack when the dealer insisted they replace the air bag in his Jeep, and he was right there beside the tech while it was being done. Could you imagine his level of anxiety if he dropped off his coach for service?

Not knocking you Mike, just poking a little fun. Your attention to detail is awesome.

I totally understand Mike's concern. Second Oil Change with Cummins it was raining hard outside. They came and got me and said you are good to go.

I drove the 8 miles home and backed the MH up to the garage door went inside to open the door. Came out to a big red puddle of antifreeze under the back end of the coach. Backed it in real quick and shut it off. Wasn't showing any signs of over heating.

I got under it and saw it ******* from the Engine Water Filter.

Called Cummins and told them what happened. They sent the tech out to the shop and he found the Gasket for the Water Filter on the floor.

Needless to say I had them write it up on a service call at no charge to me to come out and R&R the Filter and top off the coolant. 2 1/2 gallons...but at least it is on the record.

Now after service they leave it in the bay for me to inspect prior to leaving.

 

[zmotorsports]

No stone left unturned when you are present! Your knowledge, skill, determination, diligence, etc. is admirable. Preventative measures and being prepared must be on plaques correctly placed and properly attached with appropriately machined fasteners to your shop walls!

Thank you very much for the comments and for following along. I think I have acquired a fair skillset along the way and hope I can pass some of that along to others. Preventive Maintenance is kind of one of my pet peeves so I seem to focus on it and unfortunately I'm sure I over-maintain at times.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike what Motor is in your Coach? Have you ever checked with the manufacturer on their preferred Maintenance Schedule?

I was shocked the last time I was at Cummins and check with them based on the serial number of the ISX15 in ours. They suggest 25000 miles for an oil and lubricating filter change...knowing it is in a Motorhome.

We've had 3 oil changes done in 23000 miles. Been having Cummins do it since we purchased the Motorhome from my Dad who bought it new. He enrolled in the Cummins Power Club which gets you a slight discount. And since it is a 2011 and an emissions motor I'd rather have them scrutinize it and review all the diagnostics and codes.

Pat, the engine that I have in our 2003 coach is a 2002 model year Cummins ISL (8.9 liter engine) It is rated at 400 hp/1200 lb/ft of torque and seems to move the 36k pound coach around fairly well although I would love to have the 500/1450 rated ISM.

I pretty much follow the manufacturers recommendation with the exception of time. It states 15k miles or annually whichever comes first. I only put around 6k-7k miles per year on our coach so I service it every other year with the exception of the two fuel filters which I replace annually. I think right now I am sitting around 13k on this service.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike damn near had a panic attack when the dealer insisted they replace the air bag in his Jeep, and he was right there beside the tech while it was being done. Could you imagine his level of anxiety if he dropped off his coach for service?

Not knocking you Mike, just poking a little fun. Your attention to detail is awesome.

Thanks for reminding me of that Vincent. I had nearly forgot about that little stressful event.

 

[zmotorsports]

I totally understand Mike's concern. Second Oil Change with Cummins it was raining hard outside. They came and got me and said you are good to go.

I drove the 8 miles home and backed the MH up to the garage door went inside to open the door. Came out to a big red puddle of antifreeze under the back end of the coach. Backed it in real quick and shut it off. Wasn't showing any signs of over heating.

I got under it and saw it ******* from the Engine Water Filter.

Called Cummins and told them what happened. They sent the tech out to the shop and he found the Gasket for the Water Filter on the floor.

Needless to say I had them write it up on a service call at no charge to me to come out and R&R the Filter and top off the coolant. 2 1/2 gallons...but at least it is on the record.

Now after service they leave it in the bay for me to inspect prior to leaving.

That's probably not the first time it's happened to them and I'm sure more people than not have experienced that.

Don't get me wrong though, for all of the negative stories we hear I am certain there are many good ones from well qualified and attentive mechanics, I just can't bring myself to let anyone touch my stuff if I don't absolutely have to.

And to Vincent's point, having my airbag recall performed on my Jeep damn near drove me to drinking and he was very cautious and professional.

 

[PhantomEB]

You not alone in your endeavours, I change everyone’s (my two trucks, my car, gf’s CRV and Mom’s SUV) oil twice a year at worst. Spring and Fall.

My car and the GF get tires/rims swapped out as well rotated. Moms gets rotated. This allows me to judge whether to change out brakes and top up all fluids. The two trucks and quad get maintainence as per their usage.

Nothing wrong with being on top of things!

 

[Bob Heine]

Mike, I change the oil and filter in my vehicles annually because they don't get driven much. I need to pay better attention because two years ago I did the annual change in the Corvette and when I went to add the date and mileage sticker to the door jamb discovered I had driven it only 49 miles. The Cadillac CTS-V was the 'new to me' toy and took most of my seat time that year. Something about those LS motors!