Since rescuing Jane, our 1974 Jeep CJ5 Renegade from a curbside up in Truckee about a month ago, Cindy and I have been working hard to get her cleaned up. Working through the layers of paint, bondo and years of stupidness added on to her over the years from previous owners, we've been able to get a better idea as to what she needs and have even started to make a few repairs. Thanks to Omix-Ada for making so many parts for old iron and even for an odd ball intermediate CJ5, we've got a lot of parts on order and hope to make her as good as new. Anyway, here are a few shots of what we've been able to do so far.
To start this off, here's a couple of shots of what Jane looked like after bringing her home.
After giving her a bath, doing a detailing and making a repair or two, here's what she looks like now. First from the front/passenger side.
And a few shots from the rear.
Close up of the factory aluminum wheels before.
And here are a couple of shots of what the aluminum wheels look like after a little polishing.
Here's a close up of what the front bumper looked like before.
And, after a bit of grinding, sanding and a bit of paint, here's what it looks like now.
Here are a couple of shots of what the rear end looked like. As you can see, Jane had been rear ended or she was backed into something that caused the spare to put dents in the body and put tears into the support bar making it very week and unsafe to carry a tire on it.
After doing a bit of welding to fix the tears in the body and support bar and doing some body work to help make things look a little better, here's what her rear end looks like now.
I was going to do more body work to make it look even straighter but my main concern was to fix and make the rear end strong enough to carry a spare again. With a spare hanging off the back, you won't be able to see the flaws and that might be good enough for me... or, at least for now. We'll see.
I'm still debating how much I should try and clean things up. As is, the welds are strong and I may just have to leave them visible to keep them that way.
I am in the process of straightening out the tire carrier and getting it cleaned up. Still debating whether or not to reinstall the tow hitch as I think the rear end looks a lot cleaner without it but, being that it is factory, I may have to put it back on. I'll try to get more pics posted showing off more progress up as soon as I can. Also, Cindy and I have been filming our progress and I hope to get videos posted of them soon too.
To start this off, here's a couple of shots of what Jane looked like after bringing her home.
After giving her a bath, doing a detailing and making a repair or two, here's what she looks like now. First from the front/passenger side.
And a few shots from the rear.
Close up of the factory aluminum wheels before.
And here are a couple of shots of what the aluminum wheels look like after a little polishing.
Here's a close up of what the front bumper looked like before.
And, after a bit of grinding, sanding and a bit of paint, here's what it looks like now.
Here are a couple of shots of what the rear end looked like. As you can see, Jane had been rear ended or she was backed into something that caused the spare to put dents in the body and put tears into the support bar making it very week and unsafe to carry a tire on it.
After doing a bit of welding to fix the tears in the body and support bar and doing some body work to help make things look a little better, here's what her rear end looks like now.
I was going to do more body work to make it look even straighter but my main concern was to fix and make the rear end strong enough to carry a spare again. With a spare hanging off the back, you won't be able to see the flaws and that might be good enough for me... or, at least for now. We'll see.
I'm still debating how much I should try and clean things up. As is, the welds are strong and I may just have to leave them visible to keep them that way.
I am in the process of straightening out the tire carrier and getting it cleaned up. Still debating whether or not to reinstall the tow hitch as I think the rear end looks a lot cleaner without it but, being that it is factory, I may have to put it back on. I'll try to get more pics posted showing off more progress up as soon as I can. Also, Cindy and I have been filming our progress and I hope to get videos posted of them soon too.
