CJ-7 Projects
 

  

Lightforce Lights - H.I.D. High-intensity discharge Upgrade

HEI Ignition System (GM Style) Installed in the AMC 360 V8
Getting rid of gremlins and improving performance

Installing 23,000 Volt Offroad Lights

Autogage Tachometer Installation
  

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Project CJ-7
  
Offroaders Guide
to Gearing up
for Offroad

From Basic Equipment to Well Equipped.  An extensive list guide to help you prepare your vehicle for the offroad.
  
 

  

Onboard Air
Converting a York
AC Compressor
to Pump Air


Trailering Safety and Trailer Hitch Information

 

Off-Road Truck Driving Techniques and Safety



Off-Road Lights
by LightForce Product Review / Installation.
from Off-Road Lights

 

Jeep Dana 300 TeraLow - 4:1 Gearset for the Dana 300 Transfer Case


AMC V8 Engines
From
GEN-1 Nash/Hudson/Rambler V-8s (1956-1966) through to the GEN-3 AMC Tall-deck (1970-1991)

Chevy Small-Block V8 Engines
Chevy Small-Block V8 Engines Manufactured by General Motors - Production: 1955?2002

Hemi Engine - All about the Hemi Engine

Ford Engines
4 Cylinder, 6 Cylinder, 8 Cylinder, 10 Cylinder, 12 Cylinder Ford Engines

Ford V8 Engines
8 Cylinder Engines manufactured by Ford

Ford 351 Cleveland V8 Engines
351 cubic inch V8 Engines manufactured by Ford

Chrysler Hemi Engine

AMC V8 hp/Torque, Compression & Bore/Stroke by year

Engine Size Conversion Table
Converting engine displacement from CID, Liters, C.C.

Engine Overheating Basics - 16 Common Causes of an Overheated Engine

Fan Clutch Diagnosis
How to tell if the Fan Clutch in your Cooling System is failing or has failed.

Automotive Gauges & Instrument Functions
Information they display & their importance.

 

From the
Department of Cheap   Tricks and Useful Tips

  
Ultra-Cool Hand Throttle for Free!

Jeep V8 Swap Tips

The Exploding Clutch

Radiator Protection using 6 bucks worth of material

Cracked Under Pressure - Fixing a smashed fingernail

A Cheap, effective alternative to undercoating

Home-built Saginaw Gearbox Brace for the cost of lunch!

Ammo Box Storage - Mounting Them for Quick Disconnect

Home-built Serious Skid-Plate protection for the Oil Pan for under 20 bucks!

Ramp Travel Index
RTI / Ramp Travel Index  What it is and how to calculate it, with and without the ramp.
 

 

 

 

 

Project CJ-7
  
Tuffy Console
Modifications

Extra Storage & it's now perfect arm-rest Height!

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Another swap meet acquisition. An earlier Tuffy Center Console for $15.  Arm rest pad in good shape and it still has the key.  When test fitting it I felt that the console sat too low.  I like a place to rest the right arm when it's not shifting the T-18.  So I came up with an idea to not only raise the Tuffy but add much needed storage space.  The design was simple.  Like putting a shoebox shaped galvanized steel box under the Tuffy and mounting the Tuffy with 2 rear hinges and a pad lock in the front.

I missed the boat on this one when it came to snapping pictures as I assembled it. But then it's not all that complicated anyway and it assembled quicker than I thought; before I had time to go get the camera. So what you see here is a series of "after" pictures that hopefully detail the simplicity of the "Under-the-Tuffy" storage box.

First of all, I decided how much height I wanted to make the Tuffy the perfect arm rest.  I came up with 4 1/2 inches leveled.  That meant that the front of the lower storage box was just about resting on the transmission hump while the rear was raised up about 6 inches.  That puts the rear of the Tuffy up about 10 inches above the rear floor of the Jeep.

The 4 inch tall box was simply this: I found some "C" shaped galvanized steel at my local source for scrape metal.  

Measurements of the side pieces were 1" x 4" x 1" that looked like this  a  [

I cut 2 sides, a front and a rear piece, then used self-tapping sheet metal screws to secure the sides to the front and rear, overlapping the 1" top and bottom and putting a sheet metal screw through the 1".  Then for strength, I cut 4 - 4" 1x1 90 degree angles to strengthen the corners.  The corners were drilled through the sheet metal and  through the corner pieces. With the 1x1 corner pieces inside the box, sheet metal screws were run through from the outside into the box.  Then I lined the bottom with a piece of sheet metal.  That's kind of it for the box. It looked like a metal shoebox with a 1 inch lip on top.
  

Looking down on the front half of the box. The latch was screwed top down onto the upper lip of the box so that when it's closed (Tuffy down), the latches screws are covered by the latch itself.

Above is looking into the box.  Inside the corners is a 4 inch tall angle, 1" by 1".  These helped stiffen the box.  The Sheet metal screws were pre-drilled and driven in from the outside.

Looking down on the rear half of the box.  Standard hinges are attached with inverted head screws so that the hinge can close on itself.  

Tip: When installing the hinges, I secured the Hinges to the Tuffy first.  Then I glued the hinges to the lower box with some tough rubber glue and let it dry with Tuffy and box held firmly in place.  Then when it dried, I drilled and secured the screws to hold the Tuffy to the box.  By doing it that way, I didn't have to rely on the holes being perfect to align the upper Tuffy and the lower box.  The glue held it in place and the screws just secured it permently together.

Notice the rear tray that I put in as an after thought to catch spare change and stuff. Also the Tuffy has an AM/ FM Receiver/CD Player/MP3 Decoder mounted inside so the wires are routed up through the floor of the box, around the rear and up through the Tuffy. 

  
Mounting the Box / Tuffy Combo to the Jeep Floor

For the front a combination of a 4 inch piece of galvanized angle and an arched cut piece of 1 inch thick oak planking were used as seen above.  The cut oak wood was pre-drilled through the box and through the floor of the Jeep and bolted straight through with 5/16" bolts.  The angle was also drilled through the floor and bolted with 5/16 hardware.

 

For the rear, I leveled and cut 5 pieces of oak. I sandwiched and tapered the pieces of oak together in an accordion style.  Why?  For foot room.  Look below and you can see a spot to slip you foot between the seatbelt bolt-down and the Tuffy/Box rear mounting block.  The rear mounting blocks were secured to the bottom of the storage box using 1/4" x 2" lag bolts (1/4" wood screws with a bolt head.)  The same from below, lag bolts up through the floor, into the bottom of the wood blocks. The blocks are all screwed to each other using drywall screws.

 

The whole thing was painted prior to mounting. 

Later a black Euro-style 12" radio antenna was mounted to the rear of the Tuffy which looked pretty cool.  No need to worry about ripping my antenna off while offroad.  Also some cheap cup holders were drilled and mounted to the front of the lower storage box.

That pretty much it.  What the project yielded was a great arm rest, and a great place to secure your valuables or at the very least extra storage space.  Also I mounted internal and external 12 volt power points (cig lighters).  I use the internal power for powering a 300 watt inverter to charge the cell phone and charge the digital camera batteries if they run low while offroad. The external powers my hand-held spotlight for those nighttime runs.

Below are various angles of the storage box / Tuffy combo.


Rear, seatbelt clearance

Rear

looking top down

 


Rear, internal

Front, external

     

Project CJ-7
Tuffy / Storage Combo

Back to Project Index

 

  

 

Offroad Tire Info
Tire Terminology
Wheel Terminology
How to Pick the Right
Tires for your Truck
Truck Tire Info
Tires - What Hits What Fits
 
All Terrain  Mud Terrain
Tire Reviews & Info
Mud Terrain MT Tire Reviews
All Terrain AT Tire Reviews
Super Swamper Bogger
Super Swamper SSR
Super Swamper SX
Super Swamper Vortrac
Interco IROK TSL
Super Swamper LTB
Super Swamper TSL
Super Swamper TSL Radial
Super Swamper Narrow
Interco SS-M16 Swamper
Thornbird TSl Radial
Thornbird TSl Bias
Thornbird TSL
Parnelli Jone Dirt Grip
BFGoodrich Krawler
BFGoodrich MT T/A KM
BFGoodrich MT T/A KM2
BFGoodrich AT TA KO
BFGoodrich Mud King XT
Bridgestone Dueler MT
Cooper Discoverer ST
Cooper Discoverer STT
Cooper Discoverer ST/C
Firestone Destination MT
General Grabber MT
General Grabber AT2
Green Diamond Icelander
Ground Hawg Mud Tire
Hankook Dynapro MT
Hankook Dynamic MT RT01
Hercules Terra Trac MT
Hercules Trail Digger MT
Kelly-Springfield Safari DTR
Kelly-Springfield Safari MSR
Kumho Road Venture MT
Kumho Road Venture KL71
Kumho Road Venture AT
Dick Cepek Mud Country
Dick Cepek F-C II
Dick Cepek Fun Country II
Dick Cepek Fun Country Nylon
Dick Cepek Fun Country Kevlar
Mastercraft Courser MT
Mastercraft Courser HTR
Mastercraft Courser HTR Plus
Maxxis BigHorn Radial
Maxxis Creepy Crawler
Maxxis Trepador
Maxxis Buckshot Mudder
Maxxis MA-SW
Maxxis M-8080 Mudzilla
Maxxis MT-754 Buckshot
Maxxis MT-753 Bravo
Maxxis MA-751 Bravo
Maxxis MA-S2 Marauder II
Maxxis MA-S1 Marauder
Maxxis MT-762 BigHorn
Nitto Mud Grappler
Nitto Dune Grappler
Nokian Vatiiva MT
Pit Bull Rocker Extreme
Pit Bull Maddog
Pit Bull Growler
Goodyear Wrangler MT/R
Pro Comp Xterrain
Pro Comp All Terrain
Pro Comp Mud Terrain
Pro Comp Xtreme AT
Pro Comp Xtreme MT
Toyo Open Country MT
TrXus Mud Terrain
TrXus STS All Terrain
Mickey Thompson MTZ
Mickey Thompson MTX
Mickey Thompson Baja Claw
Mickey Thompson Baja Crusher
Competition Claw
Dunlop Mud Rover
Yokohama Geolandar
  

Latest trips Offroad
... trail reports with the Project CJ-7
click here.

Sounds System, Raised the Rear Seat
Storage below and a great place to mount 6x9 Speakers for Great Bass ... In a Jeep!

York AC Compressor Conversion.  What used to pump Freon, now pumps compressed air to the front and rear bumpers.  125 psi,  2 gallons of storage, air fittings at the bumpers, enough CFM to power air tools!.  Click Here for more  Details

 

Dick Cepek's 2008 F-250 Super Duty Project Vehicle ? Project CRUSHER


Warn X8000i
Winch Installation


ARB Air Locker Install
Jeep Wide Track Axles Swap

 
Mud Tire Reviews

Building a Garage?
Need a Garage Plan?
 


Reader's Rigs and Seriously Stucks!

 

Jeep Trans Swap Info
T-18A Transmission Rebuild & Short Shaft Conversion