Wow... two days in a row I've been able to slip a little Jeep work in. I'm on a roll! Anyways... here is what I piddled with today.
Removed Bubba tire rack... had to grind off the bolt heads.
Also while I was working on the back I removed some bondo. Scary stuff. Back right corner looks like somebody took a ball ping hammer to it!
I thought I had found a bondo'd over hole on the back left corner... but I think it is just a rusted hole letting loose under the bondo.
Got a close up shot of the tail lights. Original?
Also removed all the Bubba snaps. Most of them I simply hammered out from inside the tub where the screws were protruding. Several were screwed into areas I could not reach inside so I used my trusty grinder to cut them off until I found it was WAYeasier using a small chisel and claw hammer. Good stress relief! Don't worry... I didn't bang up the Mitsress MB. Sorry no close up pics.
What I did find while working to remove the snaps is that my jeep is covered completely from the seats all the way back with a solid layer of bondo. Geez Bubba must have spent a fortune on bondo! It ranges is thickness from a 1/16th to 1/2" at least. When I started knocking/grinding some of it out I started feeling very apprehensive and sheepish again. Mr. Peters was so very good at encouraging me this morning... oh my, I certainly need all I can get about right now!
As you can see the bottom tool indent no longer exists. It must have rusted away and Bubba did some "Enjineering" again. A sheet of metal was added and attached with ROUND HEADED SCREWS and rolled under... then the whole thing covered with about 1/2" of bondo to smooth out the screw heads. Also Bubba didn't cut any of the rust away... he just bondo'd over it all. Remove the bondo and there is the disease still growing and eating away at all that precious metal. I'm going to need to pull something off like the gentleman from overseas... I wish I could remember his thread. He made his own tools and pressed and bent and cut his own tub right in his yard! I was very impressed! I'll add a link back to his thread as soon as I can find it.
I also removed the aftermarket tank. Once I had it out I realized why they put such a small tank in. The fuel sump area is completely gone. Bubba just added a piece of metal over the hole and slapped the tank in. Now even the Bubba metal is rusted out.
Here is another shot with what's left of the drivers seat frame
Again Bubba had hiw way with my poor Mistress MB and cut the backs of the seat frames off to make room for his Bubba seats.
