Tub to frame mounts

[Macgraham]

My "beautifully restored" CJ3A came with no tub to frame mounts from the rear of the seats to the front fender brackets. It is pretty obvious where 4 of the mounts go(frame brackets), but I'm thinking there should one from the frame to the tub bracket on the lower part of the firewall. There is an indent there but don't see a way to attach it to the tub. There is a threaded hole in the frame. It is 3/8" by 24 I think. I have no idea what this thing would look like or if it is necessary. What say you? Thanks

[Carls_jeep]

I'm surprised one of the guru's haven't replied yet. I went out and took a photo of what I think your looking for. They are welded to the tub on my original tub and while they are not in the best of shape and most the tub supports are badly rusted I hope it will help you.

This is the left side, drivers side.



This is the right side.

[calvinhunt]

Mac,
  In Carl's pics above you can see on the left side the attach bolt has been moving.  On the right side the attach bolt is broken off.  On a recent post (I'm sorry I can't remember who's it was) the poster showed how he used valve springs on the body to frame attach bolts in order for the fitting to yield as needed when out four-wheeling.  I wonder what he used in the location of these to brackets to enable flex?  Garage queens and parade Jeeps don't get much frame twisting so it wouldn't be a concern.  I was complaining to Carl just a couple of days ago about how cracks have developed in the tub around these very two body to frame attachments in my restored Jeep (MD Juan repro tub).  I've seen other Jeeps with these two brackets missing entirely.  Other forward attach points of course, are the fenders and grill.  How would you build in flex capabilities into those locations?  
  Ain't this all fun?

[rocketeer]

My 3A had retaining bolts through the dogleg and frame about where the red line is below. When I replaced the hat channel under the dogleg I did not put bolts thru because the new channels did not have holes in the right place (Omix-Ada) and I wasn't about to pull that hat channel assembly back out and redrill them. By the way, those side tabs should have a piece of impregnated fabric between them and the frame to reduce squeeking and also allow some movement.







Larry

[macrisel]

I have a repro tub and was actually considering leaving these front mounts off.  These mounts did not come attatched to the tub, just in a box along with the tub.

My jeep will just be for limited driving and parades.  Am I crazy for even thinking about leaving these off?

[Carls_jeep]

I don't see where it would hurt to leave them off especially if you intend to do a lot of off roading that would twist the frame and body a lot. I don't intend to bolt them down and when I make new top hats to cover the rusted ones I will use rubber spacers with a spring on the bottom of the bolt so the frame and body can flex separate of each other. A 60+ year old frame will flex more than a new frame will and I don't want the frame twisting the body. The tub is in bad enough shape now without making it worse.

When I went to Utah last summer I knew the rubber spacers were missing and the bolts were not snugged up. It let everything move around and I think it kept some things from getting torn up.