Anyone know the gas tank to body gap on a CJ7?

Like the header says, does anyone know the gas tank to body gap on a CJ7?

I lost my skid plate on a trail run a couple summers ago and recently came across a skid plate to replace it. The new plate fits my frame. There are even pre-drilled holes that were under the old skid plate rim that match up, but... The sucker is about 4-5" too shallow for my plastic tank!

It must be for the 50 liter tank and I have the 76L one.

So I figure I will just cut the sucker and weld a strip of metal in the middle to make it taller. It is open sided so I am going to gusset it as well and I think I might make the leading and trailing edges braced and skid ready < > with angle iron.

Problem is, the old scraps of skid plate got tossed out long ago and I don't know how much clearance there should be at the top of the tank. I only want to do this once and figure doing it the right way is usually easiest. ;-) I do have a 'glass body on it, but the same gap would be nice.

The tank does have raised ribs on it where lines have clearance, but I don't think up tight is right. I am getting a stock hold down strap that holds the tank into the plate so I will have that to cut the hole/slot by.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain
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Reply to
L.W.(Bill) Hughes III

Naw, I am just going to make a horizontal cut across the front and back anchor plates and add a bit of plate steel in the middle. I will just lap the plates and arc weld them. I have a nice little wire feed welder.

I want to beef it up though. Steve Seppala from the group has been over helping lately. We stay in touch with him and Jo as well as a bunch others.

Mike

"L.W.(Bill) Hughes III" wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Real Jeeps have a short wheelbase and four wheel low.

Reply to
Scott in Baltimore

Reply to
L.W.(Bill) Hughes III

Mike, I just checked out my 86 CJ7. The tank top is pretty close to flush with the top of the frame rails at the highest point of arch. I looked in the rear wheel well where the body mount is just behind the axle. My jeep has a strap the goes from one side of the frame to the other. It is located at the same body mounts. Hope this helps. Also my tank is the big factory plastic one too. I'm going out of town for a couple weeks so I won't have access to the NG until I come back but if you have any questions you can email me at boatdriver at hotmail. Rich

Reply to
Rich

Thanks a lot Rich!

Mike

Rich wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

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