Need Pros and Cons of a fiberglass tub for 65' CJ5

Hi Larry, You have to make struts to hold your roll bar, to give it the same strength as a steel tub. Mike Romain, here had to reinforce the windshield brackets. But it sure look nice when it's finished:

You should have saved your firewall for a template.....

I 'really' like my fiberglass body. I bought one made in Ontario Canada with a one piece front clip that flips up out of the way. Basically I can sit on the tire to change the plugs or tinker with the carb.

CJ build

It wasn't that hard to fit. The gent that made my shell really knew his stuff and all the parts fit on exact. Hard and soft doors, hard and soft top, roll bar, seats, dash, etc. I even got the chrome Laredo grill insert to fit in the front clip.

I had to do some part trimming due to the thick floors. The inside and outside shell have a 1" waterproof plywood core and the firewall has diamond plate sandwiched in it. Things like the steering support needed a trim. A Dremil tool with a fiberglass reinforced cut off wheel will be your good friend...

The wiring harness is modular so it fit over really easily, I added a dedicated 10 ga. wire to each loom to pick up all the ground tags leading them to a central tap. I got a harness from a GM van from a friend which has all the same light sockets and plugs on it so I could swap over any rotted ones. I used solder, dielectric grease and heat shrink on all the splices. I anchored things like the solenoid right to the engine block and put the canister up under the brake booster out of the mud with the washer bottle below it.

I made a frame at the back, inside the fenders which cups the rear cargo area and is anchored to the frame mounts to mount my spare tire carrier and it's big cargo rack to so the body tub has no load from them.

While it was a bare frame, I replaces all the lines, stripped it, used a rust converter (red) undercoat with a rubberized top coat on it and replaced ever seal every place I could find one.

All in all It isn't a lot of extra work over a steel tub and then you have no more rust....

Mike

I used 1/4" steel plates under my tub to pick up both the frame mount and the 'roll' bar plate as well as the seat belt anchor so they are frame mounted. I intend to anchor the rear of the roll bar to the rear frame I made under the fenders that anchors tot he mounts for my spare tire bracket when I do the next restore. Frame swap next....

I cracked a door post below one windshield bracket, but I don't think that was a design defect. I think that I was on the losing end of an argument with a tree for that one.... Maybe many trees as my CB antenna on the mirror on that side and the mirror catch lots of branches.

Mike

Bill and Mike,

Thanks very much for the information, I feel better about the decision to go with the glass tub.

Mike - I did save the firewall - should make life easier.

I paid $600 for this old friend 27 years ago and it has saved me a fortune plowing my driveway. It's normal for us to get over 100 inches of snow a year, so the Jeep has earned some much needed attention.

Larry