Humvee post

Bit by bit

I haven't had much time to spend working on the  new hummer. I have started to Tig weld some the seams. And as always it is a struggle keeping everything square and true.

House

This is the major reason my vehicle builds take forever to come together.

Before and after...

Fab

Getting more tubing tack welded together.
Being that I have a small mountain range running through my garage it's a major PIA keeping everything square and level.

Slowly

The new beginning

Here are a few shots of me cutting some of the tubing, as well as a shot of the rear quarter mocked up.

Change is painful

Here we go. As you know I have been planning to swap the hummer onto a new chassis. My 95 4x4 dodge cummins. As is turns out the tunnel in the hummer is 2" to narrow for the dodge frame. I was worried this might happen. I spent a few hours researching online trying to find out the frame width of a 95 2500 diesel 4x4 dodge ram but all my efforts were in vain as I came up with no answers. So I did what I usually do and just went for it. So now my options are either cut out the tunnel and widen it by 2" or keep the currant frame and swap everything else over... or completely start over. 

I had the opportunity to buy a good condition Hmmwv A2 rolling chassis. I almost went for it but I didn't. My reasons: 

Independent suspension = drive off a 1 Foot ledge and start balancing on 2 or 3 wheels.

Portal hubs =  yes they look amazing and are sweet for off road use. The con (for me) they lower your final drive ratio (higher rps on the highway lower top speed). This is very important for me as this vehicle will be my road trip machine and will see a lot of highway driving .

Parts availability = I plan on modding the engine and transmission. The factory half shafts are not meant to handle 400-500 horsepower and a ton of torque. Upgrading these costs a fortune. The dodge is sporting the proven dana 70 in rear (quite capable of easily handling that kind of power) and the dana 60 up front (an amazing axle except for the garbage unit bearings which I plan on replacing).

Cost = I have to look at what I am capable of doing with my super limited resources (I don't even have a working engine hoist or torque wrench ) in a decent time-frame ( I am still remodeling my destroyed house working full time, running all aspects of my bike company, fixing my brothers trucks and riding bmx). I desperately need more than 24 hours in a day.

And Finally weight = the currant body, doors, hood, roof and tailgate weigh in at a staggering 10,000 pounds. That's before the weight of the chassis  Using .065 wall steel tubing and 10 and 14 gauge aluminum I will be able to keep weight down. 

The plan is to build a new hummer body over the top of the dodge chassis. 

I am starting by building an outline of the outside profile using 1x1 and 2x1 .065 wall steel tubing. I plan on doing a double wall style body with insulation in the middle all the while making the interior as roomy as possible. I also plan on using  tons of real hummer parts. Real hood, tailgate, metal roof, double bead-lock wheels with run-flats, real hmmwv doors with bullet proof glass, bullet proof windshield... you get the picture.

Out side will be authentic while the inside will be completely custom. 

I understand this is a huge project but I don't know any better so here I go diving in headfirst again.