PART 1 JEEP CJ5 SEAT FRAME BUILD | Aluminum Willys Seat Frames

Welcome Back! In this two part series, I start the fabrication of the driver's side seat frame for my 1957 Willys CJ5. For this build I decided to use some 6061 aluminum flatbar. I would like to keep the weight down... plus I need to practice my aluminum TIG welding skills. For this seat, the aluminum is 1/2" thick X 2" wide. I used my portable bandsaw to make some relief cuts in the aluminum so I could create as many simple bends as possible.
This 1/2" thick aluminum is WAY overkill for this project. In fact, the thickness made it difficult to weld. My Everlast TIG welder maxes out at 185 amps. And the small #9 torch I typically use was not able to handle the high amperage. Adding a little helium to my mix would have helped, but I didn't want to buy another bottle for just this small project. I was able to make it work with a larger #17 torch and some preheating.
The seats I chose for this project are from Bestop. They are the Trailmax II Classic Lo-Back Vinyl seat. The color is called Spice.

[@MrJeep75]

Nice

[@NoblesTx]

Very cool, great job

[@davidlawson4681]

Top notch fab skills.

[@kennybiggs3944]

Awesome man good to see you working again keep up the good work

[@wallyallyn5473]

Well I sure like the music that you're playing with the video most videos have some boring music but this I like!!!

[@MrKrishoward]

Neat bending of the aluminum. I like that. How you cut it and then bent.

[@pandg48]

I liked the seat stand. Very nicely crafted will stand to water or rain? Aluminum in contact with water gets bad.

[@TheCanadianBubba]

It'll be great when people ask where you got them...

[@brianwilson3749]

Would you consider making and selling a set? ‘58 cj-5. Need both passenger and drivers side frames.

[@gen0565]

Does this seat fold down? For people trying to get in the backseat

[@mikeloki2064]

Who's the band? They're as good as your Al welding.

[@MrNawfdallas214]

Do you do work on other peoples cars? I have a 1973 c10 i want to restore im in the dfw area

[@MegaReception1]

Great craftmanship the only additional thing I'd do is make some vinyl washers to avoid electrolysis between the different metals. Greetings from Panama

[@wallyallyn5473]

Well of course he said at the beginning of the video that it was thick aluminum and it was a little Overkill but that's all they had any more dumb questions

[@user-xv7nz7xi8d]

Is that material a little thick?

[@user-xv7nz7xi8d]

Looks good tho

[@milkcrate82]

Definitely. But they sell “drop” material by the pound and it was cheaper than having thinner material cut and paying full retail. Plus a cut fee or two.🤨

[@milkcrate82]

Thanks!

[@slicksiderepairllc2822]

So does the lady that drives this jeep weigh like 700 lbs?

[@BDE1337]

I thought this was just gonna be another guy throwing parts at a cj. That is clearly not the case