XJ front leaf spring box stiffners

I made these up a while back. Planned on putting them on Alex's rig but just never found time to do so. So, they went on mine. They are quite simple to install, just cleaning of the sheetmetal is what takes some time.
Started off by removing the tire to gain better access.



Supported the axle, removed the shock at the axle, and the leaf spring bolt. Floor jack would be fine if done on the ground.



Pulled the spring down and supported it from going back up with a chunk of 2x4.


Here are the templates I made. Notice that the bolt hole is not drilled out, as that is something that will need to be done later on.



To lessen sanding down of paint, undercoating, and zinc, set peices in place and mark where they will be welded, and sand down.



Tack welded on the main braces, front, side, and rear. Make sure to burn these in completly before going any further. If you dont have a plasma cutter, mark out the leaf spring bolt hole and drill out before any welding.





Note the hole in the floorpan. Make sure everything on the INSIDE of the Jeep is out of the way before applying mass amount of heat. In this case, there was a bottle of gear oil.





Now that the 3 pieces are welded in, add the rear gusset and burn in.



Add the front gussets now. I spaced mine out 1.500", due to the fact I want to do a Jeepspeed style frame stiffner, and the tube goes between the 2 gussets.







I used the plasma cutter to burn through the hole on the inside of the box. Drilled out to 9/16", to match the size of the hole in the stock leaf spring box.



Apply some paint, and reassemble, and do the same on the other side.

Why did you reinforce the front shackle box?

bcmaxx said:

Why did you reinforce the front shackle box?

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They seem to get hammered on rocks and whatnot, and ive seen them seperate from the 'frame' and floorpan w/ a heavy axle and wheel/tire combo.

CanMan said:

They seem to get hammered on rocks and whatnot, and ive seen them seperate from the 'frame' and floorpan w/ a heavy axle and wheel/tire combo.

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I do notice a slight gap on one side of mine, something I'll have to take care of soon I think. I was thinking of getting rid of the stock all together and replaceing with something beefy that sandwiches the floor, and tie it into my stiffeners. Your idea looks pretty easy and straightforward

looks good. catch many sparks down your shirt? i need something like that but waiting on stiffeners first.

I did something similar... but only braced the front of the box which does tie into my rock sliders.... I will be cutting it off and redoing the rockers (removal of more rot) and I'll post pics here... My mounts were pushing through the floor, there is 3/16" and 1/4" plate tied to the 1/8" rockers... I wanted to keep my "crush zones" hehe