Stiffener tech

rockclimber · Feb 20, 2012

looking at doing some mid stiffeners in the near future.

question, has anyone NOT followed the contour of the unibody, but made the whole thing flat from the LCA mount to just beyond the spring hangar?

I am also working on a flat transfercase skid and it would make mounting it a heck of a lot easier if that section of unibody was flat.

Thanks.

rockclimber · Feb 20, 2012

I'm thinking of just taking the ruffstuff stiffeners, and not jacking them up to meet the body after the transmission x-member, but continuing them up into the rear fender-well, and wrapping the leaf spring spring bracket with some 3/16".

what do you guys think? should I also plate the inside of the uni-rail if I am going to do this?

Jeep450r · Feb 20, 2012

I wouldn't do that. I would just spend the extra time making the flat belly skid.

I wouldn't like the idea of having that huge gap between the unibody and the stiffener.. You will lose ground clearance and you will not be able to weld the stiffener along the bottom of the unibody.

Either do it right, or dont do it at all. But thats just my opinion.

rockclimber · Feb 20, 2012

Jeep450r said:
I wouldn't do that. I would just spend the extra time making the flat belly skid.

I am leaning towards this, but I had a thought about this...

I wouldn't like the idea of having that huge gap between the unibody and the stiffener.. You will lose ground clearance and you will not be able to weld the stiffener along the bottom of the unibody.

the more I think about it, the more I realize that if I went this route, I would have to box the unibody in on all 3 sides. I'm not worried about the ground clearance loss, but I'm not sure the gains are worth it. just trying to see if anyone else out there has done this.

Either do it right, or dont do it at all. But thats just my opinion.

but then you don't get to do it over again :gee:

MoparManiac · Feb 20, 2012

I don't get how it is going to be that much harder to mount the t-case skid.

Just bend up the sides before it bolts up to the unibody.

Not difficult.

souske · Feb 20, 2012

Its already flat where the crossmember mounts. You maY want to use 3 bolts per side on your crossmember though

DeftwillP · Feb 20, 2012

If that's your goal, wouldn't it be easier to just buy your own c-channel and throw it on without contouring it?

rockclimber · Feb 21, 2012

MoparManiac said:
I don't get how it is going to be that much harder to mount the t-case skid.

Just bend up the sides before it bolts up to the unibody.

Not difficult.

I want the skid to be flat to the unibody

souske said:
Its already flat where the crossmember mounts. You maY want to use 3 bolts per side on your crossmember though

but right behind where the crossmember goes the unibody is not flat, it slopes up, then flattens out again.

the skid I am building goes back pretty far, and would need to have 2 bends put in it to match the contour of the unibody. the skid will wrap the unirails and have 3 9/16" bolts through the uniframe with crush sleeves as well as 4 9/16" bolts into the crossmember.

DeftwillP said:
If that's your goal, wouldn't it be easier to just buy your own c-channel and throw it on without contouring it?

that's what I was thinking of doing, but after giving it some serious thought, keeping the contour of the unibody seems like a better idea.

bails85 · Feb 21, 2012

Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

souske · Feb 21, 2012

If you don't want to do a double bend in the x-member, you could always space the rear mounts down to make up for the rise in the unibody

rockclimber · Feb 21, 2012

souske said:
If you don't want to do a double bend in the x-member, you could always space the rear mounts down to make up for the rise in the unibody

the thought crossed my mind, but I'd rather not have a giant lip back there to get hung up on if I am trying to back off of something.

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