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Newbie

G

Guffey

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Louisville, KY
Hey! I'm brand new to this site. I have a 1998 Jeep Cherokee. 4.0 L, Inline 6, 4Dr and 4WD. It's completely stock right now except for a Pioneer Bluetooth radio that I put in. I would love to mod up my Jeep for trails. Right now I'm thinking of putting D Rings or Tow Hooks onto my stock bumper, but have heard it isn't a good idea without welding. I know someone who can weld, but all the talk about plates and that confuses me. I can work on the engine all day but the body is a different story. I'd like to lift it about 2.5-3 inches, but don't want to spend a lot of money. Eventually I want a new bumper with a wench, and a bull bar. But again, I don't want to spend $300-$400 on a new bumper. Any suggestions or ideas that you all have I am all ears. Also, any trails rides near Kentucky, I'd love to be informed of.
 
Stock bumpers attach to a minimum amount of the unibody. These tie-ins for the bumper were designed for impact, not pulling. If you use the stock bumpers in anyway for a recovery the chances are pretty good you are going to bend/tear/twist your "frame" and hurt/kill somebody. The plates that everyone talks about are designed to distribute the load over a larger section of the unibody to prevent this from happening.

http://www.jcroffroad.com/product/XJ/XJUNF-PC.html

The link is a kit supplied by JCR for this exact reason. The other option is plating the frame and tying in the recovery points to them.
 
Welcome Guff!

You need to get your hands on some OEM brackets from a junk yard from a 97 - 01 XJ. They are slightly different than earlier years. They are still available from a dealer but they are pricey. It is a bolt on upgrade.
 
POSJ said:
Stock bumpers attach to a minimum amount of the unibody. These tie-ins for the bumper were designed for impact, not pulling. If you use the stock bumpers in anyway for a recovery the chances are pretty good you are going to bend/tear/twist your "frame" and hurt/kill somebody. The plates that everyone talks about are designed to distribute the load over a larger section of the unibody to prevent this from happening.

http://www.jcroffroad.com/product/XJ/XJUNF-PC.html

The link is a kit supplied by JCR for this exact reason. The other option is plating the frame and tying in the recovery points to them.
Click to expand...

Thanks. $150 isn't bad at all. Do you think it would be hard to make the plates myself? I can get the metal and all that at Harbor Freight and drill it all pretty easy.
 
Guffey said:
I can get the metal and all that at Harbor Freight and drill it all pretty easy.
Click to expand...

The toughest part would bending the plates I would think.
 
Bent said:
AKA: A Bed, Bath and Beyond that sells plywood.
Click to expand...

Harbor Freight and Snap-On sell a lot of this stuff for DIY. And if I can get away with doing it myself for $50 rather than buying the $150 set, I'd rather do that. I'm gonna go look today and if I don't see much I'll settle for the set. Thanks for all the help though. What should I look for if I go to a junkyard?
 
If the steel you are talking about at hardware stores and harbor freight is what I am thinking it is, do not use it for this purpose. The JCR kit is 3/16" steel not 1/8" angle iron...If you are going to do something that is a safety factor, go to an actual steel distributor and get 1/4" or 3/16" for this. Please do a lot of reading in the Advanced Fabrication section to get ideas from good fabricators. There is a lot more that goes in to making something stronger than just adding more steel to it...
 
I just remember that when I bought my 01 that I wasn't able to use the pre 97 setup. After 14 years and more than a few mods I can't remember what the problem actually was, just that there was one. It may have only been the extra height of the base of the hook itself. I do remember that part clearly. I ended up getting the brackets w/ the hooks from the dealer.
 
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