Chassis Mods

I am going to begginning a major XJ project here in the future. I have read how Crash and others have been thinking of ways to strengthen the unibody. Crash, are you going to be taking your "broken" cherokee apart and deciphering where and what should be strengthened? I have no real stone set plans yet, but do know that creating a extremly stout and structurally rigid machine is absolutly necessary.

I want to open up the psuedo frame rails up and build rails inside of those as a base for the cage. Bezz, did you do this to yours? I cannot quite recall. I would think that tieing the rocker panels/guards directly to the rigid frame and to the cage could spread the force of twisting over a larger area. I mainly would like input on areas that people have experience cracking and breakage of the unibody. I want to tie everything into everything. Thanks fellow jeepers!
MATT

I'd strip the entire "uni-rail" off and put a real frame under it.Now you have a solid base for the cage!

Come to an event where Sean Rose is going to have his beast and check out what he did for reinforcement.

When will that be Sean? Your OneTon right???

How "major" do you want to get? Do you plan to drive it on the street or trailer it? I am planning to start a new project in the fall that might be what you have in mind. The new project is the "Chuggy", - name derived from what I was doing to cold beer when I thought it up. Actually it is obviously short for Cherokee Buggy. I have enjoyed building the production based XJ that I am finishing up now but it has its limits. I also miss the buggy that I used to own. The "Chuggy" will be built from the ground up as a tube framed buggy while keeping basic XJ dimensions in mind. I am going to strip just the external sheet metal of a spare XJ and add it to the finished buggy. It won't be some peoples idea of an XJ but it is something that I think will be fun.

I want to beable to drive it on the road for SURE. But i wantto go through every detail of this to make sure if is very reliable and dependable. It will probly turn close to a tube machine, but I want to keep wieght down as much as possible. I dont plan on doing a monster hieght or anything, i want to build around the tires and keep it low. Jess' rig is compareable to where i want to go. I just want to make it extremly reliable. Thats why I want to start with the unibody. Still no ideas??????
MATT

I started by covering the main portion of the uniframe with 3x4 U-channels. I made the channels by ripping a 4x6x1/4" box tube in half. I attached them with a few sleeves through the frame as well as three nut serts normally used for the stock crossmember. I have some pics here, but they don't seem to be loading right now. Perhaps they'll work for you.

http://photomail.photoworks.com/sha...L25fHaNJE.9/0rrBEQr6mHFcynwuM8f3Ksy0pKKwfO8xA

Also check out Goatman's build up pics. Jeff