home made ubolt eliminators

Ok, im thinking about doing a ubolt eliminator on my jeep. I like to build all my own stuff i can, so thinking i came up with the following idea.



The red is a plate i would build. and the blue is some very strong welds going into the stock sping pirch. While i was there, i would also add anouther bead along the spring pirch, and maybe even add a gusset or something on each side for added support.

I did not know how the rest of you did it, i did some searching, and found allot about the tnt setups, but that just looks like 2 pirches side by side.

I also saw a jeep awhile back that was full width and the ubolt elim done


and noticed that he did not use very big bolts. what is recomended, and is my design just shit. If it is shit, i know for like $15 i can go to mopar and get a set of stock spring perches, would i be better off to cut mine off, and just weld in 2 sets of pirches like the tnt?

And last of all, what are the pros and cons that you found with your elim setup? I have my ideas of why i want it, just wanting to see if im going in the right direction.

Specktackles on my outside of jeep (lots done under hood already)
97 xj sport
4.0, aw4, 231
3 inch rustys sagging in the rear.
31" goodyear MT/Rs
Unlocked front and rear, but fixing to redo rear springs gettin rid of the aal and going full packs, zj discs, 4.56, noslip rear, lockright front, upgrade to 4.5 to 5 inches of lift.

I made mine. Used 1/2" Gr8 bolts. Haven't failed yet...


Oh, I'd gusset the shit out of them.

post a pic of yours, i would like to see how you did it. Please

There's not much to see. I made my own perches using 2x4x.500 HSS and welded some .250 plate onto them. The perches were the same length as the plate, and I added some 1x.188 FB to the ends as a gusset.


I wasn't entirely happy with them. To do it again I'd just use thicker steel for the added comfort, and probably 5/8th bolts.


To make it work with the little stock perche is iffy though. It's not very long, so you'll have to gusset a lot or the plate wil ltear off of it.



Why are you building them? The only reason I did was because I can't buy u-bolts that are long enough for a reasonable price. (have to get them custom bent - to the tune of $20 EACH! when you've got 4 leaf packs that gets harsh)

cause the new spring packs im making is taking 2 xj packs from each side and putting them together, this would make the packs twice as high and i have not even checked on ubolts yet for the 8.25, but i know ubolts i bought for my binder where about $20 a pop too, and i could build this for free if it looked like it would work.

Uh, why are you doubling packs?



Oh well.



I'd take some 1x.250 FB and weld it to the sides of the stock perches. Make the peices say 6" long. Then weld the plate to the top of that and weld all along the outside and inside. It should be okay then.

I am doubling packs cause my top leaf is shot due to a super short rustys aal that the po put on it. so it sits about flat. Upon talking to a fellow wheeler that has tryed many combinations to get where he is, he suggested finding a set of springs that where good with zero sag, and put the packs together. He said it would give me 4 to 5 inches of lift, a super nice ride, and alot of flex in the rocks.

So i was able to get my hands on a set of springs off a 97 country with like 70k on it, and little to no offroading done on these springs. They look perfect.

I was going to put the packs together including both mains, just cut the eyes off the old ones, and use alot of spring clamps to hold them in the right arch, and only put on one of the small bottom springs on each pack.(you know, the last spring in the pack.) and then whatever the pack does not give me for hight, i would take out the stock shackles and put in some greasables to give me the hight i want.

Just copy the TnT ones. Then you will know it will work.

ok, looking at the tnt site http://www.tntcustoms.com/webv5/ubolteliminators.asp
i see a side view, does anyone have an end view of thiers from the front so i can see the whole thing without the shock in the way please. Now that i look at that, it looks pretty easy.

NighthawkXJ said:

I am doubling packs cause my top leaf is shot due to a super short rustys aal that the po put on it. so it sits about flat. Upon talking to a fellow wheeler that has tryed many combinations to get where he is, he suggested finding a set of springs that where good with zero sag, and put the packs together. He said it would give me 4 to 5 inches of lift, a super nice ride, and alot of flex in the rocks.

So i was able to get my hands on a set of springs off a 97 country with like 70k on it, and little to no offroading done on these springs. They look perfect.

I was going to put the packs together including both mains, just cut the eyes off the old ones, and use alot of spring clamps to hold them in the right arch, and only put on one of the small bottom springs on each pack.(you know, the last spring in the pack.) and then whatever the pack does not give me for hight, i would take out the stock shackles and put in some greasables to give me the hight i want.

Click to expand...

so how many leaves are you thinking. Personally i think you are out of your mind. why dont you just weld your axle to the height you want it. your going to get that much suspension movement anyway...

unless its only like 5 maybe 6 leaves, then maybe..

Has anyone done a DIY UBE setup? I'd like to see some pics. Since all the lateral would now have to be carried on the top of the axle through the welds I'd imagine making a lot of good welds is critical.

Here's mine I made myself:

Started of with a piece I had bent:


The then cut out the half rounds for the axle...


Then trimmed the ends to have a similar shape to the TNT ones..


I then made the little support for the centre of the UBE, but don't have a pic of it. This was then welded in place and the UBE's were complete.

Here's a couple of pics when they were tack welded in place after the pinion angles were set and also after the final welds were done.






As can be seen the purpose for me with the UBE's wasn't to gain much lift, but rather because I had no other option with the thicker part of the tube where the ABS sensor goes in eliminating the possibility of using U bolts.

Looks awesome, what gauge steel? What type of wire did you use welding to the axle?

If I remember correctly the thickness of the steel I used was 6mm. The welds were done with a Tig welder and the wire used was normal mild steel wire. After the welds as shown in the pics I was a bit worried about the strength so I added some welding to it, but personally I don't think it was necessary.

Nice job Gorman. I may look into making some like you did. Thanks for the post.