Project mammoth 40s tons bobbed and boated

Never really done a build thread before but a few people have asked me to so figured I would. Second Cherokee I have owned and this will be phase three for this one. Picked it up back in December 2012 bone stock from a older couple who only used it to go grocery shopping. Had never seen a dirt road before. Bad ball joints, destroyed tires and death wobble like no other. Started collecting parts to build a 44/9 combo on 37s and stretched to 105. It wheeled awesome and kept adding parts, cromo shafts, beadlocks blah blah all that good stuff. Decided It was time to build tons and join that group, but wanted something different than every other Cherokee on tons and 40s chopped up, but wanted to see what kind of budget I could keep it under. So my budget was 5k not including wheels and tires. Sourced a king pin 60, geared to 5.38 and used a old Spartan locker we had laying around my shop, trussed it and used a crane cover. I knew I needed to address the knuckles, since the factory knuckles are weak, so I decided to plate them and call it a day. Picked up crane high steer arms, Yukon 35 spline stubs and warn slugs we had laying around. 14 got 5.38 and what I call the orb of traction. The plan was 4 link front and rear with 2" 7075 aluminum links and full hydro. But I wanted everything behind the axle, so single ended ram and a tie rod it was. A double 231/300 combo was to be used. I'll let the pictures do more talking! Hope you guys all enjoy!














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And that's where I am so far. More to come and I hope you guys stay tuned in as I will update!

Looks awesome so far. Maintains a full body look with out near as much body in the way of obstacles. I thought about bobbing mine, but will more than likely never get around to it.

I have a feeling this will be put into the advanced fab and engineering forum

Never seen the tierod behind the axle. Nice :cheers:

I really wanted to keep it full body, so bobbing it was in the plan. Turned out nicer than I expected. Basically have a 0 degree departure angle now. And with the rear tube frame now has more clearance than the stock crossmember that hung down. The tube frame took me a lot longer than I had expected.

Wasent sure where to put it so I put it in here. Never done one before so I figured I would do a write up as long as I can keep people interested.

We do behind the axle steering all the time with hydro assist, but full hydro is a little different. Bigger ram to stuff back there, and auper hard to do a double ended and keep it low. Had to compromise a little on things, both upper links and tie rod are out of 1.25 .281 wall to clear and not hit everything.

Looks great chad!
End up shaving the 14 at all?

How's the tierod clearance to the top of the pinion casting area when turning and such? I like the frameside UCA mount.

Awesome work so far. Anymore shots of how you attached the rear frame to unibody?

Did a shave on the 14 bolt using a crane cover. Super easy and simple.

Tie rod has about 1/2 to 3/4 of a inch to the housing big never touches. At full stuff it barely touches the upper links. Besides that everything clears by very minimum.

I can get more pics of how i attached the frame if you want. The insides where it attaches to the unibody are welded to the floor about a foot up the frame, then I kept the stock shock crossmember and welded that in with it. Built two tie in plates just behind the crossmember, and the. Attached it to the rear crossmember with a fancy plate.







There's no weld on the outside of the frame so it has a clean look.

Here's some pics of the inside fender. I wanted to keep the factory fender look as much as possible inside the cab. So I cut away and made the pieces I cut off with the bob fit back in place and give it a stockish look.









I still need to build the inside panels that will cover the holes in the quarter panel. We tried to make the factory plastic panels work but just couldent make them work.

Wow, nice build for sure. Lots of cool and different stuff than you usually see going on here.

More progress on the boatsides. Capped the tubing and sanded them all smooth. Down supports are tacked in. Now time to fully weld everything.

Boatsides have 41 degree of angle and are 36 inches from the ground to the bottom of the 2x4. We cut 9 inches above the stock rocker. Cutting the floor away was some what pain. Ended up cutting the floor all the way back to the outside edge of the unibody. The. Cut the seat crossmember away and the leave spring box. I will be plating with either 3/16 or 1/2" UHMW. Have yet to decided. Will plate the inside with 1/8" or smaller so I can't loose stuff in the Boatside.









If there's anything you guys would like to see more pics of or anything just ask. Not sure what to post and say with being my first build thread.

Though there isn't much else the same except the color, my rig has the same boatsides, more or less. I did mine in 16 gauge under 1/2" UHMW, and have no real complaints. Being much lower (3" lift on 33s), I suspect I am in mine more than you will be, and ten years later, they have shown no signs of giving up. The 16 gauge has dented a bit, but nothing that concerns me. I did the insides in 16 gauge as well. I probably could have gone thinner, but that is what i had, so that is what I used.





Being much lower (3" lift on 33s), I suspect I am in mine more than you will be, and ten years later, they have shown no signs of giving up. I have had the entire rig balanced on them a time or two..


Back then, I was on a much tighter budget, and not so much of a fabricator. I might not do it exactly like that again, but for sure, I wouldn't go with 3/16" steel instead. Probably some version of dimpled plate.

How come you wouldn't do 3/16? I'm kicking the idea of 1/8" outside plate and 1/2" UHMW. Then 1/16 gauge for inside. I want it smooth thats why I don't want to do dimples or anything cool.

I guess I wasn't exactly clear. I wouldn't drop the plastic, I would instead make the backer out of dimpled plate instead of flat sheet.

The 16 gauge is holding up pretty fair, and I have since run 1/2" UHMW on a light buggy with no backer and no issues. There are plenty of buggy guys out there that are going to hardened steel instead of plastic for undercarriage skids, and I can see that, but for the boatsides, I don't think they get that kind of abuse to warrant the weight gain. At least mine don't.

Possibly related - the one thing I most regret about my build is that I didn't keep the doors. It isn't clear what you are doing there with the b-pillar cut out, but if you are thinking about leaving the doors off, you should reconsider.

Regardless, the rig looks great, and I'm sure whatever you decide, it will be just fine.

I think 1/8" with 1/2" UHMW will be more than enough and last just fine. Do you have more pics of the ends of both boatsides? I'm having trouble trying to build the rear cap piece.

I have no intentions of putting doors back on. It will have a tube door of some sort. Building it straight for wheeling and that's it. All the guys I wheel with have TJs with no doors so rain and weather does not both me.

Sure would be cool if this was in advanced fab...nice build.

I'm tossing around the idea of boat sides, but keeping the doors. I'm worried about the window track though...your build is making me want to go all out. But the North Dakota weather might not let me.