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Rock Rails and Unibody Strengthening

geo78

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Collins, CO
I am going to be messing around with my welder this winter and will be fabbing bumpers and rock rails, I hope. On the rock rails I was thinking about running some large anle iron down the "fram? rails and then tying the rock rails into this angle iron. This angle iron will strengthen the middle of the chassis. Will the added stress elsewhere on the body bring more negatives then positives? Has anyone done anything like this and have pics?

Thanks for the help

Geoff
 
Thanks for the site, but that is not exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking about installing standard rock rails below the rocker panel on the jeep and installing them almost exactly how aftermarket rails install. The only difference being that I would have some large angle iron running down the frame rail that I would tie the rails into instead of bolting the rails directly to the unibody frame. Am I making sense?
 
One of the current popular 4 wheel drive kinda magazines has a section in it with new XJ upgrades. One is a unibody brace. Check the local news stand and find that mag.
 
geo78 said:
I am going to be messing around with my welder this winter and will be fabbing bumpers and rock rails, I hope. On the rock rails I was thinking about running some large anle iron down the "fram? rails and then tying the rock rails into this angle iron. This angle iron will strengthen the middle of the chassis. Will the added stress elsewhere on the body bring more negatives then positives? Has anyone done anything like this and have pics?

Thanks for the help

Geoff
Good idea, but i am not sure it will give you the strength that you are hoping for. It may reduce some front to rear flex in the "chassis" (unibody rails). I am not certain where the "added stress" you are talking about will come into play. The downside that i can see here, depending on how you do it, is that you will be adding weight along the length of the underside that is going to essentially be a unibody rail skid. Unless you have cross members running across the underside and joining together the two angle irons, you will not be reducing torsional stress, you will simply stiffen the unibody rails themselves, which may not even be noticeable.
Buck :canada:
 
I put the T&J stiffener on, that made the whole vehicle feel stiffer, but still not totally solid and then I just completed removing that on one side and plating the middle section with c-channel and angle. From what I can tell, it feels just like it did with the T&J stiffener. Plating it or using the stiffener does make a difference and reduce flex, along with giving it a better feel, but it still doesn't feel completely solid, which is what I'm after. I'm going to plate the other side and then plate all the way back to the rear bumper when I have time. The only place I've been able to see that I could fit a crossmember so far is back a little farther than the main eye bolt but not all the way to the rear bumpstops. I haven't seen room anywhere else yet. I'm thinking about drilling a 1.5" hole all the way through each rail, then sliding 1.5" tubing through and welding it up. I'm also getting a bender soon though and the cage should be the final touch to make the whole thing solid.
 
I am thinking this is what you have in mind? Cut the rocker panel out and weld in a 3" x 5" square tube in it's place. We took mine a step further and added some 2" x 2" onto the 3" x 5" for added protect and a step. The great thing is that there is no loss in ground clearance and it does strenghthen the uni-body

im000953.jpg


im000957.jpg
 
I'm basically doing the exact same thing Jes did, except I may change the design of the kickers and I might add a crossmember between the rails if I can find a good spot. I'll also look into adding some tubing across the top of the two coil seats. It's a long process, especially for me, in my spare time, on my DD, but when finished it will consist of:

*Plated frame (with c-channel in the middle and angle elsewhere)
*Replacement rockers (with boxed tubing, unsure of size right now)
*Kickers connecting the frame and rockers
*Cage tying into the frame and rockers and all major suspension pivot points
*Tubing across the engine connecting the two upper coil seats
*One or more crossmembers connecting the two frame rails (depending on space)
 
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