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Chopping a 4dr

woody431

woody431

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Virden, IL
Ive been interested in a Cheromanche conversion for awhile now, but this might be beyond that? I have a 95 four door that's still in great shape, so i'm not gonna cut it up. But I found an 89 or 90 Laredo for 1000 dollars and all it needs is a trac bar. The body is kinda rough but it's other wise in good shape. I just bought a quad and instead of pulling a trailer, I want to make the Laredo (if i buy it) into a Cherokee capable of holding this four wheeler.

new_8394wvrtMv_ph250.jpg


This is what I had in mind, but taking off the top part of the front doors so its a completely topless besides the windshield. I just think i'd have a hard time putting a cage in it and getting a 4 wheeler in as well.

I know you might be saying just buy an MJ with the bed already on it or just get a trailer, but I really want a project like this and have an older rig to beat around on trails. Id love to find an MJ but there are none around here, nor are there any older 2dr 4wd XJ's for sale cheap.

Anyway, does anyone have any helpful advice or am I just dreaming?

tia
 
I would think putting the cage in it would be easy if you didn't have a top or doors. And you'd only have to make the cage for the front seat really, leaving room for the quad. I think it's a good idea, just take a sawzall to it.
 
hadAjeep said:
I would think putting the cage in it would be easy if you didn't have a top or doors. And you'd only have to make the cage for the front seat really, leaving room for the quad. I think it's a good idea, just take a sawzall to it.
Click to expand...
Nope, need a cage to keep things from folding upon themselves. Best advice? do a search and ask more specific questions.
 
That looks like a fun idea but I would not cut more than a hole in the roof of anything with a unibody.
Without a frame to hold everything togather it would only be a matter of time till the whole thing starts falling appart. Thats my opion anyway Jack
 
That's my xj from last year aka the "mad cow". My original plan was to leave the windshield in it and the top of the doors to match, though the first roll took out the windshield anyway. :flamemad:

Anyway, you say you want to be able to haul a 4 wheeler in back. I don't think that's going to happen- not even discussing the effects on the suspension, the roll cage would probably end up so high it'd look ridiculous. Topless xj's are one thing and hauling a 4wheeler is another, I'd not combine the two.

Also that was a very minimalistic cage to hold the xj together for a short period of time, 6 months. It wasn't enough, frankly- at the end, I was told there was visible body flex. I have no doubts a large-tube and heavily triangulated structure would be more than up to the task.
 
mtbkr said:
That looks like a fun idea but I would not cut more than a hole in the roof of anything with a unibody.
Without a frame to hold everything togather it would only be a matter of time till the whole thing starts falling appart. Thats my opion anyway Jack
Click to expand...

To use someone else's quote: buggies are unibody too! It's fine if the proper reinforcement is added. Ever cut up an xj? There's not much there. It's easy to replace the sheetmetal strength with tube strength.
 
I havent had the opertunity to go to deep into the body. How well does on hold up long term without the roof. My concern primarily would be how the body would flex with the disimilar strenght of the tube verses the body. Do you see cracking at the attachment points of the cage. I cant say that I have seen this happen on a jeep before but I have witnesed this sort of thing before. thanks jack
 
Maybe someone else could tell you about long term, not me. The big trick is tying the rear structure into the front. It's cake to even cut the jeep in half and make the rear strong, still working on how to beef the front effectively without acres of tubing.

As for long term and stress cracks, old xj's are disposable. Ones with a lot of tube are even more so as the owner generally doesn't mind fabbing.
 
JJacobs said:
That's my xj from last year aka the "mad cow". My original plan was to leave the windshield in it and the top of the doors to match, though the first roll took out the windshield anyway. :flamemad:
Click to expand...


Hey Johnny! So the xj is gone? Buggy done? The Scrambler is still an empty shell awaiting my to finally build the 401 for it;)

Justin
 
TNScrambler said:
Hey Johnny! So the xj is gone? Buggy done? The Scrambler is still an empty shell awaiting my to finally build the 401 for it;)

Justin
Click to expand...

Hey Justin, yep that xj is gone, parted out almost a year ago. Building an xj buggy now.
 
You know, it could be done. But like someone else said, that's gonna be one tall cage over the rear. How tall is your quad? I met a guy on the trail in Alberta once who had two 250cc dirtbikes in the back of his chopped XJ. It was not totally cut up though, and it was a two door. He had fabbed a cage that sat right above the bikes, with some big honkin hinges and latches on the upper part of the cage, that way he could swing his cage open, drive the bikes up a ramp into the back, and then close up the cage over top of them. Although, I don't think he had ever rolled it, and I wondered how the hinged part of the cage would hold up. Also, the cage was about 18" taller than the roof over the cab. It looked weird, but i guess it did the job for him. Wish i had pics.
Buck :canada:
 
ok, so what if you need a cage that goes all the way to the rear. ( i keep forgeting that these are unibody). Make a cage. make the top bars swing outs like they do on drag cars for the door bars. you should be able to weld steel plates to the floor and then the cage to that right? That's what I did to my duster for it's roll cage and it's a unibody. Check out Chris Alston chassis works, cachassisworks.com. They do tons of cages for everything. It should give you some ideas.
 
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