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Frame stiffeners worth it?

They don't seem like they would do much on their own. I think stiffening the frame requires a lot of pieces to be added, sliders, frame stiffeners, bumpers with a GOOD mounting system, and very importantly steering box brace and track bar braces. DO NOT expect a single frame stiffener system to keep your unibody rigid. It may help a little, but if you beat it enough to torque the chassis - your most likely going to get a little twisting anyway, and that is all it takes to mess stuff up.

Personally i dont believe in frame stiffeners because they follow the mock frame rails of our XJs, arguable the closest part to a "real frame" that we have. I think connecting the body pinch welds and the mock frame rail is important, most sliders perform this function. Apart from this i think something that would take each corner of the car and hold them rigid to one another would be great, but that is basically building a cage, so you can do that or some heavey duty bumpers will help in that respect. Just my 2 cents.
 
the stiffeners alone didn't do anything to keep general unibody flex down.

but they do keep my frame rails from getting bashed in which will extend its life quite a bit
 
Has anyone tried the DetoursUSA stiffer/sliders? I was planning on getting the ones that have to be spot welded for maxium stiffness.
 
cal said:
Agreed. You feel the difference the first time you wheel.
Click to expand...
you feel the difference when you drive over the curb cut at the end of the driveway and wonder, was that for real? then the first manhole cover you drive over makes you think again... no way, that can't be for real?
The amount of reverberation eliminated alone is well worth it, then, get on that forest service road to your favorite trail... and your XJ actually tracks straight over washboard, and doesn't rattle your eyes sore... and you'll really start to appriciate just how much difference they make.

As stated above, anyone that has them will endorse them.
 
I was going to get them to match up with my rock rails and TnT belly pan, but decided against it for now. I figure those two things will brace the chassis laterally and the Rigid bumper with hardcore mounting brackets will brace it in the front. I'll get the stiffeners sometime down the road.
 
if you are doing the TnT belly pan, you should do their stiffeners as well.
the rock rails are goint to push on the flimsy unibody rail in one direction, and the belly is going to keep the center portion of the unibody rail from flexing... witch is goint to put all the stress at the attachment point of the rails... leave the belly pan off, and the full length of the unibody rail will flex with the rock rail... preading the force over a greater lenght... less total flex...

At any rate, the pan and stiffeners work in conjunction with one another, to tie both sides of the unibody together, and adds stiffness, and helps keep the floor pan from bending down the center...
When using your rockrails, the unibody chanels will litterally bend and pull at the floor pan... allowing the rock rails to hit the rocker panels.
That is a tonne of movement!

If you wheel hard enough to need the TnT belly pan, then you need the chassis stiffeners as well... without them you introduce point loading on the unibody rails... no good.
 
Any differences between the brianho, Detours, or Treks stiffeners (other than bolt-on vs. weld-on)? Are the weld-on stiffeners substantially better than the bolt-on ones?
 
due to the twisting/bowing of the unibody, the bolts will elongate thier holes, and eventually do more harm than good.
if you go bolt on, make plans to have them welded in place in the near future... which kinda defeats the whole bolt on idea...
 
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