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Bobing the rear

Carnutcertifies

NAXJA Forum User
Location
pryor, ok
I have a 90 model 4 door XJ and have been kicking the idea of bobing the rear. I want to move each side in to the "frame" rail. Then weld it all back up. But people say it will affect the structural integrity and it will start to taco. My question for discussion is will it really be an issue since I will still maintain the D pillar, the factory "frame" and a portion of the roof minus the material to move the sides in. There is a plan in the future to exocage just not sure when the funds will allow.
 
what's your current framerail situation? eat up with rust? or in perfect shape with stiffeners from bumper to bumper?

also depends a LOT on how well you put it back together. I'm building toward running 37's and need to either do something similar or either cut out the back half of stock fender well and extend them back so I can maintain some up travel.

as long as its done right and tied into a cage with an X behind rear seats I don't see it being a problem.

got a build thread? I'd like to follow along
 
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I've seen xjs with the body basically gone, last a few a summer's. 4dr pickups last for every.

But I live in the PNW, aka no rust. It really depends on what you have to start with. I personally will not own a xj with out a cage.

Get cutting and welding. Post some pictures
 
Dont have a build thread. But if I do tackle this I will take lots of pics. As far as rust goes just a bit in the rockers. I have frame stiffners on the firewall forward and then my rock sliders from front to rear and tied in at 4 points. I did replace the rear cargo area floor. My only hold up is I don't have the funds or the tooling for the cage just yet.
 
Forgive me for this, but I'm going to quote your response from the same thread you made on cherokeeforum:

"A cage has been planned for years just dont trust my welding skills just yet."

If you don't trust your skills to weld a cage I would not trust them to hack the body apart and weld it back together. Sheet metal is tough to work with and it will be structural if you were to attempt to bob without a cage, which I would highly recommend against.
 
Are you talking about bobbing the rear (shortening) or dovetailing (narrowing). Any time you hack up the unibody you'll need to reinforce it. Can't just take some stuff away with out building the reinforcement for it.
 
Not worth the time, imo. I start trying to fix some "issues" on mine and ended up just cutting the entire body off and starting over. Still alot of work but very much worth it.
 
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