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Are unibody stiffeners worth it?

zachtyler

NAXJA Forum User
Location
California
I'm pretty new to owning a jeep, however I have been around jeeps my entire life with my dad's rigs. I have an 89 XJ Laredo with a Rough Country 4.5 Long Arm kit. I have been debating on the unibody stiffeners. Anybody have any experience using the stiffeners with this kit? I also am low on money and the install for these things looks pretty intensive in terms of how long it will take to weld. In the end, would I be okay without the stiffeners? The jeep is my daily driver and I really wheel only on the weekends, when I can. Also, rock sliders are one of my next purchases. Should I wait until after I get stiffeners? (If I do) Thanks guys.

Zach
 
Short answer. Yes.

The first time I welded a set on my wife's cherokee we couldn't believe how much more solid it felt driving and how much quieter it got. Squeaks and rattles just magically disappeared. Not to mention the added peace of mind when dragging it over rock and flexing it hard.
 
unibody frames cant take much abuse w/o dents ,bending & cracks. so yes on stiffeners, best to do them first then put the sliders on them.
 
They are not really needed for mild wheeling on stock axles the weight of the jeep is still about stock . The center frame stiffeners make welding on thicker stuff easy as 10g is easy to weld to 14g and you can easily weld real thick to 10g.

When I bought my xj it was on 38s and tons it was still leaf sprung and the previous owner did...nothing...for unibody plating , and he welded the sliders directly to the unirails this seemed to hold up for him and when I plated the raild we just notched out around them and welded around them welding the slider to the stiffener . They certainly are good to add , but the Jeep is not going to fall apart without them anytime soon .
 
Coming from some one that just cracked their uni body from mild wheeling. I would suggest doing them prior to breaking sh*t rather than after.
 
Coming from some one that just cracked their uni body from mild wheeling. I would suggest doing them prior to breaking sh*t rather than after.


While they are never a bad thing...there is no way a healthy unibody just cracked from "mild wheeling"...that is like saying the steering box just ripped off the frame pulling out of King Soopers .
 
I've owned 3 XJ's since 1995. My current XJ (2000 Sport) was purchased from a guy who used it to haul his buddies to the golf course and back, stock as stock. Using the experience learned from wheeling the 2 previous rigs and being around many other XJ's, the first mod that I made to my rig was to add TnT Customs and TMR unirail stiffeners plus JKS SBS, as the platform for my build. I later added stiffener plates between the rear spring hangers to complete the unirail reinforcement.
This was a move that I have never regretted, and over the past 9 years of wheeling this rig (and 100,000 additional miles) the body lines are still tight, I don't have the squeaks and rattles that my previous rigs had. I haven't experienced any “frame” cracking that many XJers have and I never had a steering box bolt loosen up on me.
Another consideration is that your RC LA suspension arms use bracketry that bolts through the unirail and include crush sleeves, but these are not welded in, merely sandwiched between much thinner sheetmetal. Will this relocated point of loading weaken the unirail over time? Time will tell, I suppose, but with the addition of unirail stiffeners, you will not only strengthen the rail, but also provide a base of which you could weld the sleeves in for added reinforcement. This is how my TnT Y-Link attachment is configured and it is rock solid as the day I installed it. Sleeves welded into the unirail plating for extra beef.
Unirail plating also makes a great base for rock slider attachment points.


Save for a bit and install them, you won’t regret it long-term.


My build thread - http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=913774
 
While they are never a bad thing...there is no way a healthy unibody just cracked from "mild wheeling"...that is like saying the steering box just ripped off the frame pulling out of King Soopers .

Never said it was a healthy unibody. Years of stress and the uni body will become weaker. All I was saying is I didn't have them before, over time and "mild wheeling" it eventually cracked.
 
Never said it was a healthy unibody. Years of stress and the uni body will become weaker. All I was saying is I didn't have them before, over time and "mild wheeling" it eventually cracked.


I am not arguing against them I just want the OP to undetstand a few mild wheeling trips a year does not require frame plating it is a great supplenental to the strengh , but not an immediate priority...lol...boxing in or uograding the stock control arm brackets are a bigger first priorityasthey love to bend snd crack the welds even more so with stock or short arms as the flex likes to rip them off .
 
Any suggestions on bolting or screwing steel pieces of L angle to stiffen my 2 door as I don't have a welder nor the funds to hire out at this time.
 
Any suggestions on bolting or screwing steel pieces of L angle to stiffen my 2 door as I don't have a welder nor the funds to hire out at this time.



That will do nothing for your frame strength. I would recomend reaching out to your local chapter. There are always people ready to get together for a rig work party. Someone will have a welder.
 
My experience is that yes they are worth it but is it a need right away? no. I daily'd mine for a good while wheeling on the weekends a lot like you. I didn't do stiffeners till shortly before I got another daily. I never had an issue wheeling it without them but they do help a lot. Unless you're like me and are able to still crack the frame with stiffeners. But to answer your question yes you can survive without them if you don't wheel too hard if money is tight but I would put them at the top of your list..
 
I'd go with HD Off-road, who is a vendor here and sponsors the Southeast Chapter Cherokee Crawl. When time comes for me to get a set, Brian will have my business!
 
I'd go with HD Off-road, who is a vendor here and sponsors the Southeast Chapter Cherokee Crawl. When time comes for me to get a set, Brian will have my business!

Yeah the HD full set is what I started with .What sold me on his set were the generous amount of pre drilled plug welds , as many of the others at same or more money had none.
 
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