Front Coilover Mounting

I knew what you meant, just opted for a smart *** response to your smart *** question :looney: That's why my towers are boxes, so all the vertical plates resist bending in any direction the majority of the forces are applied...

This is the area that I'd be concerned with... Not as much of an issue with all the cage work he did but I wouldn't run it without the tube supports. With the attachment point spaced that far from the frame, there's a lot of leverage on those two vertical welds without some support at the top. I guess if you're going to cut the fenders out it'd be easier to fit something pre-fabbed, but I wanted to keep the fender wells intact. And having the cage work is certainly better than not, but I didn't want to build a cage just yet, so that affected my mount design. I've been running without any support between the two towers and I haven't heard a peep out of the unibody and I like having the extra room under the hood. Even though everybody threatens a fish taco scenario, keep in mind that sheetmetal is all that held the front end up from the factory. Some jumpers and go fast folks have bent the bumpstop towers, but realistically, not many people have problems with caving in the stock upper spring mounts. Just my opinion, I guess you need to decide if you want to cut the fenders out and do a bunch of tube work, or if you want to keep the existing sheet metal... Lastly, those towers could be made pretty easily with just a torch and some flat plate, for a lot less than $100. Either way you go, the coilovers are worth it IMO :us:

It seems like most who do shock hoops brace them against each other, at least, and that will change the loading, at least. The torsion on the frame rail should be reduced on straight compression, and on flex the torsion would split across both sides. Also, even a drooped coilover will be putting some force back into the tower, until the tire is floating.

How long are your control arms? Or, how much horizontal movement does the shock body have at the point where it exits the box? One advantage to a more open tower would be more room for the shock body to move, which would help in a rig with horrible short arms and a short panhard. Of course, a well set up rig with longer arms and a long, level panhard will have less horizontal movement in the shock body during travel.

Phil said:

It seems like most who do shock hoops brace them against each other, at least, and that will change the loading, at least.

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And I was told by AzRick(who wheels more than anyone I know) not to do this because if you have a hard roll and it bends in the tube work it'll tweek both sides rather than only one side if you don't tie it in together.
Now, a lot of buggies have both sides tied in together but an XJ is not a buggy.

AzRick does know about rolling.

Would that be, don't tie the drivers side fender bar to the tower to the other tower to the passenger side fender bar?

BADaXJ said:

Some jumpers and go fast folks have bent the bumpstop towers, but realistically, not many people have problems with caving in the stock upper spring mounts.

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Granted my front end is a bit heavier than most, but my inner fenders were ready to cave in after a few wheeling trips and one short race on a motox track that included 0 jumping.

Once you add 1-ton axles, cage, beef drivetrain, you're asking a hell of a lot more out of those sheetmetal fenders.

i know for a fact that shock towers move around, no matter how they're fastened to the uniframe rails. it's not so much the towers themselves, but what they're fastened to. you need to run a cross brace and triangulate it to the firewall if you want it to remain rigid. I only have them braced to eachother, and they move side to side somewhat. If you hit something with one wheel and not the other, a cross brace doesnt do anything but move both towers towards the opposite side. Over time, as things loosen up, it'll dance around a little bit like with a blown shock. One thing i did that helped was weld in the front bumper so it helps keep the uniframe rails in check somewhat. The stock front crossmember was actually a bit buckled from the force on it.
Once i have the time and funds, it will mostly be removed for a full engine cage.