Frame Stiffening Process part 3 of 3 finished! (T&J Stiffeners) (pics)

[crazyjim]

SO behold, the final step of my frame stiffening process. I'd have to say, with the TNT stiffeners, TMR plates, and T&J stiffeners... I shouldn't have any problems at all with frame tweakage


Anyway, as you read yesterday, we finished up the TMR frame plates, and got started on the T&J stiffeners today. The T&J tubes connect the leaf spring box to the LCA mount, then weld to the frame in various places. Due to having 3/16" thicker material everywhere, we did quite a bit of grinding, bending, and tweaking to get them fitted right, but didn't have much of a problem once we got rolling.

To start, this bolt hanging down had to be ground down, because it was interfering with the brace that needed to bolt to the spring box.

This section of frame also had to be ground smooth, to at least the diameter of the tube bolting to it.

If you notice here, the tube bends up and gives you a section to weld to the frame up front, right above where it bolts to the LCA bolt.

Once we got it all bolted up, we cleaned the frame rails off and welded on the 4" plates from the tube to the frame.

Once everything was welded on and finished up, it was time to prep and paint!!!

 

[Cherokeekid88]

Great Job! looks awesome. How those fox's ride?

 

[_MURDERED OUT_]

sweet front brake lines.........

 

[redneckboarder]

whats wrong with his front brake lines? not braided stainless?

 

[XJEEPER]

whats wrong with his front brake lines? not braided stainless?

Looks like they are FS Chevy units, which provide plenty of extra length. Nice spotlight on the T&J stiffeners.
However, dangling the entire front end by the draglink TRE......that is crazy, Jim.
Betcha you don't care about that joint anyway and plan on replacing it in the very near future.

 

[redneckboarder]

yea i didnt really see anything wrong with them. and i was trying to not be a doosh haha

 

[crazyjim]

Great Job! looks awesome. How those fox's ride?

Thanks man! They ride AWESOME!

whats wrong with his front brake lines? not braided stainless?

Haha, there's nothing wrong with them. He just needs to find something to talk trash on because everybody hammers his build in advanced tech forum. :rattle:

Looks like they are FS Chevy units, which provide plenty of extra length. Nice spotlight on the T&J stiffeners.
However, dangling the entire front end by the draglink TRE......that is crazy, Jim.
Betcha you don't care about that joint anyway and plan on replacing it in the very near future.

Yessir they are indeed FS chevy lines. And a Dakota rear!

But yea, I've got a 1 ton setup waiting to be installed. But I'm working on trussing a HP D30 that is geared etc. So I don't have to swap knuckles etc twice. Just plug it all in at once!

 

[XJEEPER]

Makes sense, I hate re-doing stuff.

 

[redneckboarder]

Haha, there's nothing wrong with them. He just needs to find something to talk trash on because everybody hammers his build in advanced tech forum. :rattle:

i figured

 

[igotanxj]

Sweet setup man! Im gonna bookmark this for later reference. Does it ride any different after the frame work? I know when I added subframe connectors to my mustang it rode waaay different, like a new pair of stiffer springs.

 

[crazyjim]

Sweet setup man! Im gonna bookmark this for later reference. Does it ride any different after the frame work? I know when I added subframe connectors to my mustang it rode waaay different, like a new pair of stiffer springs.

Oh god yes, NIGHT and DAY difference. Just installing the TNT's alone made a huge difference, and this just made that much more!