rear stiffeners

[jeeperjohn]

Something else that I did that I haven't seen talked about in a long time is adding a section of sheetmetal plate to the bottom of the tailgate latch. On the earlier XJ's with fiberglass hatches the latch can actually rip out of the hatch. You can cut out a piece of thin plate and drill some holes and pop rivet it to the bottom of the hatch to add a good amount of strength to the latch.

Good advice goatman, thanks :thumbup:

 

[Oil Town XJ]

x100000


Shape = Strength




Colin's (Moparmanic) has some flat plates on the outside of his front rails. After he just put his sexy new bumper from AJ on there, he had a nice little run in with a tree. Just behind the bumper mounts, the framerail and plates both folded up and crunched in. no welds broke, just some nice bent frame action:thumbup: plates on the bottom would have really helped.




All the middle stiffeners out there (HD offroad, TNT, ruffstuff, etc..) are nice setups that do a great job because they fit around the contour of the framerail; the top, that little side angle, and the bottom. I was excited when i learned HD was coming out with front and back stiffeners too, but bummed when i found out they were one plane only. the fronts i feel are real important to plate the bottoms, if itll see abuse go ahead and do the insides too (think SBS style). the rears could benefit from plates on the bottoms and reinforce/tie-in the front hanger mounts. the sheetmetal around the stock shackle mounts really needs some plating. plating the side and bottom and some shackle relocation mounts is the way to go to see advantages of rear plates.

So flat plate really just adds weight and not much strength?
I want the unibody to last in my 2000 unlike my 94 that was written off, What would be some better designs for front and rear stiffeners?

 

[srmitchell]

Im wondering if theres a way to use a design like this elsewhere on the body.

http://tandjperformance.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=4

 

[Goatman]

Those are good ideas.

In reference to strengthening the rear crossmember, where would the plate go? I've done lots of work back there, and I know that the 8 bumper bolts are very close to the shackles.

Heres what mine looks like now. (Not to thread jack, this is good info)

I added a plate on the inside of the C channel, and both spot welded and pop riveted it in. I used pop rivets to increase the number of contact points without the potential weakness of a bunch of spot welds on that thin material. I also caged the rear at the same time. If I wasn't going to add a cage, I'd probably use some form of angle iron inside of that C channel, or at least weld in a strip on the bottom or top to make it angle iron. A good rear bumper adds a lot of stress on those weak bumper mount holes, and it needs help to last a long time, plus adding some rigidity. I don't remember how I did it, but be sure to tie it in well to the ends of the frame. I also boxed the spring hangers and tied it together.

Here's a couple of pics of what I did, including the bumper I made.

 

[jeeper98xj]

Where did you get that Cash for Clunkers decal? I want one

that decals the poop!

 

[srmitchell]

Ebay!

Anyone make some rear stiffeners that wrap along the bottom?

 

[RCman]

Anyone make some rear stiffeners that wrap along the bottom?

I did.

I am not aware of anyone manufacturing them for sale though.

I was excited when i learned HD was coming out with front and back stiffeners too, but bummed when i found out they were one plane only.

Same here, I was bummed. Granted the rears wouldn't have worked for my setup at all, but I do have another XJ that'll be getting some work when mine is done. I've got the HD Engineering's in the middle now, and will probably go that route again. Unfortunately though it looks like I'll be making the front/rear again as well.
I'm willing to bet the main reason is the price point. There are a lot of shoppers out there that will by the cheapest thing and not really consider the difference.

 

[Starboard M]

Have any pictures of them mounted? What sort of metal did you use? 3x3 angle?

 

[RCman]

Have any pictures of them mounted? What sort of metal did you use? 3x3 angle?

3x3x3/16" is what I used. Cut, heat, bend, test fit, repeat.

As my setup is a litte different than most these went on the inside so I had a place for link mounts. I did plate the outside as well and tied it into these. That was done with 1/8". Basically my entire unirail from the front most bumper bolts to the "rear bumper" has been plated on at least 2 planes, but in most places 3.

I've only got this one picture from during one of the test fits:

I'll dig up and/or take some better completed pictures later. Anything in particular you wanted to see?

 

[Starboard M]

I was mainly curious how you got around that body mount thing. Any other pictures would help though.

 

[RCman]

I was mainly curious how you got around that body mount thing. Any other pictures would help though.

That was pretty easy. I cut to slits to got around the tabs and then bent up a ~1/8" step in the middle so it would go around the rest of the mount. Tacked it in a few places, heated with MAPP, beat it into shape to fit around the rest of the little curves.

Here you can see them without the step. 2nd and 3rd from the left are the pieces that went around that mount. The 4th and 5th from the left came down and meet them mid way down the curve. That should explains the odd endcuts. I would have liked it all from one piece, but at the time I only had that 4" wide stock. The fronts are all from one piece.

I don't have any good pictures of the completed process, I'll snap one or two tonight for you.

 

[srmitchell]

Looks great. Im confused what those pieces are in the last picture. ^ Enlighten me?

The 3x3x3 is a solid u shape correct? Im thinking 3/16ths is overkill for my application.

 

[RCman]

Looks great. Im confused what those pieces are in the last picture. ^ Enlighten me?

Those are what I used on the outer side of the unirail. The 3x3x3/16" angle was used on the inside.

The 3x3x3 is a solid u shape correct? Im thinking 3/16ths is overkill for my application.

Typically, yes. However a 'U' shaped channel won't work very well as the rail does change in thickness/depth.

 

[srmitchell]

Ah ok.

I didn't realize that you made new rails in your build.

 

[RCman]

Alright sorry for the delay. Here are those pictures.

Outside:

Inside:

 

[srmitchell]

Oh, so the rear plates are multi piece. Right on.

 

[RCman]

Oh, so the rear plates are multi piece. Right on.

Correct. Only on the outside and only because at the time I had 4" wide stock available.
For the front it was all one piece. When I do the rear on my other XJ it'll be one piece as well.

 

[EndlessMtnFab]

Cardboard driveshaft?



I approve ! :roflmao: