To stiffen or not to stiffen?!?

Well I did my taxes and I'm getting a pretty good check back. Im going to put some money into the jeep.

Im trying to debate to get stiffeners or not. If I do I am going to go along the route of the ruffstuff ones. I don't know if they will do more harm than good though. My jeep is about 70 percent daily driver 30 percent wheeler. The only thing leaning me away from having the stiffeners is knowing that the body was designed to flex and that being limited as to where it will flex the only areas can flex a lot of stress is being placed now instead of the whole thing. I have read articles about areas cracking etc.

I haven't had an issue with winshields cracking, doors not shutting, creaking when flexing, etc.

Well this is my rig... Its a 2000xj 4.0 aw4 np231 dana 30 chrysler 8.25, 3.55 gearing 31" duratracs

4.5" lift that I pieced together from rustys coils and lower control arms, iro offroad track bar and mount, bilstein shocks, rough country shackle, add leaf, a block, and a coil spacer, it all equals out to 4.5" I am also running Bilstein 5100 lift shocks.

I am pretty gentle on it when I wheel, I do take it everywhere my buddies xj's and wranglers go, but I am a lot more gentle on the gas then they are.

My lift wont ever go any higher in this build, my tires probably wont either maybe 32"s but probably just 31"s. A 8.8 swap is a pretty good future for this jeep as are welded in rock sliders in place of the rockers, which I heard stiffen it up a lot. I have a home built bumper that ties in something like 7 or 8 bolts per side of the front all the way back to the big hole. And in the rear I have a bumper that ties into the nutstrip and factory 8 crossmember bolts.

ditch the add a leaf and block first and get a new leaf pack.

in the case of the stiffening i think its a great idea regardless of how hard you wheel. ive seen jeeps get cracks due to a lack of stiffening and lots of wheeling. the last thing you want to do is have to swap unibodies because yours becomes too damaged.

What stiffener should I aim for? I like the HD industries kit, but I know I'll only get motivated to put half of it on...if I put one on just the mid section wont I run into problems in other areas?

No issues doing just the mid, I'm running stiffners on my dd. I like the rough stuff design the best because it also ties into the floor

The chassis isn't meant to flex. That's why every new generation of a vehicle, they claim it's x% stiffer. Stiffen the chassis. get some front plates, middle, and rear plates. Wen the chassis flexes, it fatigues the metal and overtime it will develop cracks if you don't stiffen it.

what would consititute front plates? I have JCR inner steering plate and have bumper tie in plates that tie in 7 of the bolts on both sides and go all the way back to the big hole in the unibody subframe...who else makes rear plates besides HD?

I think HD makes front ones (or at least was talking about it. Pretty sure TMR does also.

TMR Front Frame Stiffeners,
Rough Stuff unibody stiffiners

For the rear:
Rear Dakota Spring Pack with H.D. Off Road Shackle relocation brackets. This will get you right around 4.5" of lift and a lot better ride than an add a leaf and blocks. Pick up the springs from the salvage yard and bolt them in.

You need to stiffen it. I'd recommend it to everyone who values the longevity of their rig.

This kind of stuff stresses the body a LOT.


I've got the hdoffroad center stiffeners, and well tied in bumpers, but the body still creaks and moans.

I'll probably go along with the hd kit...is that a pretty smart choice? also what do you do as far as putting some sort of coating between the stiffeners and the unibody after grinding and welding so it doesn't start rusting super fast? I live in Michigan and they salt the road likes like its nobodys business, and I know that clean metal wont last long in sandwiched in between there.

Yeah, they're great. I had to mod mine for the rock rails, but they fit very well.

I used a weld through primer on the inside of the plates.

On the frame, the best thing is to clamp the stiffener in place, and use a sharpie to mark everywhere that needs to be welded. You can then grind down those areas to bare metal. The rest needs to only be ground down only to the paint. (Remove the under coat.)

The frame is galvanized, so you should be ok.

Not to be off topic but how do the bilsteins make it ride compared to stock? I'm lookin at getting some soon. Along with doin some frame stiffening but not lookin foward to it as much as shocks lol.

Edit: Also wondering what people think about tube stiffeners. I was thinkin about them a while ago since they seem easier to fab up and I could deffinatley tie them into the frame more than just the suspension mounts and maybe even shoot up into the engine bay and do an engine cage sort of thing.

Super mud said:

Not to be off topic but how do the bilsteins make it ride compared to stock? I'm lookin at getting some soon. Along with doin some frame stiffening but not lookin foward to it as much as shocks lol.

Edit: Also wondering what people think about tube stiffeners. I was thinkin about them a while ago since they seem easier to fab up and I could deffinatley tie them into the frame more than just the suspension mounts and maybe even shoot up into the engine bay and do an engine cage sort of thing.

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I love my 7100's!

I love the 5100's, it is a stiff feeling in the jeep, but I don't run sway bars front or rear and it doesn't get sloppy feeling on any kind of bump or odd lean in the road. It is night and day difference in ride in this compared to my buddies with some cheap shocks that came with his lift kit.

srmitchell said:

The rest needs to only be ground down only to the paint. (Remove the under coat.)

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If you clean the spots that are being welded why not just leave the rest of the undercoating and put the stiffeners on over it? Will stiffeners not fit correctly with the undercoating still on?

jeepxj2007 said:

I love the 5100's, it is a stiff feeling in the jeep, but I don't run sway bars front or rear and it doesn't get sloppy feeling on any kind of bump or odd lean in the road. It is night and day difference in ride in this compared to my buddies with some cheap shocks that came with his lift kit.

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Yea I was wondering if the bilsteins kept it still riding like a sports car which I actually don't mind but don't want it to hurt my ass every time I hit a bump either. How well do they handle the bumps and potholes?

I was wondering, what kind of welder do you guys use to put these stiffeners on the unibody?

My buddy has a tiny Lincoln Electric. Its either a 140 or 180 iirc, and flux core. Or I can wait about 6 months when my garage/ barn is finished and my dad buys a new welder that can run on 220 volts.

thanks.

austinaubinoe said:

I was wondering, what kind of welder do you guys use to put these stiffeners on the unibody?

My buddy has a tiny Lincoln Electric. Its either a 140 or 180 iirc, and flux core. Or I can wait about 6 months when my garage/ barn is finished and my dad buys a new welder that can run on 220 volts.

thanks.

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You dont need a 220 welder to install your stiffeners. I have 220 and 110, but I still used the 110. The unibody is so thin you cant through a ton of heat at it

MG2000XJ said:

If you clean the spots that are being welded why not just leave the rest of the undercoating and put the stiffeners on over it? Will stiffeners not fit correctly with the undercoating still on?

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It wont fit. And when that stuff burns, it'll make you pass out, lol.

My jeep is blue (as you can see in the pic haha) but I just ground the undercoat off until I saw the blue paint. In the spots that had to be welded, it went bare.

Oil Town XJ said:

You dont need a 220 welder to install your stiffeners. I have 220 and 110, but I still used the 110. The unibody is so thin you cant through a ton of heat at it

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Thats what I figured, THANKS! Im not to knowledgeable on welders in general, but will flux core be OK? I know its a bit messy, but thats fine.