Brought Varmint#1 the Second Half of the Way Home From College

[Anak]

He made it the first half...








I just rebuilt those upper control pretzels, December before last.





I am going to call the survival of that passenger UCP Mount as a success story. I had reinforced that flimsy thing. It appears to have held. Of course the Core4x4 LCAs seem to be unfazed.


Not much left of the T-case.


This is the part that I see as most challenging to fix. Anybody have input on this?

 

[lesslimited]

Dang! I assume the kid is alright?

 

[Anak]

Yes.

Apparently the medics found that hard to believe.

He got out without a scratch. Only injury he has gotten out of the ordeal so far was a broken glass cut while trying to extricate something from the Jeep before we dragged it onto the trailer.

 

[RCP Phx]

I'm sorry about the Jeep but at least your son's ok. Never see a TC quite like that!

 

[Anak]

I don't think the T-case liked having the front driveshaft shift back over a foot. There just isn't that much spline to play with in the front driveshaft.

It's nice to be able to put together a wrenching party:




Even got a supervisor:



This seems to be Varmint #1's go-to pry bar:



With things out of the and the ability to get a better look at the situation, this is another detail which could be a problem:


That will be a challenge to straighten.

 

[JohnX]

Straighten? Just adjust the control arm.

 

[Anak]

Yes, but that doesn't restore the floor.

Varmint has size 13 foots. He is going to need that space back.

 

[spaniq]

in my strict defense, I don't need a clutch and I drive with my foot tucked back half the time. Heck, driving like that probably saved me a shattered knee on the initial impact. I think the only thing that dent is doing is making it impossible to put the trim back in, but I'd have to check on the dash as well.


now, four years down the road, after a couple snowy winters, I could be singing a different song.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Glad to hear there were no injuries. What happened, exactly?

 

[spaniq]

Rode up a piece of K-rail pretty hard (undercarriage damage), then flipped on the passenger's side and skidded some 20 yards. Even brought some of the K-rail back.

 

[Anak]

He left out the important part: Driving tired, drifted to the shoulder and then overcorrected.

 

[Bent]

I'm sure glad the Varmint is all right. That's a heck of a rude awakening when you're nodding off behind the wheel. Been there done that. Fortunately I was on a bridge. Slight bounce off the K rail; didn't even scratch my truck. The upholstery needed a deep cleaning where I was sitting, though. In the grand scheme of things it's only an XJ.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Oof. Definitely a wake-up call in more than one sense.

Again, glad to hear you came out of it ok...

 

[Goose_XJ88]

I feel like the best way to fix the bent unibody is to take to a frame shop to pull it out best they can and then add frame stiffeners. Should be able to pop out the door dents fairly easily from the inside. The "A" pillar might be just a hammer it until the door operates and seals normally. Not sure about getting the windshield back in there though.

 

[Bent]

Should be able to use it file to massage it to fit. Bastard or a rasp.

 

[Anak]

I put Varmint #1 to work getting his Heep move-able. Had him dig out one of my spare D30s (has 3.07 gears, intended as a core to set up with 4.10 gears), some stock control arms, a stock track bar and stock steering linkage. Put it all together and put on two of the tires/wheels with which his Heep came to him. It looks much less pathetic now, but it also shows some of what needs corrected:










He pretty much has a center drop axle at this point.

Anchor points on the trailer were pretty useful for winching the axle over far enough to get the track bar in. A shortened track bar might have made it look like things were not so bad. Control arm mounts are nowhere near as bad as they could be. But some serious straightening is in order.

A frame machine would be nice, but good luck finding an autobody shop that will touch something that is over 20 years old. That seems to be their latest game, at least around here.

Probably have to redneck it with a tree and a winch.

 

[Goose_XJ88]

Just saw these were released from Barnes

Jeep XJ Front Chassis Replacement Brackets

These are our heavy duty front chassis replacement brackets for a Jeep XJ. These are great for replacing your damaged stock control arm mounts, or if you want a stronger bracket for a little more insurance on the trail. These brackets include all of the parts that you will need to completely...

barnes4wd.com

 

[Anak]

Those could be a timely development. Dang reasonable at $130. I could practically justify upgrading my own XJ with those.

 

[Bent]

I could practically justify upgrading my own XJ with those.

I agree that they would be a good replacement for damaged brackets. As far as an upgrade goes, it has been my experience that the bracket pulls a section of the uni-frame out with it when it catastrophically fails.

If the frame was completely plated, that would be another story. They certainly seem to be reasonably priced, though. Definitely check the box for, "where am I going to get...?"

 

[Nimrod]

Driving tired, drifted to the shoulder and then overcorrected.

I have a theory about that: Falling asleep at the wheel is like catching your wiener in your zipper; we each have to do it just once in a lifetime and we learn never to do it again.

Glad you made it out unscathed.