Crossmember desighn......

Ghost

Ghost

Member Number 257
NAXJA Member
Location
Camden, SC
ok spent a couple hours yesterday searching for some ideas on how you guys with the extended radius arms and front D44's are mounting them on the xj side. Saw some mounted under the frame rail, yuck, and most between the unibody frame rail. I also looked at several long arms threads too. Now remember I have the 4 pooper so my tranny mount is about 4" or so in front of yours. That being said, are most of the crossmembers also the tranny crossmember? Personally, I dont want to pull 2 of my main suspension links when I have to pull a tcase..... or do other repair in the tranny/tcase area.... Or am I missing something bc I dont have enough images of what you guys are doing. I also looked at several long arm kits but all the imaages were too small and not detailed enough. SO, how are you guys building these crossmembers? My plan was to put it right in front of the crossmember in the tranny mount area. Basically a piece of 2 x 2 from fram rail to fram rail. Any thoughts? Any detailed images of what is being done with just the crossmember and wiht the crossmember in? ty :wave:
 
most people that put them in the crossmember would have to drop the arms to drop the crossmember. i went for the frame rails, i never hit them on anything..... and my rockers are plenty bashed in to prove that they could get hit....
 
tealcherokee said:
most people that put them in the crossmember would have to drop the arms to drop the crossmember. i went for the frame rails, i never hit them on anything..... and my rockers are plenty bashed in to prove that they could get hit....
Click to expand...

Yea that is my main issue with the crossmember, and why I was looking at putting them in there own crossmember. Got any pictures of yours?
 
I built my lower long arm mounts into my bolt on custom crossmember. However, my lowers mount inboard pretty far, so even if I made a separate crossmember just for the mounts, it would still be in the way of dropping the tranny or t-case. With long extended Ford arms, perhaps you could design them to fit close to the frame rails and either design mounts that weld or bolt to the frame rails Or design mounts that bolt/weld to the frame rails AND bolt to the crossmember. That way the crossmember would be providing strength to the long arm mounts, but the long arm mounts could be unbolted from the tranny crossmember and the crossmember removed without also removing the whole long arm mounts. Jeff
 
DSCN3868.JPG

DSCN3869.jpg

DSCN3870.jpg
 
tealcherokee said:
DSCN3868.JPG
Click to expand...


Hello, you guys obviously didn't read the sticker on the lower control arm!

It clearly states to "keep clear while operating". I can only assume this is addressed to trail obstacles, in an effort to intimidate them out of the way.
 
CRASH said:
Hello, you guys obviously didn't read the sticker on the lower control arm!

It clearly states to "keep clear while operating". I can only assume this is addressed to trail obstacles, in an effort to intimidate them out of the way.
Click to expand...

ton of ?'s hope i get them all, i havent broken the fitting off yet, because i put the arms on in the other direction, which makes it one nice smooth piece, and rocks or anything ive hit slides along the arm, and across the mount....

yes there are long lowers and short uppers in that pic, i wheeled it like that a few times, no issues at all, but i run a full long 3 link w/ pan hard now

DSCN4498.JPG


that was when i was building the front 44, alots changed since that pic, including destroying the 44, and the start of shopping for a 60 and building it up right....
 
If you're considering extended Ford type radius arms...

Farmer Matt's setup on the Cat is waaaaay clean...

No loss of clearance/inside of frame rail...

seems to work well enough for him...

and you know he doesn't wheel it...


;)
 
tealcherokee said:
ton of ?'s hope i get them all, i havent broken the fitting off yet, because i put the arms on in the other direction, which makes it one nice smooth piece, and rocks or anything ive hit slides along the arm, and across the mount....

yes there are long lowers and short uppers in that pic, i wheeled it like that a few times, no issues at all, but i run a full long 3 link w/ pan hard now

DSCN4498.JPG


that was when i was building the front 44, alots changed since that pic, including destroying the 44, and the start of shopping for a 60 and building it up right....
Click to expand...

What T-case are you running if you have a pass drop front axle?
Also do you have any pics of your current UCA frame side mount?
 
Gil BullyKatz said:
If you're considering extended Ford type radius arms...

Farmer Matt's setup on the Cat is waaaaay clean...

No loss of clearance/inside of frame rail...

seems to work well enough for him...

and you know he doesn't wheel it...


;)
Click to expand...

Now I know why the tracktor did nto come up.... I really hate the search feature, if you dont put in the right think you will never find what you want...

4linkframeupperlowerrelation.jpg


This is what I plan on doing for a front radius arm. Looks like he notched some tube and welded it to the cast arm. I plan on building an arm like that but with a piece of steel bent to the ford c bushing shape and using a JJ on the frame side. I'll pm Matt and see if he can add some images for me here where I can find them.....
 
What kind of crappy drivetrain are you guys running to have to pull crossmembers all the time?

In ten years of XJ's, I've pulled the trans 4 times: once for a tranny swap, thrice for new suspension designs.

Is it really that hard to pull 2-4 extra bolts to get the control arm mounts out of the way?
 
The arms on my CAT are nicely tucked up inside the frame rails, but this caused me to have to put a bend in the arms to clear the frame on full compression. Not the ideal situation for strength. The mounts themselves go through the floor & wrap up & over the top of the frame rail. The nut is welded to a plate that is welded along the inside of the frame rail.

catradiusarmmount.jpg



My JD is the typical crossmember style suspension mounting. I used 2x4x 1/4 & mounted the arms tucked up in front of of it. For a time I had them mounted below the crossmember, but this lead to some embarassing pics of me stuck like a turtle on his back. Since moving them up I haven't had an issue, but it doesn't have near the breakover angle as the CAT does.

image197.jpg


Here's a pic from before I moved the mounts up in front of the crossmember. I had gone through all the trouble of insetting the bolt heads flush so that the crossmember was smooth, yet I build huge rock anchors... Live & learn.

image006.jpg
 
We've broken up since that pic was taken.....oh the good old days.
 
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