extreme XJ finished

[rokbrkr]

Robrkr- the tubing in the engine department, did you connect thru the fire wall to the front legs of the interior cage?

If so, that is exactly what I was thinking needs to be done if your gonna cage up an XJ;

The way I always thought in my head is, you brace the hell out of the rear 2/3rds of an XJ and that leaves everything, including the firewall, forward weak. Especially at the firewall. The unit body, it would seem, would be forced to flex way more in this area with the cage than before the cage. the XJ unit body seems to be prone to cracking around the windshield already. Does this make sense to anyone else?

Yes the engine cage is conected to the interior cage thru the friewall and underneath inside the wheel well to the spring tower and shock mount from the slider frame mount, making a rough triangle to the suspension points, I did this for the exact reason you mention, I figured if I stiffened up the rest of the truck the front end would fatigue and start to fail after a while, so we just stiffened the whole thing. Plus it looks COOL!

 

[rokbrkr]

Wow man, that thing is mean. You have some talent. I'm with everyone else, i love that front fab work the most i think, tying everything together. One question, any reason you didnt triangulate the top of the interior cage more? I'm not trying to bash you or anything, i could never do anything remotely as nice as that, just curious because i have always been under the impression that everything should be triangulated for maximum strength. Tell your customer i'm more than willing to trade, i have camo seat covers.

You are correct, triangles equal strength, but as with everything else there was comprimises to be made, the cage could have been built with more triangulation, but then it wouldn't have been quite as user friendly, he still needs to haul his wife and kids around comfortably, the one thing I think it needs is a bar across the dash, but that would have made it almost impossible to take it apart, and the customer said NO, he didn't want it there.
Trade??? I'll give you his #, you can ask?? haha

 

[rokbrkr]

Definitely a rock anchor, but I like the fab work on the rest.

Yeah that Xmember was a tough one.....the transfer case portion only hangs down about 3/4" below the case and is angled upward, the rest hangs down almost even with the old one, this piece was particularly challenging because we wanted to be able to take the Xmember off without taking off the suspension, the LCA mounts could definatly be a hook in reverse, but going forward it's all a skid........I guess you can't win'em all.

 

[JnJ]

I'd like to see more details of the front swaybar setup.

 

[rokbrkr]

The thing works great! it's a Currie Ent. universal mount Anti-Rock sway bar it was very easy to install with just some fore thought to the frame plates, buying the sway bar, is probably the hardest part! almost $400

http://printcraftpress.com/v-web/gallery/album01/xjantirock
http://printcraftpress.com/v-web/gallery/album01/xj_antirock

 

[flexj]

You are correct, triangles equal strength, but as with everything else there was comprimises to be made, the cage could have been built with more triangulation, but then it wouldn't have been quite as user friendly, he still needs to haul his wife and kids around comfortably, the one thing I think it needs is a bar across the dash, but that would have made it almost impossible to take it apart, and the customer said NO, he didn't want it there.
Trade??? I'll give you his #, you can ask?? haha

Kudos to the wife and kids for climbing throught all that tubing.

Very nice fab work. Only you make us booty fabbers look bad :laugh3:

 

[T&A-XJ]

I am planning on installing a antirok soon and noticed you cut the arms down and used the second closest mounting hole. How do you like that mounting for street and trail? Seems pretty balanced at that setting as well as enough flex avail?
Just asking as the arms are long and cutting them like yours would be nice for mounting purposes.

 

[rokbrkr]

I am planning on installing a antirok soon and noticed you cut the arms down and used the second closest mounting hole. How do you like that mounting for street and trail? Seems pretty balanced at that setting as well as enough flex avail?
Just asking as the arms are long and cutting them like yours would be nice for mounting purposes.

It worked well like it is before the long arms, I talked to them at Currie about cutting them and they said no problem, you just lose adjustability.....we haven't really had a chance to try it out much yet after the new front suspension, in testing the sway bar bottomed out after the shocks, and we are def. going to have to run limiting straps.
that was about the only place I could see that made sense to mount it, unless you mounted it thru the bumper mount, then you'd have to take it apart to get the bumper off, I didn't like that idea

 

[88flexj]

Beautiful Cherokee! Dig the fab work!! Hopefully my next xj will be that clean, too late for this one.

 

[Dragon_Fly]

DuDE! Thats Friken SWEET! I love the cage under the hood and everything underneath. Where in Idaho are you? I have to see this thing in person.
Awesome work!

 

[pabloconrad]

I'm jealous.

 

[Lincoln]

We need some close up shots or something. To be from Idaho there has to be at least 85% bootie fab.

I like everything but the speed bump finder.

Interesting tie in on the shock and spring tower.

 

[rokbrkr]

DuDE! Thats Friken SWEET! I love the cage under the hood and everything underneath. Where in Idaho are you? I have to see this thing in person.
Awesome work!

tHANKS, we're located in Idaho falls, on the eastern side of the state......look for it in moab at the jeep safari.

 

[rokbrkr]

We need some close up shots or something. To be from Idaho there has to be at least 85% bootie fab.

I like everything but the speed bump finder.

Interesting tie in on the shock and spring tower.

bootie fab..........what's that.........not in idaho...lol

I measured the stock Xmember at the shop today and the new one actually is a 1/2" shallower, I could have sucked the xmember up another 1" maybe but the transfer case still hangs down that low, so I went for one smooth surface to slide on........they must have some big speed bumps on your side of the state....haha

 

[Lincoln]

bootie fab..........what's that.........not in idaho...lol

I measured the stock Xmember at the shop today and the new one actually is a 1/2" shallower, I could have sucked the xmember up another 1" maybe but the transfer case still hangs down that low, so I went for one smooth surface to slide on........they must have some big speed bumps on your side of the state....haha

Cross member looks ok, but I don't like the mounts for the arms. I hit the spot where the stock cross member bolts to the frame quite often (mostly at the mall). With the mount that low it basically is costing a few inches of clearance there whether they slide or not. Do a search for postings by "Goatman" and long arms. He likes taking pictures of people hung up. I can't say much though because I still run mine short.

Anyway, I still want to see the bootie fab part. I didn't even see any paint runs. No rusty farm machinery metal? Something is wrong here, you must be an import.

 

[rokbrkr]

Anyway, I still want to see the bootie fab part. I didn't even see any paint runs. No rusty farm machinery metal? Something is wrong here, you must be an import.[/QUOTE]

Oh no buddy.........I save the rusty farm metal for my personal vehicles,....can't let the customers have all the good stuff!!! LOL.....your right though......Idaho is full of scary "bootie fab" vehicles!..... I'm trying to change that!

 

[Lincoln]

Oh no buddy.........I save the rusty farm metal for my personal vehicles,....can't let the customers have all the good stuff!!! LOL.....your right though......Idaho is full of scary "bootie fab" vehicles!..... I'm trying to change that!

I'm trying to keep the tradition alive. I'm going to build my cage out of handlines.

 

[rokbrkr]

ha ha LOL!!!

 

[Goatman]

Real nice work there, definitely something to be proud of. Your customer should be very happy. I like the way you tied into the front spring/shock towers, something I haven't done yet but was thinking about.

On the subject of running tubes to the front, which is pretty new on full bodied XJ's (not tubed out quasi-buggies), here is my latest iteration. I already had a single tube running under the fender to the end of the bumper, but I just finished adding the grill hoop and tying it together under the fender. I don't have a pic of it, but there is also a cross tube added to the flimsy front crossmember. Mine is all welded together, including the bumper and it's braces to the frame, since everything is still accessable.

 

[rokbrkr]

Real nice work there, definitely something to be proud of. Your customer should be very happy. I like the way you tied into the front spring/shock towers, something I haven't done yet but was thinking about.

On the subject of running tubes to the front, which is pretty new on full bodied XJ's (not tubed out quasi-buggies), here is my latest iteration. I already had a single tube running under the fender to the end of the bumper, but I just finished adding the grill hoop and tying it together under the fender. I don't have a pic of it, but there is also a cross tube added to the flimsy front crossmember. Mine is all welded together, including the bumper and it's braces to the frame, since everything is still accessable.

Thank you, the customer is very happy, I don't think his feet have touched the ground since he picked the jeep up!!! LOL

That looks like it should be very stout on your jeep! I thought about puting the tubes through the fender like that, but couldn't figure out how to get them back in the cab and retain the dash. that looks like like it should work very well!