Frame Rail Reinforcement

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Definitaly go with the rossets and stich welds.

If one is makeing 10 gauge plates to weld to the sides of the frame from front to back on their MJ, is there a recommended distance that the 1/2" holes be apart from one another? I see Capn Ron's holes are in a pattern. Did he program the punch randomly or is there a reason the holes are the distance apart that they are and in the pattern that they are in? Would too many holes reduce the strength gained by adding the additional steel? I'll be doing this on four 10' long plates using a drill press, so it's going to be a LOT of drilling! Jeff

 

[Captain Ron]

If one is makeing 10 gauge plates to weld to the sides of the frame from front to back on their MJ, is there a recommended distance that the 1/2" holes be apart from one another?

I used .38" thru holes. It only takes a .188" hole to exceed the cross section, but .38" is much easier to work with MIG welding, and taking into account that there will be places that will be gap filled. For me, .5" holes are just way too big for this application.

I see Capn Ron's holes are in a pattern. Did he program the punch randomly or is there a reason the holes are the distance apart that they are and in the pattern that they are in? Would too many holes reduce the strength gained by adding the additional steel? I'll be doing this on four 10' long plates using a drill press, so it's going to be a LOT of drilling! Jeff

I used the cross section for 14 GA, and a .38" hole, and worked out the surface overlap. Anything within a pattern 3.25" x .825" will fill the box. Staying within the box, I used pattern grid and pattern line to program the hole patterns to be symetrical in the three different sections (2 on the MJ). That means that the patterns are not all the same in each section, but they all stay within the parameters above. In certain areas, there are additional holes I needed to add to account for frame rail features.

Too many holes is mostly just more work. Just as in composites, you could create hard spots, but hey, why overcomplicate if you don't have too.

--ron

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Thanks for the response Capn! However, I'm not really understanding what you are saying. Can you rephrase for the folks with NO programming experience?

"I used the cross section for 14 GA, and a .38" hole, and worked out the surface overlap. Anything within a pattern 3.25" x .825" will fill the box. Staying within the box, I used pattern grid and pattern line to program the hole patterns to be symetrical in the three different sections (2 on the MJ). That means that the patterns are not all the same in each section, but they all stay within the parameters above. In certain areas, there are additional holes I needed to add to account for frame rail features."

Does this mean that your calculations suggest that the holes be within 3.25" of each other for 14 GA? I thought you used 10 GA? I don't understand the .825 number. Thanks again for the input. Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Jeff

 

[Captain Ron]

Ask Opie what I did, then disregard all of it, he was completely drunk.

PM me, I'll take care of you. Save your brain cells.

--ron

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I just layed out a large number of holes and went to town! There's going to be a LOT of welding. Jeff

Cardboard templates layed out on aluminum flashing

First outer frame piece cut with Plasma cutter (freehand!)

 

[karstic]

Holy Swiss Cheese, Batman!

 

[JeepFreak21]

Billy

 

[TNT]

I just layed out a large number of holes and went to town! There's going to be a LOT of welding. Jeff

Cardboard templates layed out on aluminum flashing

First outer frame piece cut with Plasma cutter (freehand!)

Looks real good. I'll be doing the same to my MJ once I finish parting out my XJ. Are you going to run a box, build a bed or tube the rear of it out?

I'm combining 2 cabs and using 2dr XJ doors to extend the cab 9" and building a custom bed for mine.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Since we're on the subject of crazy things to do to your MJ, I'm planning to do a tube out that looks kind of like a bed and has a cut down MJ tailgate. The whole build is designed around keeping a cut down MJ tailgate! We'll see how it works out in the end. I've got a LONG ways to go. However, you probably have further with trying to graft two cabs together. I'm mostly planning to keep the cab intact as it came from the factory. I would like to get a little more in cab room, but I'm not willing to do the necessary work like you are doing! I'm also planning to keep useable doors because as you know, WI isn't California! I would like to boatside the thing as much as possible, but with keeping doors and windows in the doors, I think they'll have to stay at their stock inside dimensions. I've cut the outer bottoms off the doors already, but I think that's where it's going to have to stop. Jeff

 

[Starboard M]

I just layed out a large number of holes and went to town! There's going to be a LOT of welding. Jeff

Cardboard templates layed out on aluminum flashing

Very nice. I plan on doing almost the exact same thing on my XJ.

Post pictures when you have them mounted!

 

[TNT]

Since we're on the subject of crazy things to do to your MJ, I'm planning to do a tube out that looks kind of like a bed and has a cut down MJ tailgate. The whole build is designed around keeping a cut down MJ tailgate! We'll see how it works out in the end. I've got a LONG ways to go. However, you probably have further with trying to graft two cabs together. I'm mostly planning to keep the cab intact as it came from the factory. I would like to get a little more in cab room, but I'm not willing to do the necessary work like you are doing! I'm also planning to keep useable doors because as you know, WI isn't California! I would like to boatside the thing as much as possible, but with keeping doors and windows in the doors, I think they'll have to stay at their stock inside dimensions. I've cut the outer bottoms off the doors already, but I think that's where it's going to have to stop. Jeff

I'll have doors, this will give you an idea of the extra cab room. I will be welding in rockers and doing a slight boatside to keep from geting hung up on the outer cab mounts.

Here's what I have in mind for a box

I plan on having stock type bodylines on the front of the box to the wheel openings. I was thinking about cutting my tailgate down to fit too.

I'm going to use a XJ fuel tank in the front of the bed, build storage and battery boxes in the bed also. I'm extending the front wheelwell openings forward so the air box and battery need new homes. Here is how I cut the front fenders, I'm trying to get as much uptravel as possible.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I know you'll have doors Tim. I LIKE what you're doing. I'm just not ready to go through that much work. I'm leaving mine as is. I have a TJ tank and fuel pump that I'm planning to put in the front of the bed. I have an aluminum storage box that will go over the tank too. Oh yeah, I plan to put a battery or two in the front of the bed as well. Jeff

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I guess I'll just keep adding pics here instead of starting another thread. I'm working on an MJ that I plan to install a V8 in, so I wanted a larger radiator. I decided to use a radiator that fits between the frame rails and can extend down 6-8" beyond the stock radiator. My calculations show that I can fit a 28x17 radiator in this location. Figuring on 2" end tanks, that works out to 408 square inches of core. This compares to 352 square inches of core on the BE Cool XJ radiator that Summit sells. In any case, by doing this, I either have to move the steering gear or use a different type to make room for the radiator. I believe I'm going to run a WJ box as it bolts to the side of the frame with four bolts and positions the actual gear mechanism on top of the frame. JK's use a similar box. In order to make a strong steering box mount and allow a variety of positions, I decided to gut the front frame horns and slip some 2x6x3/16 box steel into them. I slipped the box steel into the frame horns all the way back to where the frame bends in. I filled the sheet metal with holes and then welded the holes to the box steel.

Pieces removed

Looking inside

Piece of box steel

Drivers side prepped

Drivers side welded

Passengers side welded

Looking into the end of the tube

Jeff

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

The side plating then goes over the top of the new front frame horn and extends out beyond the end of the cut off MJ frame.

I extended the plating beyond the rear of the cut off frame horns as I plan to mount a 1/4 elliptic leaf spring in this region. Jeff

 

[aparke4]

wow! thats great work!

v8 and quarter eliptical? sweet!

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Here's a link to the initial frame stripping picture album:

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z94/fourliter/Initial MJ frame strip/

Here's a link to the full frame reinforcement project picture album:

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z94/fourliter/MJ Frame plating/

I'm sure I'll be adding more as I get more done. Jeff

 

[TNT]

The frame work looks great.

If I wasnt keeping my AC, I would probably put the radiator and transmission cooler in the bed.
I still probably could, it does a great job of keeping them out of harms way.
The question is where to run the tubes and hoses to make it work right.
A winch would tuck in great with your WJ steering box if they were moved.

Is this what you have in mind for your steering? Pic's are compliments of xjbubba

Heres the link to the post the pics are from.:greensmok

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=920036

I know you've seen that post but I thought others might benefit from it.


So you are planning a quarter eliptical spring setup. Are you going with a triangulated 4 link or a 3 link?

I'm going to stick with leaf springs for now, I'm getting great travel from them.

Keep up the good work. :cheers:

I wish I had a tube bender because I would back half mine in a heartbeat.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I've yet to purchase a bender, but it's on the list. Yes, I do have xjbubba's pics on my hard drive and yes, I do plan something very similar to that...ok, I plan to copy it! I did do my frame work a bit different though. Jeff

 

[TNT]

I've yet to purchase a bender, but it's on the list. Yes, I do have xjbubba's pics on my hard drive and yes, I do plan something very similar to that...ok, I plan to copy it! I did do my frame work a bit different though. Jeff

You might want to come down here and bend some tube for me before you do yours.

You know the old saying "Practice makes Perfect"... :thumbup:

I wouldn't want to see you have any problems tubing your backhalf.

I'd let you practice on mine and toss some $$$ you way for doing it too.:roll:

I've got a great source for steel and its even cheaper in bulk so maybe we could work something out???

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I finally got one inner plate installed. With the rear portion in place, the plate fit good up to the motor mount area then it veered off till it was an inch high in the front.

I heated and bent the plate down just in front of the C-clamp in the above photo till everything fit well. Then I burned it on doing the Rosettes and all the way around the perimeter. Also, I painted the backside of the plate with weld through primer before clamping it down and welding away. I hope this will help with rust, but it does make welding noticeably messier than without the paint. Also, I marked each and every rosette hole on the uniframe first and then ground those spots to bare metal before welding the painted plate on.

Back of engine bay below:

Mid section below:

Rear section below:

Engine mount area below:

I made the holes around the engine mount welded in nuts oversize and then welded the plate to the uniframe tight to the holes. I ground the weld flat and used a die grinder to clean up the holes.

On to the other inner frame plate, the engine bay uni-frame tops and then the whole bottom of each uni-frame. Jeff