how many have flopped or rolled your rig?

[Vanimal]

after watching my buddy flop his yota a couple weeks ago, i was wondering how many people put their trucks on the side, or completely roll it. and how do these little unibody heeps hold up?

 

[wes_xj]

I've been on both sides, never got the whole way over. As far as damage I say i made out pretty well. When i was on the passenger side I had doors on so they got dented pretty bad. A pillar and rear corner were pretty beat up also. When I was on the drivers side, no doors and soft dirt. Walked away with a broken taillight. Somehow both times I managed to keep all glass in one piece. Thinking of this, I need a cage!

 

[Vanimal]

i thought about taking the doors off, i'd love to make some soft doors for it. wish it was a 2 door.....
how bad does that thing flex with the doors off? gotta think it loses a bit of integrity.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

i thought about taking the doors off, i'd love to make some soft doors for it. wish it was a 2 door.....
how bad does that thing flex with the doors off? gotta think it loses a bit of integrity.

Think through that for a minute....... doors vs. no doors.....

If the door provided any sort of integrity to the unibody for overall strength, then during moderate to severe suspension flexing...... you'd have to expect that the doors would NOT open..... they'd be in a bind with the door sills providing rigidity for the unibody. Right?

The only thing the doors would be important for regarding integrity would be for crash/impact integrity. The door acts as a brace for the opening when closed.

I had a pretty rusty and well 'wheeled '84 XJ and yes, the doors did bind when severely flexed. Haven't had that issue with the '93, '95, '96 and '97 rigs I've owned and wheeled..... but you can feel the unibody move a bit when off road if you put your fingers over the gap between the top of the door frame and the roof/rain gutter area when 'wheeling.... you'll feel the gap get wider/closer. The '93 and the '97 both got frame stiffeners and cages which almost eliminated that door/roof gap movement.

The more a person 'wheels their rig with out doors I suppose certainly could help contribute to unibody cracking and flex - cutting off roof sections and removing pinch seamed areas will contribute to this - so we XJ folks generally advocate a well anchored cage for both occupant protection and unibody support.

If you do some image googling I think you'd find that the XJ's will do "ok" in a very light, low speed side rollover, but generally don't survive it to 'wheel again without alot of bending/straightening/fixing. Side flops are mostly all about what they flopped onto. Mine caused quite a bit of damage simply due to the nature of the obstacle:

My old '84...... this kind of flexing would generally render the doors stuck shut. No sliders, no stiffeners, no cage....... lots of rust though.

 

[wes_xj]

The doors are not structural. So it doesn't flex anymore without them. The hatch door is a different story though. Doorless is great. You won't regret it

 

[ROBZ95Xj]

bunch of rolled/flopped xj thread

http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1025714

friends 98 on D60's, got rebuilt within a week looked mint

http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=977003

 

[ktm racer 419]

you can feel the unibody move a bit when off road if you put your fingers over the gap between the top of the door frame and the roof/rain gutter area when 'wheeling.... you'll feel the gap get wider/closer. The '93 and the '97 both got frame stiffeners and cages which almost eliminated that door/roof gap movement.

you can also feel that gap change when accelerating pretty hard.

 

[ktm racer 419]

and just because: here is my unibody folding

 

[Wiser]

I flopped mine in April

Moderate damage (cracked windshield and tweaked a-pillar and misc dents and scratches)

The first flop is always the hardest when it comes to a straight bodied xj

 

[GrimmJeeper]

I put a rental WJ on it's side in red rock canyon, does that count?

always get the insurance :eyes:

 

[jmaxj]

I've flopped and rolled mine many times, the first two rolls were without a cage even. A con-fer food rack with gutter mounts is the only reason I haven't had to trash it.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

I rolled a previous 2dr Renix XJ when I hit black ice and a ditch. Rolled 2.5 times, body was FUBAR'd

 

[Phil]

I went wheels-up in my junk slowly on dirt once, and in a borrowed buggy hard over backwards on rock once. My junk survived well enough. The buggy cost a wheel, tire, steering box, drag link, and some tube.

 

[93xjcowboy]

I Flopped and rolled my 92 at Rausch Creek. No doors and the body held up great considering what I rolled on.

I also rolled my 99 at 30mph or so and landed 100% on the roof. there was no damage on the sides, hood, or front clip. The roof was down to the middle of my arm (it was a pretty hard landing)

 

[Breezio69]

Those leaf springs are fanned out like a deck of cards

 

[ktm racer 419]

sweet rear shocks

 

[Lowrange2]

Thats the new bilstien model that no one has seen yet.

 

[twodoorXJ]

Thats the new bilstien model that no one has seen yet.

Its because theyre invisible/high tech.

 

[Lowrange2]

AH!

 

[ktm racer 419]

Its because theyre invisible/high tech.

i had one of the prototype 5150's with an invisible shock shaft.