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XJ on a frame?

G

Greenriver

NAXJA Forum User
Location
G'ville, FL
i'm new here, so i wanted to do an intro along with my question...xj on a frame?

i have an 86 2 door cherokee stripped. was thinking of reinforcing the frame rails, adding a cage and heavy duty bumpers, but i want to do something different. so....has anyone seen, heard of or completed this mod?

my thought process...

eliminate the front clip; cut inner fenders and frame rails cleanly from the firewall forward.

eliminate the front passenger area floors, leaving the cargo floor and rear wheel wells intact...this would eliminate the frame rails under this area as well.

last, eliminate the frame rails under the cargo area.

my reasoning...

four link coils rear
14ff
three link coils front
d60
350 propane
700r4
atlas II
h1's
42's

all this attached to a frame tucked neatly flush with the frame rails, building a custom floor and cage to cover it all. hang the fender skins and pin the hood to a caged engine bay, tying it all into the rest of the cage.

why a cherokee? simple, 4 adults and gear. my last rig was a k5 blazer, topless, bobbed, boatsided, exo'd, doubler, the works...sold it, finished school, so now i'm back in it...feels good, too.

the humble beginning...

http://community.webshots.com/user/mtpockets35

my target completion date...easter jeep safari 2006.
 
that would be awesome. ive seen an xj body on top of a frame (unibody welded to frame) didnt look safe of "stylish" for that matter either. but if you completely cut out the floorboard and rebuilt it to accept a frame that would be sweet....overkill....very expensive.....but sweet
 
Muddy89XJ said:
that would be awesome. ive seen an xj body on top of a frame (unibody welded to frame) didnt look safe of "stylish" for that matter either. but if you completely cut out the floorboard and rebuilt it to accept a frame that would be sweet....overkill....very expensive.....but sweet
Click to expand...
wouldn't be that expensive, just cost of box steel, and LOTS of time. (the other parts would get expensive, is that what you were talking about?)
 
C-RoK did somthing very similarto what what you are talking about. He cut the front half of the XJ off and built a box frame for it. 3link wishbone rear, 3 link panhard in the front. v8 the whole works.

Search some of his posts and run through his pictures.
 
Basically, you're building a tube buggy and setting an XJ body on it.
Hmmmmm.


I like it.
 
BrettM said:
the only way I would do that (and it do think it's a great idea) is to cut off the XJ "frame rails" so it's just a flat floorboard and build a box steel frame from there.
Click to expand...

Why bother, just extra work. It's fairly easy to run a section of boxed tubing right next to the current frame rails. I have a friend who framed his XJ, then ran leaves in the front. He did it in a pretty simple way.......ran 2x4 boxed tubing next to the frame from front to back. He hung the spring hangers from the new tubing and also welded his bumpers right to that tubing. It worked pretty well, except for the front leaves. Later he said he wouldn't bother doing it that way again, since his next two rigs were linked front and rear.
 
Goatman said:
Why bother, just extra work. It's fairly easy to run a section of boxed tubing right next to the current frame rails. I have a friend who framed his XJ, then ran leaves in the front. He did it in a pretty simple way.......ran 2x4 boxed tubing next to the frame from front to back. He hung the spring hangers from the new tubing and also welded his bumpers right to that tubing. It worked pretty well, except for the front leaves. Later he said he wouldn't bother doing it that way again, since his next two rigs were linked front and rear.
Click to expand...

Seems like it'd get kind of complicated near the front w/ the motor mounts and all.
Billy
 
why not cut the bottom half of the the existing rails off, then set the new box tubing between the remaining rail side sections. Leave enough to bolt through the rails every couple of feet.
 
i saw c-roks rig in an online mag and loved it, except for the added height it created...essentially dropping the frame lower. having a frame follow the uniframe is another good idea for added strength. my idea is to raise the floor boards to allow the drivetrain to be flush with the new frame rails...which would be higher than the current frame rail elevation.

i could try to fab up a custom frame with 2x4 box, but i would rather grab a yj frame and work with that...guys are hanging rockwells off these frames and throwing big blocks in them....i'm sure it would work for my application easy enough (reinforced of course).

i do appreciate the comments...all of them. i am learning on this one, i am stretching my current capacity...we'll see what happens.




ps. i am currently looking for a yj frame...anyone?
 
This sounds like basically what I did.
I built my own frame using 2.5"x.188" wall square from the lower firewall back and 2"x4"x.188" rectangular from the lower firewall forward.
I ran the 2.5" directly under the uni-body frame channel.
Through the engine compartment (lower firewall forward), I actually cut out the uni-body frame section. That's why I used heavier material through that section.
I cut the uni-body frame rails out of the engine bay to free up more space.

To mount the body to the frame, I have a totaL of 12 body mounts. On the uni-body side of the body mount, I had a C formed out of flat stock with the flat back welded to the unibody. On the frame section, I used a holesaw to cut out a 1.75" dia hole through both side walls of the tubing. I then welded back into the holes a short stub of 1.75"x.120" wall round tubing. In these tube stubs I used poly spring bushings as the body mount. The C on the unibody slots over the bushings.

By doing the body mounts like this, I was able to get a very strong connection but still run the frame within 1/2" or less of the bottom of the uni-body.
 
David Taylor said:
Greg, have you put yours on the scale since the new cage ?
Just wanted to know how much something like this ends up at.
Click to expand...
Not since I chopped the top.
I weighed it full of gas (29 gal) and with my approx 200lb cargo/tool box.
It weighed in at right about 5200lb then.

Dry empty is probably something just shy of 5000lb.

My guess is it is about 80-100lb lighter now w/o the roof. Cage work from then and now is probably a wash.

When my frame was complete, I could still deadlift it by myself, but it was difficult. Guess weight on the frame is 300-400ish.
I gained a small amount by cutting the uni-frame out of the engine bay but still netted nearly the full frame weight.

I don't think the weight difference is that dramatic compared to someone who would have sleeved or plated the uni-rails front to rear.

A whole bunch of my 5200lbs also just comes from the tires and axles.
 
i would think a frame useless since an xj doesnt have flex pionts in the body(that why back around the hatch cracks out). i would think that if you made body as rigid as you could that would be better. a big x with some cross members would be a lot better like a [X] in the middle that would be good for the front and might need some thing on the back with the leafs. maybe a gas tank skidtied in the the rear cross member. bottom line xjs wernet made for frame or they would have come with one.
 
90txXJ said:
bottom line xjs wernet made for frame or they would have come with one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all your insight here :eyeroll:

Yes Cherokees did not come with frames. Nor did they come with Dana 60s, 39" tires, full cages, 300HP engines, locked axles and whatever other host of items and modifications we might make to our vehicles.
Ya know...... like the kinds of things you might discuss on a message board dedicated to "Advanced Fabrication" for Cherokees.

Yes, essentially everything we will be discussing here is going to involve things that factory did not intend for the Cherokee to have.

But thanks for the advice, despite 4 years of wheelin' it hard across the US, I now know that my vehicle doesn't work.
 
FarmerMatt said:
+

Finally, after years of the rest of us telling you, you've seen the light. :) :)

Matt
Click to expand...
Why couldn't you have saved me sooner?
Was I not listening or something?

Damn stubborn......

Boy I wish I would have found the internet sooner before I went and did all these stupid things that will never work.
 
C-ROK said:
Why couldn't you have saved me sooner?
Was I not listening or something?

Damn stubborn......

Boy I wish I would have found the internet sooner before I went and did all these stupid things that will never work.
Click to expand...
Greg, we had a meeting and it was decided that we would be quiet to spare your feelings.
It's all about the love here.
 
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