Finally Getting a Chance to Work on my XJ

[xj4life]

Trip to the Cliffs last spring was the last run my XJ had . Wheeled all day and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t turn left. Came home and realized my trackbar bracket was broken and even worse the frame was completely f'd. It has sat in storage ever since . Well I'm planning a marathon wrenching session starting this weekend. First off I’m going to fix the "frame" and then put together a new bumper for it. And I’m thinking about painting the Jeep white. Just ready for something new. That might have to wait until later this spring for that though. It’s gonna be "he double hockey sticks" for about a week but should turn out good.


Broken “frame”..........all kinds of bad




Sent files to my CNC laser vendor this morning to have them rough cut some 1/8" steel for me to plate the frame with. First I'll try to fix the frame as best I can before adding the 1/8" plate to three sides of the frame (inboard, outboard, bottom). I’ll also be adding tubing in 6-8 spots per side that'll run from the inboard side to the outboard side. This should give the “frame” some torsional stiffness. Black is the factory “frame”, green will be the 1/8” plate, and the red is the tubing.






Absolutely hated the bumper I used to run on my XJ. Was one of the first things I ever built for my XJ. Hated it as soon as I finished it but never had time to do anything about it. Things I hated: to heavy, ugly, stuck out to far, and didn’t fit well to the frame. Well this one sinks the winch into the grill, keeps the winch low so that it doesn’t block the radiator much, and the front face of the bumper is only about 4.5" off the front of the grill. I'm also adding a bottle opener

[dragordie]

WOW your frame looks nasty!! That is what my concerns are running these 33s and not having the steering box tied across to the other side. Hay you going to be around this weekend??
Dave<><

[xj4life]

WOW your frame looks nasty!! That is what my concerns are running these 33s and not having the steering box tied across to the other side. Hay you going to be around this weekend??
Dave<><

Its even worse up near the steering box. I'll be up in Grand Rapids this weekend. That's where my Jeep and shop are at. I'm staying up there until this is all finished, hopefully no later than next Friday. So I should be around next weekend.

[xjjeepthing]

I like the bumper, the frame looks like it took a beating.

[xj4life]

I like the bumper, the frame looks like it took a beating.

yeah the next one will get this treatment right off the bat

[Run4lo]

That's a sweet bottle opener on the bumper!

[xj4life]

few hours of work tonight and the motor/tranny/tcase are 95% ready to come out. why pull all those and not just the motor? well i was in the process of a motor swap last fall between this '98 and my "new" '99 and i ended up stripping out the inverted torks bolt at the top of the bell housing. so now i'm having to pull everything.

oh and the frame on the drivers side is a whole lot worse than i thought it was. i'll have to post up some more pics once i get the motor out.

picked up the steel for the bumper and frame plates from my vendor this afternoon. i'm really looking forward to getting the bumper together.

[xj4life]

got everything pulled today. took the brackets for the motor mounts off the frame and things are worse than I thought. still fixable but more work for me. probably going to replace the front crossmember with some 2x6x?.

inside drivers side





outside passenger side. frame is starting to buckle, crossmember is starting to split from the frame.

[xj4life]

didnt get a whole lot of time to work on the Jeep today. the morning was spent running around for parts and spend the afternoon with my family. but the few hours in the evening were productive. tomorrow i hope to finish up the frame, hack out the front crossmember, and then start on plating the rails.

plasma'd out the tabs on the inside of the frame. this is so that i can wrap my 1/8" all the way from outside to inside. this is part of the way through that.


passenger side welded back up




trying to make the drivers side look like a frame again, still getting there. had to cut out a large chuck because there was just no saving it.

[dragordie]

Boy Chris you got your work cutout. Man If your rig was closer I would like to give you a hand with my welder, we could getter buttoned up in no time. Its the same with every build you always find another weekest link.
Dave<><

[xj4life]

spent a lot of time working today and dont have much to show for it. decided to concentrate on the passanger side and see what i could get done on it. got the inner and outer plates pretty much ready to burn in. tubing shown in the pic is just there for mocking up, probably run them flush.

[xj4life]

Another really long day with not a whole lot to show for it. Got the passenger side inner and outer plates burned in as well as two of the cross tubes. While letting things cool I did other little things around the Jeep so that probably didnt help. Hope to have the whole passenger side wrapped up tomorrow and I think thats the end of the wrenching session. My shop is 2hr away from home so I'm ready to hit the road after 5 days of 12hr days.

Inner plate. Gonna tie in a 2"x6"x_" front cross member in there before its all over.


Outer plate

[xj4life]

No picture updates, nothing really interesting to show. Got the passenger side all welded up. Just need to throw some primer on it tomorrow. Come back up to the shop in a week to finish the drivers side.

[xj4life]

yeah. been working so much havent had a chance to update.

frame is finished, motor mount brackets modified and burned in, think i know what i'm doing for the track bar bracket and brace, front crossmember is almost done.

man this is the way to move a motor around.......sans front crossmember



going to use my old trackbar (upper orange link) as a cross brace for the trackbar. new trackbar will be straight. old one had to bend because i was running a drop pitman arm (pre-high steer) and the frame end of the track bar was 2" lower.

track bar will be braced from the back side over to tabs i'm welding in on the drivers side.

looks like links will crash in the pics but remember this these are just pics of the mockups






crossmember partially done





tomorrow i hope to finish up the crossmember and get the trackbar bracket burned in and ready for new links.

[jeepxjman88]

looking go so far ,nice work hope all goes well .

[xj4life]

looking go so far ,nice work hope all goes well .

i hope it all works to or else i'm building a leaf spring YJ

[xj4life]

only got a few hours to work on it today. but got the crossmember finished up. couldnt resist, had to throw the bumper frame plates on. winch should sit about a half inch from the front of the crossmember

[xj4life]

its back on all four bitches

i was tired and it was to dark to get good pics but here are some teasers. tomorrow i get to put the bumper together

[tabfinder]

Nice work.....is it going to clear the doorway going OUT of the garage??

[xj4life]

yeah it fits through the door.