This couldn't have come at a better time! I just bought my first xj (2 door fuck yea) a week ago and it has a big ol rust hole in the frame but this kit is gonna help so much. Thank you bleepin jeep!
Also, if you get the ruffstuff front stiffeners, make sure you either take off your upper control arms first or leave the hole accessible to take them off once the stiffener is on. Ask me how I know...
For those of you running rough country log arms, you will need to do a few modifications in order to make this work with your kit. Only two of the cut outs line up with the crossmember holes so you will need to cut the front most one out to fit. Also, for the 90 degree plates that would normally bolt onto the frame rails you will need to get longer bolts for the bottom and either self tappers or, like I did, drill and tap holes into the stiffener for the bolts on the top. Overall, not difficult and my long arms are on there good!!
It would be ideal but how are you going to clamp that? There's no way you're getting a clamp on top on the inside of the jeep all the way around to the bottom to clamp it up tight to the bottom of the jeep. And there's no holes to put it through either. So he didn't clamp it because it's obviously impossible.
I would think that it is. If there's any rust issues on the frame,I'd address those before covering them up with the frame stiffener. Then I'd paint the rusted spots with a POR-15 type paint. I'd spray weld through primer on the inside of the stiffener before welding it in place. Then I'd paint the exterior of the stiffener with epoxy primer after I had it welded in place. Sounds like alot of extra steps,but once the stiffener is welded into place,there's no way to fix a possible future rust problem without removing the welded in frame stiffener. Once the frame stiffener is installed,it would be difficult to see the condition of the factory frame in the future. Even if these are installed,the condition and strength of the factory frame is still pretty dang important.😆 Basically I'd do my best to make sure that the factory frame didn't turn into swiss cheese or disintegrate into rust powder behind the welded in frame stiffener.
Awesome video, my xj has a frame crack in drivers side rear where they ran the filler neck too gas tank, they cut a hole in the frame to run it through…I was told by a body shop that welding on the metal chrysler used for the frame only makes it weaker... I was going to weld a piece of channel in there to strengthen it but if its just going too make it weaker i wasn't going too bother. Not sure if its true or not but this seems like an awesome kit. An i wish chrysler would've made the frames more heavy duty :(
You have to cut out sections if you use long arm kits like Full Traction's, that have the mounts that fit over the stock width rails...this may also apply to any that don't bolt to the bottom but through the rails as a crossmember too (such as JCR's transmission/transfer case skid).
BleepinJeep Do you have the video of you separating the frame from for unibody I'm trying to do the same thing but I cannot find a video to help me out
5:48 Take caution. I noticed the body lifting up when you applied pressure to the brace with the jack. This takes load off of the jack-stands and can make vehicles easier to tip.
just so I'm clear on this, did you not show grinding to clean it up before you welded? I saw you mark with sharpie then jack it up some more in the front then tack.
Wanna put coilovers to my XJ REAR, a lot of the videos you have helped me a lot, is there anything you can advise me for this type of setup, the purpose of my XJ is for pre-running not rock-crawling.
I'm putting coil springs in the back of my xj as well from Clayton offroad. Which company did you go with for stiffeners that work with your rear 4 link?
so lets say someone wants to use there XJ to say tow stuff like a boat or camper or something, what are your thoughts on that and strengthening it to do so? And is the strait 6 good enough for that?
+FlamEffect someone once told me, "It's not about the go, it's all about the whoah". The brakes on the XJ and it's small size dont make it a good candidate for towing anything large, not to mention the motor. For towing you really need a big heavy truck with a big motor and big brakes.
+BleepinJeep If you install larger tires/rims and/or a lift kit on your vehicle with the stock brakes your asking for trouble. The first thing you should absolutely do before you go and install your lift kit on your rig and slap large mud tires on their is at least have larger rotors and calipers to install as well. The increased unsprung weight of tires/rim, and higher center of gravity, creates a tremendous increased load on the braking system. Don't forget to get longer stainless steel brakes line as well. You can sometime salvage brake system off other vehicles and use them on your rig. Just do a little homework. I have Toyota Tundra brakes on my 4runner since I put on a modest lift kit, dual batts, front bumper and winch to name a few things that tax my braking system. It makes a world of difference. It's always funny to see a truck or car with huge tires or rims and these tiny rotors behind them!! It's even more funny when they took the time to paint their calipers! It then really stands out and draws your attention to the mistake or lack of funds, or knowledge, to do the job right!
ah. just did stiffeners on my jeep. first of all. dont buy these and think it will be a good first weld project. even with experience it is a pain in the ass. after i did one rear stiffener i went to harbor freight and bought a sandblaster. and in a bout 10 mins you can have everything you need welded blasted perfectly. grinding you will be there forever and you still wont even get it all perfectly clean. if you the sandblasting is dirty and sucks but 10 mins of blasting beats an hour of grinding. cut the whole install time down by about 2/3 id say.
not sure how much the blaster set you back but wouldn't it be better to have someone else blast it rather than buy a sandblaster just to use it 1 time?????
Hey Matt do you have any experience using the frame stiffeners with the Rough Country long arm kit? The only complication I see is with the bracket that attaches to the cross member fitting over the stiffeners
bleepin Jeep I was reading about someone who wasn't happy with frame stiffeners on his xj, so he's thinking of putting an xj body on a four-runner frame, what do you think? I kind of want to try it with a dodge Dakota frame I have that's a whole lot beefier than toyota, or xj unibody rails.
Looking for an opinion. What are your thoughts on using self tappers to hold the stiffness in place before welding? I do not know how to weld, but im contemplating buying a mig and starting to practice before i touch the xj. Ive always wanted to, but ive never had the funds or need. The thought behind self tapper would be. If i was going to lay to have it done. I would do all the prep work, them use the tappers to line everything up before having someone there. Im extremely picky with alignments, so that way i could take my time get everything perfect, them let someone just focus on the welds to save on cost.
For me here’s how I approached this. I got me a harbor freight welder and first I took care of the floor pans, rockers, and body rust I patched with sheet metal, passenger seat bracket. Then I started messing with getting all the rust broken bolts out of the car with the welder. Then I took on the suspension for the WJ swap. By then I felt pretty confident laying down the wire. Steering stabilizer, driver side sway bar link, a makeshift bracket to attach the sway bar link. Then I did the frame stiffeners. I learned a lot along the way.
This couldn't have come at a better time! I just bought my first xj (2 door fuck yea) a week ago and it has a big ol rust hole in the frame but this kit is gonna help so much. Thank you bleepin jeep!
Also, if you get the ruffstuff front stiffeners, make sure you either take off your upper control arms first or leave the hole accessible to take them off once the stiffener is on. Ask me how I know...
For those of you running rough country log arms, you will need to do a few modifications in order to make this work with your kit. Only two of the cut outs line up with the crossmember holes so you will need to cut the front most one out to fit. Also, for the 90 degree plates that would normally bolt onto the frame rails you will need to get longer bolts for the bottom and either self tappers or, like I did, drill and tap holes into the stiffener for the bolts on the top. Overall, not difficult and my long arms are on there good!!
Why did you not put some clamps on the sides to pull it against the frame?
He's not that smart
It would be ideal but how are you going to clamp that? There's no way you're getting a clamp on top on the inside of the jeep all the way around to the bottom to clamp it up tight to the bottom of the jeep. And there's no holes to put it through either. So he didn't clamp it because it's obviously impossible.
Is rust between the stifiner plates and the base metal a concern?
I would think that it is. If there's any rust issues on the frame,I'd address those before covering them up with the frame stiffener. Then I'd paint the rusted spots with a POR-15 type paint. I'd spray weld through primer on the inside of the stiffener before welding it in place. Then I'd paint the exterior of the stiffener with epoxy primer after I had it welded in place. Sounds like alot of extra steps,but once the stiffener is welded into place,there's no way to fix a possible future rust problem without removing the welded in frame stiffener. Once the frame stiffener is installed,it would be difficult to see the condition of the factory frame in the future. Even if these are installed,the condition and strength of the factory frame is still pretty dang important.😆 Basically I'd do my best to make sure that the factory frame didn't turn into swiss cheese or disintegrate into rust powder behind the welded in frame stiffener.
Awesome video, my xj has a frame crack in drivers side rear where they ran the filler neck too gas tank, they cut a hole in the frame to run it through…I was told by a body shop that welding on the metal chrysler used for the frame only makes it weaker... I was going to weld a piece of channel in there to strengthen it but if its just going too make it weaker i wasn't going too bother. Not sure if its true or not but this seems like an awesome kit. An i wish chrysler would've made the frames more heavy duty :(
Okay so this may be a stupid question but would stiffening up the frame help prevent your XJ from folding in half?
Just put TnT stiffeners on mine a few months ago. Glad that's over!
for those that have already have installed, did any of you any "blow out when installing?
You have to cut out sections if you use long arm kits like Full Traction's, that have the mounts that fit over the stock width rails...this may also apply to any that don't bolt to the bottom but through the rails as a crossmember too (such as JCR's transmission/transfer case skid).
Loving the build, haven't seen a video on wheel spacers, What is your opinion on wheel spacers?
What settings were you running on your welder?
Do you have the video of you separating the frame from for unibody I'm trying to do the same thing but I cannot find a video to help me out
At first I was like, wtf does he know that he isn't tacking it to the unibody??? lolol
if I have a quarter size hole in my unibody could I use frame stiffeners to cover it up and not just patch it
Erik Sickler I have dollar size holes did this work?
Does it comes with unibody / monocoque structure ?
BleepinJeep
Do you have the video of you separating the frame from for unibody I'm trying to do the same thing but I cannot find a video to help me out
Can i do this without tearing everything off the frame? I want it to be sturdy but i dont wanna remove literally everything from under my jeep
5:48 Take caution. I noticed the body lifting up when you applied pressure to the brace with the jack. This takes load off of the jack-stands and can make vehicles easier to tip.
I have a question I have a 1989 jeep cherokee chassis and I want to put a 1993 jeep grand cherokee shell or body on the 89 jeep cherokee chassis
its a unibody, the frame and chassis are one.
Do they make them for the wj? I have a Clayton 4 link front and rear and always wanted to do something to strengthen my "frame"
is peppy matt back?
Is this kid Mr. Rodgers son?
just so I'm clear on this, did you not show grinding to clean it up before you welded? I saw you mark with sharpie then jack it up some more in the front then tack.
+toobigal He's not actually installing it if you watch the end, just showing the basic concept.
Wanna put coilovers to my XJ REAR, a lot of the videos you have helped me a lot, is there anything you can advise me for this type of setup, the purpose of my XJ is for pre-running not rock-crawling.
I'll be doing ori's with the new build so you'll have to stay tuned for that.
+BleepinJeep roger that! much appretiated.
where did you buy jeep cherokee at?
A very informative video! Great job!
I'm putting coil springs in the back of my xj as well from Clayton offroad. Which company did you go with for stiffeners that work with your rear 4 link?
Man, I would love to do this one day.
I wanna put stiffened on so I can cut the top off and make a "scout" of sorts.much cheaper and you can find IH scouts that aren't outrageously priced
Can i do with 125w flox core ?
recommendations on minimum strength welder needed for this job?
check our review on the hobart handler 140... thats the minimum I would go... Miller for the win though!
Ill be ordering these up for something strong to weld my long arms too. We'll see how they hold up.
What is your opinion on buying a XJ with a crack by the power steering box?
you'll need to plate it with frame stiffiners in that area.
so lets say someone wants to use there XJ to say tow stuff like a boat or camper or something, what are your thoughts on that and strengthening it to do so? And is the strait 6 good enough for that?
+FlamEffect someone once told me, "It's not about the go, it's all about the whoah". The brakes on the XJ and it's small size dont make it a good candidate for towing anything large, not to mention the motor. For towing you really need a big heavy truck with a big motor and big brakes.
cool. thanks for the info.. guess I will keep my loser truck. ha ha
+BleepinJeep If you install larger tires/rims and/or a lift kit on your vehicle with the stock brakes your asking for trouble. The first thing you should absolutely do before you go and install your lift kit on your rig and slap large mud tires on their is at least have larger rotors and calipers to install as well. The increased unsprung weight of tires/rim, and higher center of gravity, creates a tremendous increased load on the braking system. Don't forget to get longer stainless steel brakes line as well. You can sometime salvage brake system off other vehicles and use them on your rig. Just do a little homework. I have Toyota Tundra brakes on my 4runner since I put on a modest lift kit, dual batts, front bumper and winch to name a few things that tax my braking system. It makes a world of difference. It's always funny to see a truck or car with huge tires or rims and these tiny rotors behind them!! It's even more funny when they took the time to paint their calipers! It then really stands out and draws your attention to the mistake or lack of funds, or knowledge, to do the job right!
This is gonna be so helpful😎
Yeah, it's not even close to flush against vertical frame wall??
ah. just did stiffeners on my jeep. first of all. dont buy these and think it will be a good first weld project. even with experience it is a pain in the ass. after i did one rear stiffener i went to harbor freight and bought a sandblaster. and in a bout 10 mins you can have everything you need welded blasted perfectly. grinding you will be there forever and you still wont even get it all perfectly clean. if you the sandblasting is dirty and sucks but 10 mins of blasting beats an hour of grinding. cut the whole install time down by about 2/3 id say.
Which one? I had thought about using this method but did not see anyone else mentioning it.
not sure how much the blaster set you back but wouldn't it be better to have someone else blast it rather than buy a sandblaster just to use it 1 time?????
Dudes.. undercoating comes off with a paint scraper and a torch.
James oppy 😂😂
Hey Matt do you have any experience using the frame stiffeners with the Rough Country long arm kit? The only complication I see is with the bracket that attaches to the cross member fitting over the stiffeners
No I havent used that combo, I'm sure it could work but may require some additional modifications.
Thanks Matt for making time to respond. I appreciate it, your how to videos have helped me with my 91xj 👍 a bunch. Keep up the good work!
You used this Frame stiffener as a template for your other stiffener. Would you be able to give us the measurements so we can make our own? Thanks
Do you have this project to laser cut ? Can invite to me ?
I looked away when you started welding. lol
bleepin Jeep I was reading about someone who wasn't happy with frame stiffeners on his xj, so he's thinking of putting an xj body on a four-runner frame, what do you think? I kind of want to try it with a dodge Dakota frame I have that's a whole lot beefier than toyota, or xj unibody rails.
+Henry Dillard good luck, seems a lot easier to just build your own frame stiffeners to suite your needs than try and hack two vehicles together.
+BleepinJeep could I strengthen the xj unibody enough to hold up to a v8? I eventually am going to put a 5.9 magnum into my jeep.
best part of my day
Looking for an opinion. What are your thoughts on using self tappers to hold the stiffness in place before welding?
I do not know how to weld, but im contemplating buying a mig and starting to practice before i touch the xj. Ive always wanted to, but ive never had the funds or need.
The thought behind self tapper would be. If i was going to lay to have it done. I would do all the prep work, them use the tappers to line everything up before having someone there. Im extremely picky with alignments, so that way i could take my time get everything perfect, them let someone just focus on the welds to save on cost.
For me here’s how I approached this. I got me a harbor freight welder and first I took care of the floor pans, rockers, and body rust I patched with sheet metal, passenger seat bracket.
Then I started messing with getting all the rust broken bolts out of the car with the welder.
Then I took on the suspension for the WJ swap. By then I felt pretty confident laying down the wire. Steering stabilizer, driver side sway bar link, a makeshift bracket to attach the sway bar link.
Then I did the frame stiffeners.
I learned a lot along the way.
i want
It will start rusting soon
You are my idol :)
Yo BJ send me a T shirt lol.
C
YYEEESSSSSSSSS!
comment 69 showing:
so what does these cost cash out the door for a pair of them....... before tax.......
...originaly, the flexibility of the design is for safty and durability of a piece of shit truck
Loving the build, haven't seen a video on wheel spacers, What is your opinion on wheel spacers?
Mitchell Hall too much stress on axles. Just get wider tires