bryweb

I don't do much rock crawling ' off camber, and I am running stock axles with 35's, at what point do I need to worry about plating more than the center section???? and doing the front and back.

I was pretty much sold on Detour Frame Stiffeners and Rok Slyders (Mainly great reviews and ease of installation) - about $545 shipped, Yes I pay a little more, and Yes its about $100 over my current budget, Plus for one its also not in the budget to have a good welder do all the welding (I am still learning on my Lincoln 180) and second its a pain to clean all those areas for the plug welds and stitching. Detour's I just bolt in and weld a few plug areas on each side instead.

I started to consider the H.D. Engineering plates Front, Middle, & Rear for $330 shipped, then making my own rock sliders. Theirs are 10 gauge which I question if they are thick enough ??

At most maybe one day I will go with 37's, front Dana 44 and rear 44, 60 or 14 bolt, but anything bigger would be overbuilt for my area and make my wheeling boring, and I might go rock climbing a couple time a year at a Off Road Park and that is about it, but other wise its hills, drop offs, and mud here in Florida

I started with a never wheeled 2 wheel body, so I know I want to get Frame Stiffeners in before she ever see's off road. This will be a 90% Trail Rig and 10% street getting there.

Thoughts and Opinions are welcomed. Thanks,

Rogue4x4

Talk to Max at DirtBound Offroad. Great guy, great product. They use the Ruff Stuff for the mids, but cut their own F&R's.
http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/xj-c...forcement.html
http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/rear...erokee-xj.html
http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/fron...erokee-xj.html

Ianf406

I have TNT Customs... Don't go with them. They make Awesome products but their stiffeners are solid. That required me to drill a bunch of holes that I could have had pre done with the other companies.

Really though, stick to a brand with reviews regarding fitment and buy the cheapest. There is nothing too fancy about them and they don't play any critical function.

Rogue4x4

So, do you like them or not? I think there's a typo in your post, makes it a bit confusing, sounds like you like them, but had to do a bunch of extra work. Am I wrong here?

Ianf406

Haha all their other products are awesome... The stiffeners I would pass on. Solid meaning no holes to weld in. Sorry for confusion.

emptypockets

Brian from HD is part of my off road club and a lot of guys are happily beating on his 10 gauge stiffies. The only complaint I've heard is the amount of plug welds you have to do.

I run Ruff Stuff stiffies and I'm super happy with them. The 3/16" is a bit harder to weld to the unibody just because of the difference in metal thickness.

As far as when to worry about doing front and rears, I dunno. I've been running with just the mids for a while now. I have a set of front stiffies from TMI waiting for me to find time to weld up. Eventually I'll get to the rear. Being caged helps a lot with keeping the body rigid, so

bryweb

Thanks for all the input, I am a cheap bastard, but try not to let it bite me in the butt.

I ended up going with Hooligan's Off Road new mid body frame stiffeners,

1) I liked they were 3/16" thick (but now wondering Empty comments about hard to weld to unibody that thickness)
2) They are U-Shaped and wrap around the whole frame section of the unibody
3) They say they only require stitch welding, so not a ton of plug welds to do
4) They were on sale, plus I got a 10% discount as a CherokeeForum member - $90 Only

Then I went with IRO Front Plates, because I found them on eBay for $90 plus $20 shipping, I liked them because they had areas where it L-shaped around the unibody frame.

Together Front and Mid Plates costed me $235 shipped and that was a major deciding factor to me (did I say I am cheap). I skipped the rear because I am not a heavy rock climber and I already have an after market bumper that I am adding 2" x 4" 3/16" tie in's running through the back frame rails that my Shackle Re-Locators and Gas Tank Skid will mount too and I figured that will strength the back quite a bit on its own, as well as eventually on Phase 2 (in a year +) I will be putting in a roll bar and/or exo cage.

I will say this about Brian and H.D. Engineering, out of all the vendors I have asked questions to, he has been the quickest and best in getting back to me by far, Plus I love his work, my Shackle Re-locators look awesome and I look forward to installing them this weekend. Brian and H.D. Engineering is a GREAT COMPANY to do business with.

I ended up not going with Detour because he does not accept Discover, and the money to buy the Jeep parts came from recovering a bad monthly charge on my Discover card and its refund, So I had a Credit at Discover to use up.