So if I cut a whole in the top of my jeep, dead senter so someone could stand and turn around comfortably with their head and upper body outside of the vehicle (right behind the Center Console) would it cause the unibody to fail under stress?

Caveat: There would be a "hatch" in place most of the time, but if the hatch was not in place would the jeep "collapse" due to Uni-body failure?

And to head off the questions... Yes I'm thinking f having a "Turret" on my Jeep... I have a ring mount that is 2.1 feet in Diameter that might be able to go in place where the cut out is, but I'm not sure if that will work just yet.

 

I don't have time right now to find the photos. After let's say 10 years dealing with about ~3Mi a day of washboard, my 90 at, lets say 250K, developed bad cracks outside the rear hatch hinges. (leaked) I also found hairline at the upper rear of the passenger door's. Parked uneven, the hatch could even hit a taillight lens. The 4.0/AW4 was dragging the uni-body to pieces.

I say GO FOR IT! 50mm fully automatic!

 

I'm got my stamp and paperwork for a custom built RPK this past Friday. I have a Slovakian surplus pintle mount that looks very easy to adapt to a home made mounting.. 7.62x39mm death xj... its a 1996 with 233k miles on it, I cant find any stress lines or metal fatigue when checking it out. I think I'm going to do it.. unless someone else chimes in with a HELL NO MAN!

I am also thinking about welding on/attaching about 400lb's of 12mm steel sheeting in strategic positions. The Doors are off of it so I think the weight will balance out. Also going to paint it OD Green and apply some good old fashion soviet "Death to Fascism" and what not slogans in Cyrillic... Im so excited lol

 

I feel as though this thread is going to need pictures.

 

I'm going to do the painting tomorrow. The rest will have to wait until this weekend. If I go through with the Turret, videos will follow...

 

These will help with body flex http://hdoffroadengineering.myshopif...-stiffener-set and i would think hard about adding a roll cage to stiffen it even more.

 

It's uniFRAME, not unibody.

 

I would do these at the very least to help with the structural integrity of the XJ.


Should you decide to mount a full auto weapon on the top you need to consider the CRF and what it will do to the metal also, I have several stamps myself and know damage can be done to a solid mount with a CRF of the 6-800 rpm. Can damage even very heavy weight aluminum plate with stress cracks and bending after 5-10,000 rounds of 7.62 and 500-750 rds. of .50 cal. really beat-up, as well as your billfold. Don't own the .50 cal. but a friend has one that I use but I buy the ammo for it lol.


BTW mine isn't mounted on the top but uses a rear hitch custom made mount and I have a rear plastic bucket seat facing the rear in the cargo area. Good ear protection is required anytime your shooting from inside a car, handgun or rifle.

 

Watch out Commies and Zombies !!

 

VERY good points made. I am going to wait a bit to finish the project on funds for the frame structure support that was suggested, I have a decent check coming on the 15th so hopefully by the end of this month I'll be in zombie murder mode!

The weapon would be fired from outside of the vehicle, I.E. the top hatch so I think regular hearing protection should be fine. I was a 240B gunner on an up armored M1114 and don't hear that well anymore due to firing that thing without hearing protection too often. Its just to hard to communicate during a rough spot and have a triple flange in... 11B's know that the struggle is real lol

 

You want something like this