Brent T

They're from Kevin's Offroad. One of my first mods. Pondering cutting them off now and replacing the rockers with 2 x 6.

XJBARTZ90

DO IT!!!

jeepn4fun

Love your XJ, you have done a top notch job. So did you ever get any instruction or diagrams when you got the Dirtbound tire carrier.

xjallseasons

Where did you get the hood louvers? Did you leave the hood support beam in or take that off as well?

jay_sco

I second this! Everything is installed so proffesional looking. Don't know how I've missed this thread all this time.
What's up with your garage? I envy how clean that is too! GarageJournal.com much?

Brent T

I was finally able to message back and forth with one of their fab guys through Facebook and he sent me some pictures. There were no real instructions though and it did take some cutting and measuring to get it all together. It's more of a "universal" kit than a simple assemble and weld type deal. I'm happy with the finished product.

Brent T

They're from OMC Offroad. More than I would have spent on my own, but I had a gift certificate I used to help pay for them. I left the hood support in place, just cut the sheetmetal out and left the bracing.

http://omcoffroad.webs.com/apps/webs...s/show/4085102

Brent T

Hey thanks. I guess I have OCD. Sometimes it's a curse.

Veeb0rg

My first car was a foxbody LTD and I currently own an '88 Thunderbird Turbocoupe in addition to my XJ.

Loving the work on this jeep, Specially love that cage.

Brent T

Yeah, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Foxes too. I had the '91 GT, a '93 Cobra and a '79 Fairmont over the years. I'll probably end up with another Fox Chassis of some sort someday.

Brent T

So, it's been a long while since I posted here. Still have the XJ and have slowly made some upgrades. Since the last update, I've gone to a BoostWerks hidden winch mount, built my own front bumper, cut out the rockers and replaced with 2x6 tube. Also went to no lift shackle relocators and built a tablet mount so I can GPS track my runs. I work slowly as time allows. Thinking of going 3 link front and 4 link rear suspension at some point. Honestly, I'll probably keep this rig until I'm too old to drive it. It gives me something to do. Here's a few pics.

How it looks now.


Bumper build.

thetastelingers

My cage will be something similar to yours. I'm 6'4" tall and need all the room I can get.
Also was going to do same color as my interior also. Nice to solidify my thoughts on how it would look.
Great minds think alike!

Also saw your post on the Facebook group. Rig is looking tough. I love that rear bumper. Thinking I will add it to the list.

Thanks for coming back in and sharing.

Brent T

Thanks! Just checked out your build thread. Very nice rig. I'm going to steal a couple of your ideas.

Brent T

Here's my latest update. I got weary of the spare tire on the rear bumper. It was nice for inside storage, but when we'd run the hard stuff, I'd always catch it on something and either unlatch it, bend something or tear it completely off. I decided to move the spare inside. I was hoping to just lay it flat on the floor. That was a no go with at 35. I thought I could move the rear seat latches forward and make it work, but it still wasn't going to fit. I considered mounting it on the floor at an angle (would look cool), but then I'd lose all my rear storage. Finally decided to mount it upright behind the rear seat. I lost some storage, but still have room for plenty of stuff and the rear seat is still functional. It's a compromise like everything else on a DD rig, but overall I'm happy. Here are some pics.

Here's just the spare sitting behind the rear seat. Later I decided to mount it as far to the driver's side as possible for more storage space and visibility when driving.


This was my start. Lots of measuring and cut some steel. I used angle for the ends so I could bolt through the floor and inner fenderwell.


Here's phase 1. After some head scratching, realized it needed additional support. A 100 lb spare getting bounced around while wheeling, not to mention if I got in a wreck, I didn't want it breaking loose and killing me.


Added some additional support.



Painted, installed and cut out the carpet to make it look nice.






I took the rig out today on some rough dirt roads and overall I'm very happy with it. I have just as much visibility now as with the spare on the bumper. It's nice to be able to open the rear hatch without swinging the spare out of the way. COG is about the same as before and now it's not hanging off the back bumper. The tire sits about an inch lower than on the old tire carrier. It's about 36" further forward than on the bumper, almost square over the rear axle. Will be interesting to see how it feels on the "tippy stuff" next time I go out crawling.

xjallseasons

Great job on your efforts of making this XJ yours and look forward to the next update.