wow your jeep is awesome!. thats all that really needs to be said

 

Yep I've been sick three times in the last year. I hardly ever used to get sick... I don't get it. I guess I'm just getting old!!!

Anyway... I'm finally starting the tube fender build for all of you who've anxiously been waiting. I spent some time on the Jeep today and it felt good to become one with the XJ once again! :-) So here it goes!

Today I started doing some tweaking to the suspension of the XJ including trimming the trac bar bracket that was rubbing the front coil spring (and driving me nuts on the trail with the noise).

I trimmed the trac bar bracket with my band saw, then made a plate to weld to the end to cover/strengthen it. Once I had a plate made, I welded it in place and then ground it down and painted it. It turned out pretty decent. I also made a retainer clip for the front spring to keep it from traveling any closer to the front coil spring. I took it for a drive and it's totally quiet now in the front end. Almost like magic!













And here's the start of the tube fender build...

I eye balled the lines for the first piece of tube and about where I wanted it. I used my JD2 Model 3 bender for the first time. It works great and there's no need to convert it to air over hydraulic for now... it bends great. You have to pay attention to the degree markings because there is some spring back on the tube when you bend it. You have to compensate for that as you bend it.




Here's the fully bent tube, also trimmed the one side with a 50 degree angle where it will attach to my front bumper.



Here's both pieces bent for the driver and passesnger sides. So far so good!



Just checking my clearance here... TONS of it.



Here's how it will mount to my custom front bumper that extends out. I purposely extended the bumper out this far knowing that I'd be attaching my tube fenders to it eventually.





This is as far as I got today. I have to go buy a notcher and a 1.75" hole saw this week to finish making the bottom pieces so I can weld them to my rock rails the right way. These are going to be awesome. I can't wait.

 

nice to see some updates and glad to see you are working on it again now. are you going to sheet metal the fenders to blend them in.

 

Yep exactly. Going to use 1/8th inch plate at the top to make them flat and meet the existing jeep fenders.

 

to bad you are not in California or i would come over and bend some up with you. want to sell me a set when done

 

Mine aren't going to be bolt on... Im' building mine to be part of the Jeep and once they are on... they are on till I roll it. Then to the scrap heap it goes! LOL

 

why not use some tube adapters so you can unbolt them encase you need to pull the fenders. i think ballistic fab sells them or Polly performance

 

Hmm... Never seen them before... got a link to a set?

 

here they allow you to unbolt the tube work
http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/...mp_p_1467.html

 

Interesting... I wonder how much strength you lose by cutting the tube and inserting those lil guys.

 

i don't think it is much i know they can be used for roll bars so if that means anything then i think they are plenty strong

 

Are waggy 44's the same length as stock XJ axles? If not how much longer are they?

 

A lot.

 

i think it is a few inches per side but i am sure he can tell you when he reads this tomorrow

 

I think they are only 1.5" wider than the D30 and 8.25 that were in there before.