I figured I'd show case the install of our prototype shock towers that we've designed specifically for the rear of the XJ. Unlike most tube towers, ours will allow the floor to remain completely sealed by keeping the shock out of the interior. They are also designed to be universal for rear coilover or air shock conversions. For now however I'll be keeping leafs out back.









To start off, I've pushed the axle back 2" and the wheel tubs 3" to keep the tire centered. The 2" push was about the maxiumum I could go to keep the axle out of the gas tank. I did this first so the location of the tower could be determined.

To push the axle back, I redrilled the leaf plates for the centering pin and fabbed up some new top plates with integrated shock mounts.









Once the axle was relocated, I mocked up the location of the tower in the wheel well and drew out my cut lines. I intend on keeping the rear seat so I angled the towers back roughly 8 degrees so there wouldn't be any interference.











Mocked up with some 14" bilsteins...



More to follow...

 

Next was to burn in some HD offroad rear stiffies, and patch some rust holes in the uniframe...



Sorry I don't have finished pictures of the patch, but this was what I cut out. The entire inner rails have since been cleaned and coated with eastwoods rust converter/inner frame coating (fantastic stuff BTW).





With the stiffeners in place, I cut the rear portion of the floor out while leaving enough meat for the tub to plug weld to. I then cut the remaining wheel tubs to fit the shock towers...









The next step was to cut out the fender lip and move it back 3"...



These sections were scraped...







cleaned up and prepped for a 12ga backing plate...

 

Looks killer . Subbed and watching.

 

Looks great so far

 

I have a cherry mint 98 xj that was a 1 owner grandma grocery getter, no rust anywhere to repair. Wanna start on it? I would gladly cut on it if I had this kind of fabrication skills and ideas. Can't wait to see the outcome.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the support


Here you can see the backer plate tacked in place. I forgot to take an outside picture, but I used an air fed punch/flange tool to put some plug weld holes in the sheetmetal.



Before going any further with the body work, i trimmed the towers and welded them up...









Then threw them in along with a cross bar...











Once the towers were in place, I could measure and cut out the filler peice to patch the tubs...





(sorry for the crap cell phone pic)


One thing that you may notice looking through my build is that I try to radius the inside edge of all my cuts, as well as drill a hole at each cutoff wheel "node". It doesn't take much effort at all but this will greatly reduce the likely hood of cracks forming.

I'll post up more here shortly.

 

Great setup you have there.

 

The saga continues...

I bent up a couple outer filler peices for the fenders and began the long task of tacking it all back together...









Once fully burned in, I ground the welds flat working down from a flap disc on an angle grinder to a 120 grit sanding disc...





Now just some minor filler and paint to make it look factory. I am however throwing on a set JCR's quarter guards while I'm at it to beef up the tin can.

 

With the outside nearly complete, I went back to the interior to finish the tower to tub edge by bending up some peices of 3/16" round bar. I then tacked every couple inches on both sides tie them both together. The round bar pushes the tack away from the edge of the sheetmetal making it much easier to weld. I also chose not to fully weld the seams as it would have made the edge brittle and prone to crack.

One of the last things on the list for this round of fab work was a "bed cage" to tie in the towers to the shackle boxes. The "stubs" will give me an easy starting point for the cage halo.









I also whipped up a simple lower crossmember using some spare 1/4" plate and 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" .120 rect tube to mount some prothane progressive bumps.





So this is where I'm at now. I'm currently waiting for the weather to warm back up so I can finish the body work and seal all the edges. I'll post up more pictures and details as I go!

Stay tuned!

 

So sick. That setup is beef. Nice job man.

 

Im so confused. You do beautiful work, and clearly have the tools, know-how, and materials.

But you bought pre made quarter guards?!? Why not make them instead?

 

Why re-invent the wheel, when you're doing some killer fab work? Save the time for the good stuff, and let someone else do the easy work...I'd do the same, unless I had nothing but time, LOL

 

I could have, but it would have taken me over 10hrs at least to fabricate them. For the price, it was JCR all the way. The selling point really being that they bump form them to follow the body.

 

Killer work, is the gusset to the back necessary? The way you have those tied into the frame and wheel wells I would venture you probably could have eliminated those.

Either way it looks Sic!

 

What front bumper are you running?