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I had a 90 XJ a while back, locked, 8.8, 5.5", 35's (mostly rock crawling) and maybe didn't notice any problems with the frame too much but in doing a lot of research on a Cavfab long arm kit I'm thinking of purchasing I'm seeing a lot of emphasis on frame stiffeners. I read somewhere having a strong bumper, a good center piece (long arm kit) and good rear bumper is suffice for the frame? I'm planning on building this new little XJ I got up to the same specs as my old one.
Last edited by paulhead; Apr 21, 2018 at 10:24 AM.
So here is my deal. I have an 88 cherokee that I bought built with a cage. I have spent a ton of hours redoing the jeep fixing issues from the prior owner. I run freeways and offroad pretty hard. Even with HD bumpers front and rear and full cage, long arm, and some reinforcement, when I flex out the interior creaks and goans and it feels like its going to pop the windshield out. After riding in my buddies 300K miles cherokee with stiffeners offroad, his barely makes a sound going over obstacles. So, I gave up, bought another stock cherokee and have a full set of stiffeners bumper to bumper going on. I think if you are going to wheel it, and want it to live, or just appreciate a solid feel, you have to start with stiffeners.
So here is my deal. I have an 88 cherokee that I bought built with a cage. I have spent a ton of hours redoing the jeep fixing issues from the prior owner. I run freeways and offroad pretty hard. Even with HD bumpers front and rear and full cage, long arm, and some reinforcement, when I flex out the interior creaks and goans and it feels like its going to pop the windshield out. After riding in my buddies 300K miles cherokee with stiffeners offroad, his barely makes a sound going over obstacles. So, I gave up, bought another stock cherokee and have a full set of stiffeners bumper to bumper going on. I think if you are going to wheel it, and want it to live, or just appreciate a solid feel, you have to start with stiffeners.
Yeah I got some forward and mids, been reading a lot and before anything goes on the stiffeners are first, thanx. Yeah black friday earned it's name if you saw all the crap I bought for this thing
So here is my deal. I have an 88 cherokee that I bought built with a cage. I have spent a ton of hours redoing the jeep fixing issues from the prior owner. I run freeways and offroad pretty hard. Even with HD bumpers front and rear and full cage, long arm, and some reinforcement, when I flex out the interior creaks and goans and it feels like its going to pop the windshield out. After riding in my buddies 300K miles cherokee with stiffeners offroad, his barely makes a sound going over obstacles. So, I gave up, bought another stock cherokee and have a full set of stiffeners bumper to bumper going on. I think if you are going to wheel it, and want it to live, or just appreciate a solid feel, you have to start with stiffeners.
Absolutely, the cage does no good at all without being attached to something much more solid underneath.
Been dragging *** on this. Getting the little mechanical issues out of the way, power steering leak. I got all the parts for my build but I have questions. Do I start a (new) build thread? And what do I start with first? Frame stiffeners then long arm/rear leafs? I got a 231 with a SYE I'm gonna swap in there and after the lift is said and done then I'll get DS measurements. Suggestions?
Well live and learn, learned from the drivers side frame stiffeners. Worried about burning thru the thin unibody I used a 110 flux core to weld on the stiffeners and that was a mistake. It worked but I didn't like the welds and even touched it up with my 220 gas welder that I shoula used. Passenger side came out a lot prettier. I prepped everything with weld primer (this stuff ain't cheap). Then I got busy on the 8.8 grinding off the stock hardware and welding the tubes. Gonna pull the D30 tomorrow and get both axles to my gear guy.
threw the Spartan in the D30 carrier I got for the axle since it needed a higher ratio carrier and it was out and dry. Of course I greased the parts up before putting them together. Foot note: If installing one of these I guess it's a common problem the hardened cross shaft has issue going in some carriers so after I installed the locker I had to pop it back out to grind down the carrier shaft holes a little. (might be common knowledge but it was news to me)
OK...I thought it was a problem with the center pin itself or the locker.....
I had a guy once who rebuilt an axle for me grind the center pin down to get it in (high side of 1 gear tooth had to be ground down, which I told him had already been done, but he put the ring gear back on the carrier differently), and it had so much play, the locker could literally fall out.
Axles on there way to get geared to 4.88, getting chromos for front and rear, Grizzly locker in the rear (8.8). Prepping the body for front stiffeners and CavFab 3 link
Drivers side frame stiffeners on, pain in the ****. I'm not a great welder so at good angles I got a decent bead but others not so great. Then the bumper had took a hit which bent the frame, had to drill through it and added backing reinforcement to the corner. My concern with these RuffStuff stiffeners is there's not a lot of meat to hold to with an aftermarket winch bumper. In hindsight shoulda got the JCR brackets and stiffeners. Any suggestions? I had gotten the Mauler from JCR and sold the brackets thinking the ruffstuff stiffeners would work but now I'm all fubared.
My Build
