Door-slammer CYJ7+1 buggy

xtremexj

Active Member
UPDATES!!

Well I finally finished with the majority of the work on the XJ so I finally have had some time to get back on the buggy in the last couple of weeks.:cool:

Started working on the lower link mounts, mock up control arms and the subframe. For arms (**mock up only**) I am just using some 1.5" square tubing and some Pro Comp TJ control arm bushings. I got all of my mounts from Artec Industries but I did have to do some modifying for my application. The front frame mount was a bit of a chore as I had to flatten out the bend and angle the tabs so I could gain some clearance for the tranny pan. It sure takes a lot of time to press out the bend and get it nearly flat - probably took me an hour and a half of shop press and hammer and anvil action.:eek: Anyhow, it turned out pretty good and gave me what I was looking for.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
The subframe lower section is sleeved with some 1.375" x 0.065" wall tubing to give me a 0.185" thickness for more strength. The frame link mount crossmembers are sleeved with 1.375" x 0.120" to give me a 0.240" thickness that should resist bending. I will do some more bracing in there to make sure.

The subframe ended up being about 9.75" deep from my planned 8" but I needed it to clear the tranny pan. I should still end up with about 24" belly pan clearance at ride height so it should be fine.

I am getting ready to head out to the garage and get some more of my frame bracing back in and hopefully work on the rear cargo area and start coilover mounts next week. I'll try and get some more pics up today or tomorrow.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
OK guys, I got a pile of work done this week. :D

I got some more of the front bracing done as well as the windshield bars. That should all strengthen the front clip quite a bit. I still have to finish connecting the grill hoop to the main frame rails but I'm waiting until the coilovers are mocked up so I see how much (or little) room I have to work with around those and the upper control arms.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
Next I started working on the rear coilover hoops and trying to figure out how to do the lower part of the cargo area so I could clear my upper control arm towers and coilovers. I know it looks kind of 'busy' back there but I was really worried about strength so I tried to tie things together as much as I could.

If you look really closely in the second pic you can see how cute my little XJ is now. It's still not small with 6.5" lift and 35s but it looks so tiny compared to what it used to be. Just for reference, the wife's JK is on 3" with 33s at the moment.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
And finally a couple of reference pics to show what I mean about clearance for the link towers. I may trim the tops of them down a bit anyway, but they don't hit the rails now.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
Milestone!!

Finally have the coilovers in!! :thumbs: This is a huge milestone for me as it signifies that I'm getting close to the end of the major fab work.

I had the rears in for the most part yesterday but had some minor tweaks to make this morning. I had to make some custom axle mounts so I could push the shocks behind the axle to sit in the proper place in the hoops. Unfortunately my bender will only do 110* bends so that is why it's done the way it is. I couldn't move the front leg of the hoop any further forward because my fuel cell is going to sit ahead of it.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
The front was relatively straight forward using the tabs from TMR and the bottom brackets from Artec. I did have to modify the shyte out of the drivers side bracket to fit on the pumpkin - there really isn't much left of it if you compare the left and right brackets. :eek: I got as much angle as I could with the space I had so hopefully when things are flexed the shocks will be close the perpendicular the the axle tubes.
 

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xtremexj

Active Member
I am a little concerned with how I have the shocks in the brackets but my theory is that as the suspension moves through it's arc and the pinion rotates down, the shock should move towards the static position and not bind. I was asking Herzog and another buddy this morning about it and took a couple of pics. I think it should be OK but I'll have to get the upper arms in so I can cycle things to find out for sure. The front positioning is very close to these.
 

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Bart

Registered User
Location
Arm Utah
That might work. Curious why you didn't mount the other way, 90* difference? That would take the guessing out of it.
 

xtremexj

Active Member
That might work. Curious why you didn't mount the other way, 90* difference? That would take the guessing out of it.

It seems that every example I looked at had the tabs parallel to the tubes. Even mounted at 90* difference as you suggested the problem would be the same. The shocks are tilted in about 12* and forward about 10* so it's an issue either way. I'm going to try and have the upper control arms mocked in the back by the end of the week so hopefully I can cycle it and see what happens with it.
 
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