- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
XJ tech: Frame brace for your steering box.
- Thread starter Hickey
- Start date
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
I used 1/4" because that is what I had laying around. 3/16" would probably be sufficient.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
Hickey said:I figure I ought to post this here too, since owning an XJ is the new rage
Hmmmmm........wonder if mine would have lasted longer with brace..... Nope.... Looks cool though.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Please elaborate.mbryson said:
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
Hickey said:
I never braced ANYTHING on mine......EVERYTHING Brent braced tore apart. I just made sure my steering box bolts were tight after/before every trip and I was fine.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Interesting. I have read that if you use the CJ style crossover brace, it tends to make things worse, but not with this type of brace.mbryson said:
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
Hickey said:
My philosophy (after a few Camaros---hey, they're a unibody) was to just let the poor thing live it's life and hope the enginerds did their job. I can't complain about my XJ. The only 'brace' I had was the front bumper and it did add some structural integrity, but I'm not sure how much. I think the steering box issues come more from loose bolts than anything else.
If I had another one, I'd not brace anything again. If it started to fall apart, I'd brace EVERYTHING and just keep going (basicly plate the unibody 'rails' with 1/4" and run a cage).
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Shhh! You're getting ahead of the story.mbryson said:
mbryson said:
do you count on factory welds too? cause there are some pretty sketchy ones
the crossover braces supposedly pull the box from the uniframe when you get flexed up, unless you have a bumper or something that braces both the uniframe rails together. the concept makes sense, but i would really like to actually see it happen for entertainment purposes and to solve a conflict as well. i had a brace and i sold it when i built my beefyass bumper.
bracing the unirails with channel is pretty basic, it just gets old to do so much upside down welding :-\
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
xj_punk said:do you count on factory welds too? cause there are some pretty sketchy ones
.........
Ummmm, yes {some make my welds look professional
)..... (except the ones holding the control arm mounts on) If you keep the "body" intact, i.e. watch the sawzall convertible jobbies, I think you'll be fine.mbryson said:Ummmm, yes {some make my welds look professional
those are the ones i was talking about, i thought you'd pick that up
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Here it is installed
And here is what I welded to it
And here is what I welded to it
Brett
Meat-Hippy
- Location
- Salt Lake City Utah
It's got da stinger!
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
I prefer the term "Boner Bar"Brett said:
It wasn't supposed to look like that, I just suck at tube bending.
Rickomatic
Grey is cool!
- Location
- West Jordan
Hickey said:Here it is installed
And here is what I welded to it
Looking sweet. Must be nice to have a welder on hand.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
That looks pretty familiar......
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
XJ tech is still relevant.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
Wish the pics were still here