November 6, 2022 By Nick Viggo
The next step with White Jeep is going to be much easier with some room to work. Seeing’s to how the rear differential is in bad shape we will use the stock Dana 35 that came out of the Gray Jeep when it was upgraded to the Dana 44. We will reuse use the Dana 30 HP in the front, it looks like everything is in good shape, well at least easily repairable. So both axels were removed and many of the support components were removed as well.
Let’s talk about frame stiffeners. As many of us know, the Jeep Cherokee (XJ) does not have traditional frame rails. It’s a unibody construction, so read that as the entire body and underside of the car is stamped and spot-welded sheet metal. For typical everyday use, this is great, it’s light and strong enough to do the job and saves a lot of money on the construction of the vehicle. However, we are changing the suspension and gearing, and add big tires then the vehicle will spend much of its life in the dirt. All of that adds additional stress to the chassis. Adding frame stiffeners will rigidize the whole car. Without added stiffeners, cracks in the uni-rail system will develop under extreme conditions. This particular jeep is also missing the front doors, which will further weaken the unibody assembly. The stiffeners will help correct all of those issues as well as lend support to the mounts for the new front suspension.
After stripping the uni-rails of gunk, grease, and paint I found a crack and a poorly attempted repair job. This is one of the more common issues in an XJ that has been lifted with larger tires. These are two of the three bolts that attach the steering gearbox to the uni-rail. We need to cut that piece of square steel plate away because it will interfere with the stiffener. we also need to see what they attempted to repair under there.
After stripping the uni-rails of gunk, grease, and paint I found a crack and a poorly attempted repair job. This is one of the more common issues in an XJ that has been lifted with larger tires. These are two of the three bolts that attach the steering gearbox to the uni-rail. We need to cut that piece of square steel plate away because it will interfere with the stiffener. we also need to see what they attempted to repair under there.
I cleaned it up a little and welded up the cracks. I’m not too worried about the missing portion at the bottom because the new 1/16″ plate will be welded over that and effectively behave as the frame. Additionally bracing and the aluminum spacer will also all be upgraded. The remainder of the uni-rail was cleaned up and stripped of any parts, bolts, nuts, screws wire and weird stuff previous owners left behind. then completely stripped of paint.
All I will say is please see me before you attempt to install something you are not comfortable doing or haven’t developed the skill set. I will happily help you with at least a few tips to avoid the frustration of spending your money on lights for them to work for only maybe a few hours.
Plasma cut the three sides of the mount.
Then cut out the spot welds.
Lastly, we cut the existing link mounts off of the uni rail. The holes are from plasma cutting out all of the spot welds. Again I’m not too concerned about it as it will have a plate of 3/16″ steel welded right over it and the suspension will be mounted further back.
That is all I have for this update.
Next, we will start fitting and welding the frame stiffeners.