BBCchris
Observer
I've seen one of those around. Any idea of the company who built the top?
XJ Unibody - strong enough to "camperize"
- Thread starter CLynn85
- Start date
I've seen one of those around. Any idea of the company who built the top?
alosix
Expedition Leader
I'll agree with the sentiment of most here regarding strengthening the uni-rails and cage.
We recently put together an air bagged and linked (front and rear) XJ @ ~6" of lift.
The first thing I did was weld up the front and rear long arm mounts to a set of TNT chassis stiffners, then stitched them into place. That took what seemed like an eternity. Most of the rails are either 2 or 3 layers of 3/16" steel. VERY easy to burn through. Also considering how many 'leaky' XJs I've run into its also VERY easy to set the thing on fire (don't ask how I know
).
After installation, even with the stock suspension, the Jeep was noticeably better handling and had considerably less flex. This speaks just to how flexible the XJ unibody structure is with the roof intact. Offroad, bigger XJs (35s and such) flexed hard will pop the rear windows out. Taking the roof out will make this worse.
I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it. I'm always up for an out of the ordinary project. Just make sure to do the rails and figure out some sort of cage for the back. The XJ will last much longer that way. If its a 4 door, and you don't need the rear doors, I'd probably weld them up as well to help out the stiffness issues.
Jason
We recently put together an air bagged and linked (front and rear) XJ @ ~6" of lift.
The first thing I did was weld up the front and rear long arm mounts to a set of TNT chassis stiffners, then stitched them into place. That took what seemed like an eternity. Most of the rails are either 2 or 3 layers of 3/16" steel. VERY easy to burn through. Also considering how many 'leaky' XJs I've run into its also VERY easy to set the thing on fire (don't ask how I know
).After installation, even with the stock suspension, the Jeep was noticeably better handling and had considerably less flex. This speaks just to how flexible the XJ unibody structure is with the roof intact. Offroad, bigger XJs (35s and such) flexed hard will pop the rear windows out. Taking the roof out will make this worse.
I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it. I'm always up for an out of the ordinary project. Just make sure to do the rails and figure out some sort of cage for the back. The XJ will last much longer that way. If its a 4 door, and you don't need the rear doors, I'd probably weld them up as well to help out the stiffness issues.
Jason
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XXXpedition
Explorer
that thing's just awesome!!!
such a great job!
such a great job!
4Rescue
Expedition Leader
Spoken like a man who knows his XJ's everytime I say this kind of stuff about the uni-body I always get someone who's rubbed the wrong way by the comment. Glad to hear that the TNT stiffeners and stitch welding worked out well for you. Kind of wish I had done this to ALL of my XJ's ehI'll agree with the sentiment of most here regarding strengthening the uni-rails and cage.
We recently put together an air bagged and linked (front and rear) XJ @ ~6" of lift.
The first thing I did was weld up the front and rear long arm mounts to a set of TNT chassis stiffners, then stitched them into place. That took what seemed like an eternity. Most of the rails are either 2 or 3 layers of 3/16" steel. VERY easy to burn through. Also considering how many 'leaky' XJs I've run into its also VERY easy to set the thing on fire (don't ask how I know
After installation, even with the stock suspension, the Jeep was noticeably better handling and had considerably less flex. This speaks just to how flexible the XJ unibody structure is with the roof intact. Offroad, bigger XJs (35s and such) flexed hard will pop the rear windows out. Taking the roof out will make this worse.
I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it. I'm always up for an out of the ordinary project. Just make sure to do the rails and figure out some sort of cage for the back. The XJ will last much longer that way. If its a 4 door, and you don't need the rear doors, I'd probably weld them up as well to help out the stiffness issues.
Jason
