[red_01_xj]

Originally Posted by EricsXJ

I'm very confident in the strength of the rockers and don't expect them to bend anything upward. I have thought about the pillar strength however and know that when taking a hard hit the force of impact will travel up the pillars. Thats why I added that one brace to the A-pillar, but I won't feel 100% done with this until I get a cage put in. In the meantime this will have to do. Here's an old pic of my rig and you can see some dimples or ripples in the body by the corner of the rear window and the "4x4". Those dimples are from coming down hard on rocks and are very common to see in that location. I imagine the same thing could happen to the other pillars but it might not be as noticeable. Or perhaps, that is a weak spot and the other pillars are stronger. ??

I have matching ones on my otherside

[EricsXJ]

Originally Posted by conrasm

Out of curiosity Eric (and not to open up a can of worms), did you disconnect your battery when you were doing all the welding to the frame?

No I did not. You just need to be minful of where you put your ground. Ideally you want the ground relatively close to the work and in a place where the current will not flow through bearings or electrical components. For example if you are welding on the rear axle, you obviously wouldn't want your ground to be attached to the front bumper. But when I was plating my frame rails I pretty much kept the ground in one place (on each side of the vehicle) and did all the welding as there was nothing that could be damaged between the ground and my work.

[EricsXJ]

I'm going to have some more updates coming soon, but for now I have some wheeling pics. I finally was able to get it out and do a real trail with my friend RWKXJ. I was able to give the rockers a good test. Everything worked great.







And a couple pics of RWKXJ...





It was a good test for the rockers and my bracing underneath. All I got was some rock rash, no dents or anything bending upward.

[hermantherugger]

Awesome pics, and fine work w/ the buildup!

How's wheeling doorless ?

[wokkerk]

Man your jeep is killer...what is your clearance at from the rock rails to the ground while sitting level?

[RWKXJ]

hey Eric-
Here are a few more from BillyBobs. Apparently we were'nt on Twister...great trail though.










Enjoy! By the way, Eric's new set up is pretty sweet, it all worked very well!

[Jason, aka: Jeepin.com]

Originally Posted by RWKXJ

hey Eric-
Here are a few more from BillyBobs. Apparently we were'nt on Twister...great trail though.










Enjoy! By the way, Eric's new set up is pretty sweet, it all worked very well!

click free.

[EricsXJ]

Originally Posted by hermantherugger

How's wheeling doorless ?

I like it a lot because your visibility improves considerably and its more convenient climbing in and out. One negative I found is that with the doors off the exhaust sound is loud. Its not really a problem because I like how it sounds but I found that it tends to be loudest at 1500 rpms and starts to drone. As it turns out, I cruise along at 1500 rpms quite a bit in 4-Low and that droning can be very loud. So when that happens I'll need to vary my speed.

Originally Posted by wokkerk

what is your clearance at from the rock rails to the ground while sitting level?

Between 27 - 28" depending on if I have the doors on or off and how loaded down the Jeep is.

Thanks RWKXJ for posting those pics. I should probably explain this one for everyone:



I couldn't quite make it past this rock and was very close to damaging my B-pillar. In fact I scraped my hinges to the rear doors. That would have been bad if I smashed them or dented the B-pillar because getting the doors back on would be a challenge if not near impossible. So thats one thing to watch out for if you wheel doorless. After a few attemps I ended up backing out of this and we took another route.

[justinwalden]

hey man your new exhaust sounds great in person! haha i got my magnaflow installed saturday and i love it. thanks for the help dude and keep up the great work!

[EricsXJ]

Installed some limiting straps.





I bought them from pyrotect.com custom length and they took a couple weeks to get here.

[wojtizzlator]

hey eric sorry to kinda butt in but i noticed you need limiting straps. i took my shocks off because im selling and i went to go flex to measure out for new shocks and my front doesnt really flex all that good my spring comes barely loose. what could i fix that with?

[EricsXJ]

You need to find what is binding and where and fix it. Check:

Brake line length
control arms contacting spring pad/shock bracket (usually when running short-arms)
control arm joints (depending on what you have: rubber bushings = not much flex)
track bar contacting track bar mount on the axle
track bar joints
steering

[rustywrangler]

Eric, have been following along and I gotta say, that is one fine looking rig you gots there.

[EricsXJ]

Thank you. More updates coming in the next few days. (I ain't done yet!)

[wojtizzlator]

ya im in love with your jeep. yeah i have longarms on mine with rubber joints at the axle mount. also it might be trac bar as i do have a temp fix on it. steering def. too damn thanks man you really helped me out