What direction should I go?

94xjsport94 · Jun 28, 2016

I've got a 94 XJ I've been working on since I turned 14 and the other weekend I broke the coil spring tower and cracked the unibody pretty bad near my track bar mount.

Don't judge the old dumpster welds... It cracked at the end of the brace and I had to remove a fish plate bracket and bolt so see exactly what was going on. The coil tower broke because the track bar is too short IMO and it pulls the axle at such a steep arch the coils are constantly pulling on the towers and it fatigued the metal there. Also had my air bumps mounted inside the coil springs. Full hydro set up will allow for a longer track bar which will help a lot I think along with different mounting points on a new set up.

I've been over the whole Cherokee platform for a minute now. Full bodied kinda sucks, harder to work on because of the sheet metal everywhere, bullshit unibody that's dented up, mine has dumpster welds on it from me not knowing what I was doing years ago, don't like the location of my sliders, and there are a lot of little things that bug my about mine. I've been thinking of either doing a front and back half on mine, but that still leaves the f'd up middle part of the unibody, finding a new Cherokee and building something like this:

Obviously there is very little unibody there and that's a lot of work. Why not just build a tube chassis. That's a lot of work too. Plus doing all custom Trans and engine mounts, fire wall, mounting pedals, etc. Other thing I have been thinking about was a YJ buggy still front and back halved just because it'll have a stronger frame. New unit will probably keep the drivetrain I have now as I'm not ready for a LS swap and etc. So 4.0, aw4, buying an atlas, Superduty axles, full hydro, blah blah blah. What would you do any why?

gottagofast · Jun 28, 2016

There ain't no stock unibody in that rig...
That's a tube buggy with a little sheet metal tacked on for looks.

BLGXJ · Jun 28, 2016

Fix your ****, wheel, build buggy while wheeling it. Don't waste your time with a new xj chassis or yj chassis.

kmcminn · Jun 28, 2016

That is the best looking xj ever.

94xjsport94 · Jun 28, 2016

gottagofast said:
There ain't no stock unibody in that rig...
That's a tube buggy with a little sheet metal tacked on for looks.

There is some, not much but it's there. My friend built that rig over 7 years in CO. Still has some unibody rails in the middle

What's so wrong with a YJ frame front halved?

LightBnDr · Jun 28, 2016

Now I understand why you haven't broken OEM ball joints in that 60.

I do really like yours as well as the sweet tube chassis that has XJ body panels.

I just got tired very quickly of a full body, no visibility, glass, crazy suspension angles that the original body would limit so it caused a lot of the same problems you have.

I would strongly recommend wheeling what you have, save up for a tube chassis built to your specs then pull the tampon string and use your XJ as the donor. Then most of your problems are over. To me building out the XJ into a buggy is just a huge waste of down time. Unless that's your thing. Of corse just my opinion

Lowrange2 · Jun 28, 2016

Damnit, William.

Weld that crack back up and go wheeling.

At this rate I'll have my junk done before you weld up that little boo boo.

01tj · Jun 28, 2016

LightBnDr said:
Now I understand why you haven't broken OEM ball joints in that 60.

I do really like yours as well as the sweet tube chassis that has XJ body panels.

I just got tired very quickly of a full body, no visibility, glass, crazy suspension angles that the original body would limit so it caused a lot of the same problems you have.

I would strongly recommend wheeling what you have, save up for a tube chassis built to your specs then pull the tampon string and use your XJ as the donor. Then most of your problems are over. To me building out the XJ into a buggy is just a huge waste of down time. Unless that's your thing. Of corse just my opinion

X2

kushKrawlin · Jun 28, 2016

Will. Why do I picture u down in Fla talkin to "Wilson" your BFF , which is a soccer ball? Haha
I kinda agree with the having a rig to drive while you build one. I personally don't care to have a tube Buggy. I look at them kinda like a motorcycle or a Vette. Cool to have but not drive all the dam time.. Diff stroke for diff folks I guess. But I like to have a bodied rig, seems to be more practical.. More storage, def more practical to take the fam riding... If I built a Buggy I would build a single seater. Hell I like riding by myself anyways. Prob cause all the **** i always have with me. Buy another xy or YJ frame or whatever your talkin bout and build it the way you want , then swap the parts over you want and be done. Sounds easy huh? Do I need to call Panama ciry PD to check on you??

gottagofast · Jun 28, 2016

Unibody.... Gotcha...

As for building a tube rig.... Start with the first step.... What is your budget? Next, how many hours can you put into it and then how much can you do yourself vs how much do you need to hire done?

You MAY find that you are much better off buying a finished rig... Migh save a BUNCH of money and be on the trail much faster.

Craig_c · Jun 28, 2016

Just a thought, but could you shorten the coil tower and extent the axle side? I'll post a pic of a 44 we bought from a U4 4500 Cherokee.

I'd clean those welds up, form some metal to weld in and wheel it. Then off to the side build whatever you're really wanting. Not having a rig sucks and builds take longer than you can ever imagine!!

smbroady82 · Jun 28, 2016

kmcminn said:
That is the best looking xj ever.

Agreed sir

Will, wheel it and save up.

lowbudgetjunk · Jun 28, 2016

Re:

I imagine their is some emotional attachment to this rig? If so, do what your heart tells you. Fix it and wheel it, make that cool buggy out of it, or sell it. All your choice. If it was me, I'd chop in half, forget about it and in 5 years try to figure out WTF to do with it. The smarter, lesser known, version of me says use the parts and skins on a buggy. Recreate the cool ass buggy and wheel it for another decade or two.

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kushKrawlin · Jun 28, 2016

Just go north will

nhl_bullitt · Jun 28, 2016

Here was the end result of my old Cherokee. It was pretty damn rigid at this point, still was not a great platform for powertrain placement unfortunately. I love that Cherokee buggy that Justin built. It really was just the plated frame rails in the center left though. I also love the idea of creating a buggy from scratch with the full intentions of using factory skins on the outside. Some day I'll get to it.

TBItoy · Jun 28, 2016

Lowrange2 said:
Damnit, William.

Weld that crack back up and go wheeling.

At this rate I'll have my junk done before you weld up that little boo boo.

That's what I'd do.

5BrothersFabrication · Jun 28, 2016

01tj said:
X2

X3

94xjsport94 · Jun 28, 2016

There is some emotional attachment to it for sure, my parents bought it two weeks after I was born brand new off the lot. I'm not too worried about that as much as I am having something to wheel. I'm kinda ready for something different anyway.

I can do everything myself, I just have very little interest in how long I know it will take. I don't want someone else's headache project which is all I could afford.

I guess I'm left with a YJ buggy or full tube. Fawk. I was going to start this at the end of the year because I hate working in the heat. Guess I'll be fixing this **** pile next week and then starting on a chassis or keeping an eye out for one. I'm just tired of having worn out ****.

You know Wilson, Kush??