rear UCA mounts ripped of frame, what to do now? W/pics.

[nierace]

Looks much better...still LA time

[5.9 ANDY]

Looks much better...still LA time

ill be getting the TNT long arm system when i get the $$$

[Fish1200]

looks good. i put a peice of tube from one mount across to the other welded in place. that braces them well from twisting off.

[dp96zj]

^


he's back!

[black_zj]

looks good. i put a peice of tube from one mount across to the other welded in place. that braces them well from twisting off.

how is that supposed to strengthen the mounts themselves?

[Spr-T-23]

ok, i see what hes saying, but still think that it wont help

[gonecheenin]

Update: for those that care - these exact plates are STILL in use and going strong with zero issues. These are now installed into their third vehicle and I am working on building a second set for my wife's "new" rust free California ZJ (if you lived in PA you'd understand my excitement at the whole rust free thing! :LOL)

These worked fantastic & even after I junked the red ZJ these brackets were used to stiffen the repair of the ripped off UCA brackets on my girl's 3" RE lifted DD 94 ZJ

Originally Posted by gonecheenin
Next step on the fabrication list is reinforcing the notoriously weak (In a lifted short arm application) ZJ unibody upper control arm mounts.
As you can see in the pic they are totally unsupported on the outer top of the bracket which is EXACTLY where the stress is transfered once the vehicle is lifted (the control arms drop down to an angle where they quit pulling back & start pulling down)
I plan on doing a plate & ear design that will bolt through the floor to a larger plate tied into the structural areas under the rear seat.




Got the 3/16" upper control arm brackets braces built, drilled, & mocked onto the jeep to use for a template to drill the holes up through the rear floor (Yes I know my welds suck)








I spoke with a friend of mine who used to build roll cages in unibody race cars & he said that a 6"x6" 1/8" plate sandwiching the floor top & bottom meets NHRA standards for mouting the roll cage & saving a life at 100+ MPH.

Soooooo, I figure that a 6"x3" 3/16th plate welded into a T to a pc of 1.5"x1.5" 1/4" angle that will be threaded under that seat bracket & bolted down through the floor on the inner side to the lower brace plates with 4) grade 8 bolts & locknuts (a single G8 bolt & heavy washer will go in the hole on the upper side of that seat bracket with a small plate) and at the other end the angle iron will be tied into the outside lower seat bracket bolt which will brace the whole assembly across the frame rail (I'm figuring with all the leverage advantage from length, that single bolt should be plenty strong).
I'm thinking this setup should provide all the added strength I'll ever need to structurally reinforce the upper control arm brackets on this and any future grand cherokee's short arms 8)


Here's where those holes came up through the rear floor (one hole is hiddin' by the seat bracket) you can also see the lower bolt of the seat back on the far lower right that I'm gonna be utilizing to tie in the upper plate "leg"



Got the vehicle side upper control arm brace bracketry finished, painted, and in place for boltup

[Yjsaabman717]

Lol! Go look at some of the exhaust pics in my thread! Overall I'm still pretty happy with the amount of rust on my PA Jeep vs what I see in the junkyard.

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[DJJordache]

lol talk about an old bump.... I remember this back in the day......... I was ripping rear UCA brackets off too but it was my "reason" to go with Claytons =)

[Sudz]

Overall I'm still pretty happy with the amount of rust on my PA Jeep

I shake my head everytime I look at my ZJ, so many mods, so much money, so much time, fuck rust

[Yjsaabman717]

I shake my head everytime I look at my ZJ, so many mods, so much money, so much time, fuck rust

Lol! Yeah, I'm already in too far. I keep thinking I'd be better off starting with a cleaner one, but then I'm getting an unknown quantity. I know what I've put into this one and what's good. Getting another one would be a crap shoot.

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[OverkillZJ]

Rust free ZJ? THat's a thing?

[gonecheenin]

If it was imported from Southern California it is!
Course it's only 2wd right now - but nothing's perfect!

[OverkillZJ]

If it was imported from Southern California it is!
Course it's only 2wd right now - but nothing's perfect!

2WD haha I knew there had to be catch!

[Kraqa]

all my ZJ's were pretty much rust free. the latested one had a small spot on the passenger floor boards but i think it was from a previous owner getting into an accident and crackgin the paint.