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well, like the title says, i ripped off my rear UCA mounts on the frame of my jeep, and im looking for a few different ways to attack the problem.
1. clean up the old brackets and area, then weld them back on with additional bracing....
2. long arms..... i dont for see this happening, as i dont make much money, and im not yet ready to buy claytons... and i dont have a long time to fix this.
i have all the necessary materials to simply reweld the bracks and brace them... so doing it this way will cost me next 2 nothing.
now, also.... im trying to figure out WHY this happend, i can only think of one thing... my new motor, as i have been smashing the old girl around kinda hard on the roads....
and, here are the pics.
Since the whole is so big you might benefit from sliding some metal inside the unibody and lay a bead around the edges, grind it down to a flush surface and then plate the outside as well.
maybe patch it up and go easy on it for a while, im sure you could get money selling your old short arms to help fund your long arms. Those are the RE adjustable superflexs?
If you decide to go that route, I can try convince someone into buying 4 of them for his xj
I bet that made some cool sounds!
You could also drill some holes for some plug welds too. Also, if you are going to plate the inside and outside make the patch plates different sizes. That will keep the thicker plates from having a sheer effect on the thin unibody.
Start saving for long arms.
It sucks that it happened.... but by rewelding you are only buying time. You will need to go to a long arm set up or build a tri link.
ok, we have a plan of action.... we are going to do a home brew long arm system...
i will patch the area and build it back up...
but i am going to take my RE superflex arms and extend them out with some nice thick DOM tubing, and sleave my frame rails the the 2X3" (at least i think thats what it is) and them mount them nice and far foward.
then later in the future when i get claytons, i can cut the old stuff off.
it shouldnt cost me 2 much, just the price for the DOM. and the channel for the frame, and the brackets...
any tips and advice on this plan of action would be most appreciated, thank you.
just buy the crossmember and brackets from claytons then make the arms. Would help save time to get you back up and running
if it were me... i would just upgrade to LA's. even if you box that back in with some plate on the inside that is gunna be a weak spot. You mash the skinny pedal once on the trail that could be a giant hole
been there had that happen and it is why I went with option 2.
Dave was right, I fixed it after the first time it happen (not as bad as yours) and it cracked again in a different spot. check out the other kind of recent thread on repairing the front mount and how they did it...... read Kraqa's unibody welding post also
to make this quick and EZ, im just gona buy the rear main assembly from Rubicon Express... and extend my current CA's to the correct length.
today i cut out a cardboard template that i use use to make a renforcing plate that will extend from in front of the gas tank, alll the way down to where the LCA mount is on the frame...
im also gona use derek33's idea of puting some plate on the inside of the frame to patch the hole.
why buy the brakets?
thats less then a day's work.
No! We repeared "mine". One side was almost ripped off & the other side was starting to crack & pull out just a tad.
On the worse side we cut the piece of frame rail off the bracket then welded it back into place. Then welded 3/16th over the whole damaged area. Then welded the bracket onto it. On the other side the bracket was cut off the frame rail. The crack welded & then again plated over.
That was back in 04 I think. Never had anymore problems after until the longarm went on in May of 07 whitch you know but some guys don't.
that is a REALY good idea....i might adopt something imilar to that....
o, i have changed my mind, once again.... im not going to go with the long arm system now, im gona build up the damaged area, and put the stock bracket back on after i add some steel to it.
this will cost me basicly nothing, therby saving me some $$$.
keeping in mind, the only thing this repair has to do is fix so it is drive able, it dose need to be able to take the stresses of wheeling and rock crawling...
i am leaving from home soon, i will be back in about 4 months... in that time i will have earned enough to buy a true long system, and get my rear axle.
That bracketry setup installed on the UCA mounts (& incidently my built Super Turdy-five) held up great to everything I threw at the ZJ, including the abuse shown on the vid below, without the slightest indication of injury, damage, or weakness.
(Watch 2:40 - 3:12 & 5:22 - 5:42)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZIcprTqrcw
thats a cool idea!
i liek it.
well, we made some good progress today... here are a few pics... i gotta go out in a bit and do some clean up, ill take some pics then.
but here are just a few pictures.
Last edited by 5.9 ANDY; 01-04-2009 at 11:36 PM.
I'll try to get pics of my repair, 3rd time was a charm!!
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