IntrepidXJ's Adventure Weblog

It’s finally done!

brackets and receiver welded

….and finished!

From this:

To this:

Everyone who wheels an XJ finds out just how much force the trackbar bracket and unibody rail at that point needs to stand up to, as it usually becomes a trouble area. In order to help relieve that area of extra stress, I decided to build a trackbar brace (similar to what Rubicon Express offers) for my T&T trackbar and bracket. Here’s what the bracket looks like.

I started out by fitting a piece of 1/4″ angle to the side of the existing bracket, and drilling a hole for the existing bolt to help with alignment and tie it in better. I then welded this piece to the bracket.

It fit nicely.

So that I could easily remove the bracket if necessary, I made up another plate that would bolt to the new bracket.

I then bent up the piece of 1″ x .120″ HREW to fit, and welded both bolt on ends to it.

Then all that was left was to bolt it up (except of course painting it)

These will sandwich the framerail from the bottom and I will eventually build them into a gas tank skid when I move it up through the floor

wings tacked in place

pretty good fit

the overall look so far

top welded and blended

cut out the way i wanted it. now I just need to cap that off and the little front piece too

A few more pictures from tonight. I didn’t get too much done, but I did get it close to the body and tacked to the brackets.

OK, I finally got some more work done on the rear bumper. Hopefully I should be able to finish it soon (well, it’s got to be done before I go to Moab).

tacked receiver in place, ready to weld

opened up the rear crossmember for the mounts

…and that’s where I stopped for tonight

Here’s a video I threw together quickly while I was at work from Winterfest. Enjoy

I’m making good progress now

brackets complete

measuring for the brackets

drilled holes again to make the cuts

cut

…and i didn’t even screw up……nice fit around the brackets

That’s where I stopped for the night. I want it to sit closer to the body, so I need to remove some more of the receiver because it is up against the rear crossmember. I can take off at least another 1/2-3/4″

Well, Brian (fatwreck) was in town again, and wanted to do some wheeling at The Cliffs again, so we went today. Unfortunately, it rained all last night, so the park was very wet and sloppy. The first few trails kicked my ass early on, so I had to call it a day early and rode with Zach (burnedbronco) the rest of the day. Brian got some video, so I am sure he will post that up when he gets back home to CO in a few days. Here’s a few pics.

Little deep

This sucked

Then I managed to nose dive into a tree stump…..it really messed up my C4×4 bumper. After this I called it a day. Even put a nice dent in the 3/16″ steel…

Brian getting some video while his dad drives

Dropping in

Now dropping down Intrepid Hill

Around the tree on 44

Getting a little tippy

…and finally pictures from Sunday

The morning after

we even got a little snow

ouch