Thanks. I have tomorrow off so I will be working on it all day tomorrow and hoping to finish the front end and get the radiator in. Also just had a new tranny cooler put in my F250 diesel so I'm gonna put the stock GVWR 28k rated one on the cherokee.

 

looks good

 

Hmmmm.......Interesting

 

Well I got it all back together yesterday and it works good. The steering feels much tighter. BUT...I was using Picasa for all the pictures and for some reason, all my pictures got deleted. Even the old ones I had already posted. So I'm gonna take some pics of the finished product and hopefully it helps someone.

The only problem I had was clearence issues with front of the steering box. I torched out a bit of the square tubing to make room.

 

Ok here it is finished. If anyone seriously plans on doing this, just pm me and I'll help out as much as I can.



Passenger side


Drivers side

 

I still have to ask why you cut out the center part?

Also you might want to grind some of the welds down.. I see a lot of defects in them in your pics. By no means do I make pretty welds everytime, but I see porosity and other defects. What are you making these welds with?

 

Why not? Seriously though I already had it ripped apart and I wanted to box it in.

Those welds in the front were down by a friend who is trying to learn how to weld. Not real critical points right there so I'm not worried about it too much. It was done with a Lincoln 180HD and flux core 35 wire. I use flux core on everything unless it involves safety.

 

ping pong correct me if im wrong but isn't the cross section that was boxed a critical point in the sub frame for stiffness and connecting the frame rails together in the front so that the torque of the motor doesn't twist the front of the uni-body and if im right wouldn't that be considered a safety thing as far as the integrity of the frame

 

Are you trying to say that because the front of the frame can't flex as much anymore, that it may weaken the rest of the frame because it was designed to flex in the front?

 

that was the thought at the time i posted but i did go back and realized you are doing frame stiffeners also with that being the case with frame stiffeners the uni-body should be ok and not twist from the torque i realize my post is a bit confusing sounding and i apologize for that

 

What I have always done to strengthen the front is build a front subframe tie in. This is how I do it.. I know a lot of steel, but with the bolts, and the welds.. I have had zero issues with the front ends of my rigs.



I kinda think the welds in that area are safety issues kinda... lets face it.. if you tweek your front end.. your rig might develop some questionable driving habits

 

I would trash that center section too, it's too thin and really isn't suitable for the rigors of wheeling. Using tubing and boxing it will be waaaayyy stronger. Good job looks good.