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10 ga or 3/16" center unibody stiffner


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Went wheelin a few weeks ago, found myself down some trails I really shouldn't have went....sorry no pics, next time....Anyways, the MJ did not suffer any damage with the exception of the license plate that was hung onto my JCR rear bumpers plate mount. But that is for another post...Sooooo, many obstacles, humps, pits, and logs, I'm running 31 10s and about 4" lift, I find myself making way OK but high center and drag the TC and CM over every obstacle. Never got stuck or winched off like the LJ in front of me :banana:  The terrain was mostly sedimentary rock (shale) and didn't appear to be causing any grief to the underside of my truck. Only thing I didn't like was the "dragging" of the frame rails over the obstacle. I do have sliders going on and want to put some of these on http://www.t-mfab.com/store-3/?model_number=mjcusto protect the "rails" but hence the problem, 10 ga or 3/16"? Since I don't really see tons and long arms in the future I'm guessing the 10 ga ones should be more than adequate. opinions?

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Depending on what chart you look at, 10-gauge is either .1345" or .1406" thick. 3/16" is .1875" thick. Even compared to .1406, the 3/16" is 33 percent thicker. That's fairly significant.

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I built mine out of 1/4" angle, but I have my front suspension and crossmember mounted to them.   I would say that 10 ga would be thick enough unless you are really beating them up pretty good.

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I think 10-gauge is plenty thick enough for the intended purpose, which is to reinforce the frame. If I understood the OP correctly, the problem he wants to address is the underside of the frame rails dragging over rocks. So he wants the stiffeners to act as sliders, and for that I think thicker is better.

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Just couldn't find enough justification for 3/16th. Went with the 10 ga. I didn't want bulletproof tank like, just some additional I guess I would call it "wear surface" for the rails. As far as durability, this isn't on a rock vehicle, it's a weekend wheeler that sees some street duty. So the occasional high center over a kelly hump type obstacle would be all the grief this thing is going to see.

Plans call for more unibody strengthening pieces in the future.

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