Warren99 Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 I bought a set of long arms from rustys, not the long arm kit since I already had springs and everything, but just the long arms. They don't have "MJ" long arms by their selves, but the "XJ" long arms look exactly the same, and have the exact same part number as the ones included in the long arm kit for the Comanche. The problem: The frame tie in plates, that wrap around the outside of the unibody frame, come into contact with a support gusset thing that goes under the floor board. As far as I can tell, Cherokees don't have this extra support for some reason. So am I missing or not realizing something? Should I have called them and specifically asked for a special "MJ" version that had that one part made slightly different? If not, how important is that gusset, can I just cut a slot just big enough for the plate to slide in behind it and against the frame? Here is the gusset. The plate uses all 4 bolts on the bottom of the frame: the two the current crossmember is using, and the two in front of that which is used for a peugot crossmember. This shows all 4 bolts lined up vertically, obviously the plate needs to go up until it hits the floor, but this gusset or whatever u wanna call it is in the way. Like I said I think I will cut a slot in it for the frame stiffener to slide into, I wanna know if that happens to for some reason be a really important gusset, I wouldn't think it would be since the XJ's don't have them. \ Additional pic for context I'm aware I could also cut the new frame stiffener to fit around the gusset, but idk if that's a good idea, give me yall's thoughts. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everz Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Could you not just cut the plate down in the corner there to fit snug up against the gusset, personally I'd rather cut that then interfere with anything structural but that's me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 On second thought yea I was just coming here to post that. I went out and looked at it again and the amount I'd have to cut out off the plate isn't as much as I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 20 hours ago, Everz said: Could you not just cut the plate down in the corner there to fit snug up against the gusset, personally I'd rather cut that then interfere with anything structural but that's me Those braces are more essential than the little bit of plate that would need to be removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md87 Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 When I installed my long arm kit, I had to cut away about half of that support. I don’t think its doing much in terms of support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 I think I'll cut the plate, like ghetdjc said, the little bit of plate aint doing much, who knows how much the gusset is doing, it's one of the supports for the floor board lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 LCA brackets are cut off! After I had the MJ part cut off, I didn't catch that the XJ part had spot welds on it, so when I tried using an air hammer to chissel in between the LCA bracket and unibody, it just push the unibody in, so I'll have to fix those but no big deal. After seeing those, we used a spot weld drill bit to drill them out. As long as you went deep enough to sever the whole spot weld, all u had to do from there was cut welds w a disc and hammer the whole bracket off at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 3, 2022 Author Share Posted July 3, 2022 So far other than the plates not fitting around the floor support, my biggest annoyance is with the brake and fuel lines. The UCA Mount interferes directly with every single line, and there's not one mention of this anywhere in the instructions, and I wouldn't think Cherokees have straight lines there with no bracket for the inside of the cross member. I had to bend all the lines up for temporary use. These pics are with the lines sitting how they do from factory, just not in the plastic clip bc it can't with the bracket up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md87 Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Can you relocate the plastic clip to maybe gain some clearance next to the bracket? Also, just mentioning since I noticed it, but it looks like you may need to install the upper part of the control arm before putting the bracket in place since I think getting the bolt in there will be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmanche Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 My son ran into the same issue with the CavFab kit. Everyone says XJ/MJ stuff is 100% compatible but reality is there are some differences because the bracing under there is different. I believe he was able to take off the bracket holding the lines and relocate it without too much trouble. I'll ask him and try to get back to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 4, 2022 Author Share Posted July 4, 2022 2 hours ago, md87 said: Can you relocate the plastic clip to maybe gain some clearance next to the bracket? Also, just mentioning since I noticed it, but it looks like you may need to install the upper part of the control arm before putting the bracket in place since I think getting the bolt in there will be an issue. I don't see how relocating the clip would have done anything, the clip fit behind the bracket fine, obv not being used for anything back there tho. Also no I didn't have to bolt up the UCA first or anything, the pic was taken before I moved the lines. Everything is bolted up now and working fine for road use, haven't actually flexed it out yet but I'm sure it will work as intended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 4, 2022 Author Share Posted July 4, 2022 1 hour ago, oldmanche said: My son ran into the same issue with the CavFab kit. Everyone says XJ/MJ stuff is 100% compatible but reality is there are some differences because the bracing under there is different. I believe he was able to take off the bracket holding the lines and relocate it without too much trouble. I'll ask him and try to get back to you. I just popped the lines out of 2 maybe 3 different clips from that area, and bent them all up, closer to the floor. Just a temporary solution because I'm taking the truck somewhere tomorrow. Please do respond when you find out what he did, I'll probably do the same when I get the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmanche Posted July 5, 2022 Share Posted July 5, 2022 On 7/3/2022 at 6:25 PM, Warren99 said: I just popped the lines out of 2 maybe 3 different clips from that area, and bent them all up, closer to the floor. Just a temporary solution because I'm taking the truck somewhere tomorrow. Please do respond when you find out what he did, I'll probably do the same when I get the chance. He said he just removed them from the clips and carefully bent them to reroute. He is not finished with the build and has not added points to secure to replace the support lost where they were clipped in yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren99 Posted July 5, 2022 Author Share Posted July 5, 2022 Oh ok so he's pretty much the same as mine rn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.00f6632c078db322a1ff1364dda7d8c7.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now