Inspired but have questions (Belly up)

[badwithcomputer]

I'm not a fabricator, but I am one hell of a day dreamer.

Anyway I've been wanting to do a belly up since Oct 11 of last year (PM's to Creepy confirmed) I had a 4" lift at the time so the juice wasn't exactly worth the squeeze.

Now that I am at stock height I have plenty of drive shaft angle to spare but I have some questions.

I ordered a 1.25 body lift in preparation for this endeavour. Since I want to do a completely flat belly I am concerned that this will not net me enough extra room in the transmission tunnel. Thoughts? I know AEV/NTH Degree advertises a NO Body lift belly up but it's not all completely flat.

My method to achieve this is as follows.

Referencing CherokeeChief's build:
nsjc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fab&action=display&thread=42065&page=6
Scroll to bottom

-building a crossmember to support the drivetrain
-welding tabs to insides of frame rails to mount crossmember to frame
-eliminating the current rubber transmission mount by welding a plate to the new crossmember and attach the crossmember to the transmission with its existing bolts now using the bushings as dampeners.
-using a 4x4 sheet of alumimum as the cover/skid and bolt to existing frame holes with counter sunk holes. ultra light, easy to remove but strength is my concern.

I do understand the frame is not actually 4x4 and it more of a \ / shape in that area.

Thoughts over all?

I'll likely make a skid template out of plywood, as I am the type of person to measure once and buy twice.

[The Garagemahal]

Look at my thread , that's as flat as your gonna get

[mostheman]

Shipping would probably kill you but heres a similar idea in steel.

www.pirate4x4.com/forum/barnes-4wd/1065109-tj-lj-cj-yj-skid-plates.html



and Savvy's in all alumunum

shop.savvyoffroad.com/product.sc?productId=56&categoryId=4

[C Monster]

I going 100% flat
I was going to start building this week but I got to do frame repairs first
I have some links saves I will post asap

what about TreverTJ is the build on here NSJC somewhere too
any way the build on there
www.jeepforum.com/forum/f37/tj-belly-up-1027911/
I'm buying stuff from TMR from my build I think

[dan]

I went completely flat, had to notch one of my body reinforcement crossmembers where the t-case runs over for the front d-shaft, and with my SYE, I had to cut out the back end of the tunnel a bit, lengthen it a bit. other than that, I had to make sure the wiring was routed out of the way so it wouldn't get pinched.

I only have 1" of body lift.

getting rid of the trans mount, and using the crossmember bushings to absorb shock will gain you some room also, although not much, maybe half of an inch at best?I know my t-case is preeeeetty close to the skid plate.

Also, you will have to do something about your torsion mount if you plan to keep it, which, in my case, sets flat to the skid plate with the bushings in it, so I'm not sure if you could take it down any more. Perhaps by cutting the bracket and repositioning it.

I don't know how ambitious you are about cutting up your body, but ifd you don't care, go for it!

[badwithcomputer]

hmmm excellent feed back everyone! We had quite the discussion about it at coffee tonight. Looks like there are 4 of us doing similar versions of the same thing. Maybe this weekend I'll pull my skid plate down and jack up the transmission to get some idea of how things are going to play out.

What type of modification will I have to do to the transfer case shifter after this?

[badwithcomputer]

my other concern is drive train twist?, nothing would drive me more insane than hearing the tcase coming down or up and hearing a clunk every time i pulled away from a stop

[The Garagemahal]

Don't bother checking anything til the body lift and motor mount lift is in
How are your engine mounts ? Trans mount ? Twist will be worse if they are bad

[badwithcomputer]

Nov 8, 2012 21:49:58 GMT -4 The Garagemahal said:

Don't bother checking anything til the body lift and motor mount lift is in
How are your engine mounts ? Trans mount ? Twist will be worse if they are bad

Engine mounts are original, trans mount new but I plan to eliminate it. With an SYE and stock height will an mml really be necessary?

[jamesc]

You need the MML to keep rear driveshaft angles in check, and also if you don't do the MML you'll have to hack up your fan shroud to keep the fan from hitting it because otherwise you have lifted the body/fan shroud without moving the relative location of the motor/fan.

James

[C Monster]

And a mml is cheap too or easy to build

[dan]

with A 1" MML, my engine is perfectly flat, no tilt toward the back.

For the t-case shifter, you will have to keep a close eye out for binding when you lift it up, and then readjust the linkage.

if you have good engine mounts, and don't put the case too high up, you won't have to worry about it clunking on the body.