Jeep XJ Overland Build Ep04: Tyre Carrier, Bumper Supports & Rear Stiffeners

Description

On our trip we will definitely be carrying a full size spare tyre. How we carry it is still undecided though. I have a rear swing arm tyre carrier that we could use, but it is fairly heavy which is the down side. In this video I finish off the rear bumper and test fit the carrier.

In the next Episode we fit the RuffStuff frame stiffeners and repair the sills/rockers turning them into sliders.

Thanks for watching.

Big thanks to the guys at Ruff Stuff Specialties for providing us with some of their frame stiffeners, review and installment videos coming very soon -

Center Stiffeners -https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/XJRAIL.html

Front Stiffeners - https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/R2093.html

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Video Transcription

hi there guys it's mike from MCU bushcraft here and welcome to another episode on the build series on the last episode we made some time brackets that tied in the rear crossmember with the actual mounting points for the tow bar on the frame it's a bit of an overkill for my modified stock bumper that we also completed and built some side straps that wrap around the cut and fall mods you may have heard me mention though in the last video that I was going to build some straps of six mil steel that ran all the way from those five bolts on that tying kit we made along the bottom of the frame to the sway bar mounting point I decided to give that go in between these two episodes I got some metal cut drill some holes in it in the right places managed to bend it very gradually over a period of time then I ended up bolting it in using a jack to make it flush I put in some box action and extended the bump stops which is something I've always needed to do those extensions really helped and they've stiffened up the frame tremendously but in this episode we're actually going to get this tire carrier installed I showed you the tire carrier in the last episode some of the changes I made to it just to make it stronger it's ready to go on it'll tie in really nicely to all the kit we've made on the back end it'll act as a rear cross member and probably stiffen things up even more but before we get it on I'll just give you a rundown of the actual tire carrier this is made in 1996 by a company in the UK they don't actually make them anymore and when I bought it I was so impressed with it I just googled as much as I could to try and find it and I could not find anything about it they can't have made too many but it comes with a swing arm holds the full-size spare you've got this part at the top that you make the tire on that can swing rain it's a really nice bit of kit was never used when I bought it obviously been sitting in a warehouse because there was a bit of rust on the inside where it hadn't been painted from condensation but nothing on the outside that showed any signs of wear this thing weighs a ton so I'm gonna need a jack to put it under the vehicle that's my started first job is to remove these 19 mil m12 and these aren't holding the plate on as I said the plate is actually stitch welded to the frame but these obviously secure the time you get to the frame that we made that goes in the back and these bolts will be used to fix the tire carrier on as well [Music]

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so sadly this is not going to go on and it's because of the bumper because of the time plates we made this is pushing the bumper out further than it used to I've got two options really these holes here this tire carrier uses I make them longer than the tire carrier can sit out further or I cut into the bumper so I cut a strip out of the bumper here I fold it in and then I later on I build like a depression in the bumper I don't really want to do that to be honest because you're just creating a weak point bang in the middle of the bumper so it's gonna be the lengthening of these oval holes so it's a day or so on from when we were trying to fit that tire carrier I've taken it to the fabricators and they're lengthening the holes for me so it can sit out about half an inch further than it used to and given a bolts hold it in it still should be pretty strong but while waiting for the tire carrier to be sorted out we're gonna make something else you obviously remember in the last episode we finished the bumper for those end sections and we made the tying kit and the very last bolt on the tying kit I wanted to run it back to those rock slider or tree slider parts that wrap around on the rear bumper giving it a much stronger overall structure not allowing it to be folded back in which it would be with enough pressure so we're going to make those today and it shouldn't be a particularly difficult job and whilst I've been waiting for the tire carrier to be sorted out we've also had a delivery from the guys at rough stuff this guy is very kind

they sent me a frame stiffening kit for the XJ this is an entire stiffening kit that goes over the entire frame we've got the front there we've got a middle section and obviously I've done the back so I don't need to worry too much about that and that will toughen up the Cherokee quite a bit few of you might be questioning this decision because of eat over landing all of these things but I'll explain myself in future videos we need to get cracking first thing we're gonna do take this l-shaped piece of metal here which will form the side bracket that will hug the side and the underneath of the frame I'm just gonna get it in position obviously we'll line it up with this piece here which is fairly simple and we just need to mark where the hole needs to be drilled so it's pretty comfortable like that we need to just drill there basically [Music]

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we get this bolt in place and we can measure up the rest 28 centimeters so pretty much bang on 11 inches [Music]

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so I've cleaned that error up in there so you measured this I I want it to be a tight fit I want it to be held in place really so what we're going to do is just leave that in that up and it's only off by a fraction really but I want this to be pushed I've just bitten in play so I think we're gonna go with that I'm just gonna check it all make sure I'm happy with it that's looking really good actually

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I've just sprayed it with some dinner troll just to get into all the nooks and crannies on the metal and now I'm just gonna wax it now I guess most people would probably paint these sorts of things but because of the location it's just gonna get chipped up like this so I'm fairly reluctant to paint it in fact the whole underneath of here and in the nooks and crannies I'll probably wax as well just because it's this stuff here and it's just been there for years and I redid the arches as I said in the overview video but all the metal underneath is still great and it just doesn't chip big stones can hit it and it's all good so the nice thing about it as well as you can see a lot gaps with it and use it almost like a a putty so the under coats all set and it is the following day again a bit of a theme with these videos but you can't rush jobs like that this sort of stuff has to dry out and you have to come back for it and this way you can put on another layer and it'd be even thicker and that's the final layer now and it's ready to go and I've done the other side they're both symmetrical they've really turned out very well and that rear end is now done that rear end is done on that vehicle I've also made a mud deflector that ties in to the wheel well that I've made and that makes that back-end very easy to maintain now instead of mud flying up into all the nooks and crannies it just hits the plastic deflector all the majority does anyway some will always get passed but you can't help that and what we can do is just pressure washer that down but an interesting thing about these plastic deflectors if you're going to make them is they need to be free of the panel they're mounted to so the wheel well itself when you look at it isn't completely flat against the metal well underneath it's actually about half an inch away from it and this way if any rain and moisture builds up or you go through any deep water or any grip gets in there it doesn't sort of sandwich between the plastic and the metal and the vibration of the vehicle over time doesn't act like almost like a sand sanding machine basically over time and wear it away it means it's free of that panel

just mounted to the plastic arch and the mud and water can be free and that undercoat underneath and that metal you put him is all there and protected and the same goes for the deflector on the back I've actually used three rubber spacers that separate the plastic panel from the slider on the bumper just means the pressure washer can go through and zip it all out from in between and it means that air can get through as well and actually dry it all off so these are important little things when we do a full strip down on the other side of the vehicle I will do a separate video about all this because I know some of you are actually interested but in the meantime I'm gonna leave the tire carrier it's come back now and the holes have been extended and it almost likely meant on but I've undertaken a huge project in the time that I carry has been worked on I actually fitted the rough stuff frame stiffener to the bottom of the vehicle put in some legs and tied it into some two by six box action and basically where I'd cut the sill I so the old sill is here will rocker as you call it in the States

this is it all rusty and horrible it needed repairing the vehicle almost failed it's m80 last year because that sill was so rotten so I chopped that all out and put in brand-new metal welded it all in stitch welded and I decided to put in this rough stuff stiffener on one side as well and get it all tied in and that is solid now it's all seam sealed I've used p38 as well all the welds are cleaned everything's done properly and I misunder coated and it's looking really really good but one thing we will do with that is put an aluminium skid plate on it and tie that into the rear wheel well and the front one so again mud cannot get into the nooks and cranny's makes it very easy to clean underneath but all that's coming in the next two videos after this one we'll do those two videos and I think we'll come back to the tire carrier so I hope you've enjoyed this video and I appreciate you watching and I'll see you very soon in another one take care guys thanks again you