Jeep Grand Cherokee Custom Build
June flew by! We spent a lot of time making all custom parts for a WJ Grand Cherokee. In the past we did a full 1-ton axle re-gear and swap with custom links, and a huge rear stretch with a comp cut of the rear quarter panels. This time the projects included rear inner unibody rail stiffeners, a DOM crossmember brace between the coil buckets, and custom designed bump stop assemblies that are adjustable and will quickly and easily accept 2” hydro Fox or Bilstein bump stops in the future. The DOM crossmember will also be tied into the cage when that day comes.
The tube-mounted bump stop assemblies are now available on our website so you can use them on your offroad vehicle! They mount perpendicularly to 1.75” OD tubing. We recommend some large gussets or bracing (we made an integrated truss) to ensure proper security of the upper bump stop brackets to the tube. The bump stop assemblies have a ton of vertical adjustment and are attached with some beefy grade 8 bolts. You can also purchase the whole kit that fits the WJ here!
The WJ had some temporary rear shock mounts welded to the rear bumper frame mounts by someone in the past, but it was time for them to go. We chopped them off and designed some custom adjustable shock mounts to replace them. This will allow multiple changes to made very easily- easy swapping of different length shocks, changing the amount of up or down travel, etc. These adjustable shock mounts are now available on our website as well.
We whipped up some front bump stops as well, but they are much more simple than the rear setup. Since there isn’t really room to fit hydro bumps— unless we put them inside the coil, but that becomes tricky as well— we went with simple factory-style rear WJ bump stops because the IRO bump stop cups weren’t being used in the back with the IRO truss kit. So we bolted them to the upper front spring retainer and installed new factory rear WJ bump stops into the cups. It is possible they will be on the soft side but we and the customer are willing to test it out since it was nearly a free setup. They could always be swapped out for a stiffer material bump stop if necessary.
The last project on this unique WJ was some work around the winch plate up front. The winch plate was welded in to the unibody years ago, and while still intact, needed some reinforcing as a safety precaution. We came up with some bolt-in brackets that are made of formed ¼” steel plate that bolt to both the unibody and winch plate with a total of 10 bolts and a sandwich plate inside the unibody rail. The brackets also each have a EMS Offroad CNC milled solid steel shackle mount welded to the main plate. To clean up the whole look of the front end, we designed a winch plate cover / radiator skid plate as one whole unit that bolts to the winch plate tie-in brackets. It’s made of 7/32” plate steel (just under ¼”) with air louver cutouts underneath and our logo up by the winch, naturally!
Our awesome customer, Adam, loves his WJ and keeps bringing it back to us; we are honored by that. Let’s figure out how to bring your dreams to reality with your vehicle next!
