joelukex4 wrote:
That is quite different. Is the bed bolted on with isolators or welded to the back frame rails? Is the front bucket part of a welded unibody or bolted to frame rails?
Talking with the Toledo line employees I was told of a few 3 door XJ's that were built. If you were a high roller in the plant and had enough pull you could get one built. You would never see them on the street but I guess a few existed back in the 80's.
Straight up bolted...no isolators. Fairly easy to take off, hardest part is the little things like electrical and brake lines that connect to the bed instead of the frame.
The cab is all unibody, the frame rails under the cab take a little different path back to the rear so visually its a little different, but the trans cross member is still the same, the floor pans are pretty much the same, but the MJ has an extra ridge on top of the floor pan that makes things a little different.
So imagine a 2 door, short door unibody cab, but the frame rails just become a rear frame with the X member, and are fully boxed. It's a bit odd, but actually very practical, and the design doesn't suffer from any weakness from it. We might see truck going back this direction in the future as weight savings for fuel economy become more important.
And, the bed can still be removed to install a utility bed or camper module, there were some Comanche motor homes back in the day!
I was once looking a buying a 2 door XJ that had been t-boned for a repair, I realized it was a donor vehicle away from being repaired into a 3 door, that would have been wild, and wholly unsellable.
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