Or-Fab Crossmember
03-18-2012, 04:18 PM
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JK Super Freak
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Or-Fab Crossmember
This will be my lame excuse of a write up. I know most folks won't need to replace this part of their frame, but because I couldn't find a single thread on this thing, figured I would pass along some information
Its the or-fab cross member, dirt cheap (120 shipped from 4wd), comes with replacement hardware and powdercoated. Only issue I have with it is it doesn't have all the same slots as stock, so I have to drill out one of the holes for my rockhard 4x4 skid; I'm not sure if the poison spider or full traction cross members have this same issue, but being 100 bucks cheaper, I can live with it. some pics for comparison (or-fab vs stock)
It's certainly beefy, you can see in the pictures the walls are about twice as thick as stock. I don't know if its the end-all of strength, but since I have the rockhard skid, it doesn't matter; I just needed a replacement crossmember to get my skids to line up properly, and this fit the bill. Install is cake. I literally just used the poison spider install isntructions, since the or-fab seemed to only ship with half the instructions, but essentially it's this:
1) remove any transmission skid you may have (generally 19mm)
2)remove any other skids touching the cross member. No need to keep track of the bolts, as they all get replaced, but for anything aftermarket hold onto the provided bolts. The factory skids you're removing are the transfer case skid (2 bolts on the cross member (19mm), 2 on the frame(18mm)), and 2 bolts from the gas tank skid (19mm). If you want to, remove the full gas tank skid, but its not worth the effort
3) place a jack under the transmission, and jack up till the jack is planted on the transmission. DO NOT LIFT THE JEEP BY THE TRANSMISSION
4) remove the 3 nuts attaching the crossmember to the transmission plate. These are easy to see, they are the nuts you see in from directly underneath. You need a deep socket to get to these (16mm)
5)remove the 4 nuts and bolts attaching the cross member to the frame, 2 on each side (18mm)
6)clever combination of pry bars or BFH to remove cross member
7) place new cross member on, reverse instructions
and done. Pretty easy.
Its the or-fab cross member, dirt cheap (120 shipped from 4wd), comes with replacement hardware and powdercoated. Only issue I have with it is it doesn't have all the same slots as stock, so I have to drill out one of the holes for my rockhard 4x4 skid; I'm not sure if the poison spider or full traction cross members have this same issue, but being 100 bucks cheaper, I can live with it. some pics for comparison (or-fab vs stock)
It's certainly beefy, you can see in the pictures the walls are about twice as thick as stock. I don't know if its the end-all of strength, but since I have the rockhard skid, it doesn't matter; I just needed a replacement crossmember to get my skids to line up properly, and this fit the bill. Install is cake. I literally just used the poison spider install isntructions, since the or-fab seemed to only ship with half the instructions, but essentially it's this:
1) remove any transmission skid you may have (generally 19mm)
2)remove any other skids touching the cross member. No need to keep track of the bolts, as they all get replaced, but for anything aftermarket hold onto the provided bolts. The factory skids you're removing are the transfer case skid (2 bolts on the cross member (19mm), 2 on the frame(18mm)), and 2 bolts from the gas tank skid (19mm). If you want to, remove the full gas tank skid, but its not worth the effort
3) place a jack under the transmission, and jack up till the jack is planted on the transmission. DO NOT LIFT THE JEEP BY THE TRANSMISSION
4) remove the 3 nuts attaching the crossmember to the transmission plate. These are easy to see, they are the nuts you see in from directly underneath. You need a deep socket to get to these (16mm)
5)remove the 4 nuts and bolts attaching the cross member to the frame, 2 on each side (18mm)
6)clever combination of pry bars or BFH to remove cross member
7) place new cross member on, reverse instructions
and done. Pretty easy.
04-17-2012, 07:54 PM
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JK Newbie
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Maricopa, Arizona
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Nice write up, my stock one is taco'd pretty good and i'm waiting on 4wd.c to ship mine out......although it may have been quicker just driving up to or fab and picking it up...........either way I can't wait to get this installed!