Ford i beams under a cj?

[Rippin]

Anyone ever thought about modifying some ford beams to fit under a CJ, from say a 4wd ranger or f150 if you wanted full size? I can't imagine it would be all that difficult since they use a similar steering setup. Would just need to modify the crossmember that they mount to to fit and fab some radius arm mounts

 

[BajaEdition]

I am sure it could be done but then you would also have to also swap out the front diff and steering to match, and that would be a major project

My question however would be why, even Ford does not use that system anymore and has gone to a more conventional IFS, the only benefit the I beam had was at high speed such as desert racing,where it ruled, and very few CJ owners are doing desert racing.

If you are willing to do such, I think it would be easier to find a Ranger with the I beam system and take the body off and put a CJ body on. The engineering to add it to a CJ frame would be cost prohibitive when compared to a simple body swap.

I also think most Jeep owners would not want to swap out the front solid axle. Remember even the 2012 Wrangler is still running a solid front axle because that is what Jeep fans want. There has been discussion to go IFS since the late 80s on the Jeep platform. However the feed back from owners is they would no longer buy the product if it went IFS.

 

[Petescj]

This is definately one of the stranger tech questions Ive seen. Totally agree with Baja here. Take it from a guy who played around with Bronco IIs for awhile before coming to the Cj side.

I broke a couple of those rinky dink little "axles" without even getting into moderate rocks. I had a James Duff lift on mine with some 32s. Lifting that little sucker was a pita as well. Grinding off all those rivets. Never again. Solid axles.