Different Take On The Brute

[PFCPERRY]

I have been playing with the idea of the brute project but I want to leave jeep tub alone and not cut it just add the bed to the back of it. I have a 2000 TJ by the way. Some one else has had to have the same idea as me but has anyone tried it?

[djb_rh]

I have been playing with the idea of the brute project but I want to leave jeep tub alone and not cut it just add the bed to the back of it. I have a 2000 TJ by the way. Some one else has had to have the same idea as me but has anyone tried it?

You mean like this?

http://www.rubitrux.com/conversions.htm

--Donnie

[PFCPERRY]

No what I was thinking was you don't touch the jeep tub but add brute bed. So it would be like the JK double cab just without the second set of doors.

[djb_rh]

No what I was thinking was you don't touch the jeep tub but add brute bed. So it would be like the JK double cab just without the second set of doors.

So you mean add nearly six feet of length to a TJ? Doesn't seem very reasonable...and besides, what do you do to the wheel wells of the tub?


--Donnie

[PFCPERRY]

I would use some sheet metal and cover then box in the wheel wells from the outside of the tub then you can either cut out the wheel wells from the inside or make it into storage bins or you can move the batters to the back for better weight distribution.

[djb_rh]

Well, your problem comes with the wheelbase, then. As an owner of a TJ Brute, about the *only* complaint I can make about the thing is turning radius. It's a bit of a pain in parking lots, and enough so that I wouldn't want it any worse. Make it longer and it gets a lot worse. Since you're talking about stretching the thing around three more feet in wheelbase over what I have (guessing here, but it's got to be over two more feet), I can't imagine doing it. It's just not going to look right, either. Maybe okay on 37's, but not quite right. Plus I have to wonder about frame strength with *that* much stretch...you really would have to reinforce more than just the joints, I think.

Just not feeling this idea. It's really going to look funny, too. You gonna close out the tailgate area? And how would you leave some way to get in the back of the cab? Or would you not? A hard top wouldn't be able to open because the front of the bed would block it (the Brute bed is a few inches taller than the tub). You could certainly find an interesting way to mod a soft top so that you could get the back window open.


--Donnie

[PFCPERRY]

I too wonder about the frame but with no measurements to go off from it is a bit hard to do some of the fine working. Now for the top I was going to stay with the soft top one I prefer over the hard and I already saw the problem with a hard top. Now the tailgate I am a little stumped on right now but I could think with some time I could fix that. For parking I have a Jeep J20 try parking that in small parking lots that is five to ten minutes of fun right there so driving it would be no problem for me. The big problem I have is I like my TJ the sitting of three plus one for the driver and some not a lot of storage but some but I also want a small bed to load a dirt bike or my street bike.

[djb_rh]

I have one word for you: Trailer.


--Donnie

[PFCPERRY]

That is the easy way out

[jscherb]

Since I've got all the parts readily available in my drawing program, I decided to see how ridiculous this would look. Wheelbase works out to about 152" (Brute is 118"). Also remember that the Wrangler is a narrow vehicle, so in 3d, this will look extremely long and narrow. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.



For this drawing, I filled the rear wheel wells, but didn't fix the fact that the bottom of the factory tub slopes up behind the wheel wells.

[djb_rh]

Thanks for that pic, Jeff. I figured you could do that easily, but wasn't sure if you were paying attention.

A standard TJ is 93.4". So you're talking about a five foot frame stretch, basically.

I dare say not only would a trailer be easier to maneuver, you're so long this thing isn't going to go ANYWHERE off road as soon as there's any kind of up and down. That's going to be one long, vulnerable, driveshaft, too. And again, no turning radius, which while you might be "used to" that in parking lots from some other vehicle, hurts you on the trail even worse...


--Donnie

[jscherb]

Thanks for that pic, Jeff. I figured you could do that easily, but wasn't sure if you were paying attention.

A standard TJ is 93.4". So you're talking about a five foot frame stretch, basically.

I dare say not only would a trailer be easier to maneuver, you're so long this thing isn't going to go ANYWHERE off road as soon as there's any kind of up and down. That's going to be one long, vulnerable, driveshaft, too. And again, no turning radius, which while you might be "used to" that in parking lots from some other vehicle, hurts you on the trail even worse...


--Donnie

Not to mention the near-impossibility of building a frame that long and narrow that doesn't bend and oscillate like crazy when hitting bumps in the road.

[john49770]

like this

[djb_rh]

That's still a little shorter than what he's proposing, but yeah...


--Donnie

[jscherb]

like this

Well if that's what he wants to build, there is a bed kit for it: