Advantages of a unibody???

[Advent]

WHAT??? For a rock buggy, maybe - but tell me why we have rubber or polyurethane bushings between body and frame? To allow - FLEX. Over flexing may negatively effect steering, mostly this is minimal, and designed for a purpose. Some ability to flex is needed to not over-stress things, such as how suspended walkways, bridges, and sky scrapers are designed to be flexible - if rigid they would fail quicker.

Skyscrapers and bridges are also designed to last for a hundred years, and if they flex 6" over a thousand feet the net effect on any given small part is minimal. Contrast that to 6" over an 18 foot vehicle designed to last 10 years.

The reason for rubber and polyurethane bushings is not for flex at all. It's to isolate the passenger compartment from road noise.

We're not talking about buggies. We're talking about capable rigs and the difference between solid frames and unibodies. My point is you shouldn't NEED to add frame strengthening or a full roll cage for frame strength to have a capable off-road vehicle. Roll cages mostly are not to strengthen the frame, but protect occupants. The reasoning for hooking into the frame is to strengthen the cage in event of a roll, does it strengthen the frame? Sure. Is that most folk's purpose? Not those with solid frames.

Sure, frame strength isn't most folks' reason to put in a cage. But it helps. Look at how many full framed rigs have to do significant frame repairs after the frame has cracked? If they had a stiff cage it wouldn't have happened. With a unibody design the damage is visible sooner and progresses. With a full frame it's visible later, after it's nearly catastrophic.

Compare a 1/2 ton truck with solid frame and a unibodied vehicle, abused similarly, and tell me which one suffers quicker and more. In most cases the unibody will be in much worse shape quicker. So again, on a vehicle with the Jeep name....

It was probably a bad example, apples to oranges and all that. But the fact remains that if you beat a stock vehicle's frame it will wear out, whereas if you brace it first it very well might not.

Hey - quit talking about me!

I didn't really mean that as a jab at you, I've just started becoming much more risk-adverse when it comes to my safety. In my case that means I'm moving the new 'cage, seats, and harnesses up from near the bottom of the list to near the top. It's only money