I have never been a fan of the stock Willys guards as the top looks too short compared to the length of the sides. A bit tent like.
I have moved it back 50mm-2" off centre to change the ratio of the gap between the back of the tyre and the top just to get an idea of how much I need to lengthen the top by. This would mean an overall increase in length of 100mm-4".
As you can see by the front guard, it has even more gap between the rear of the tyre compared to the top.
I used a profile gauge to see how much crown to wheel into the new top of the guard. Quite surprising as they actually look fairly flat. The crown gives it more strength and stops it looking like it belongs on a trailer!
To match the roll at the front I passed it through the wheel with the soft upper to get the start of the roll.
The rest of the roll was completed by levering it over the pipe stake you can see in the background. If the sheet was wider to give more leverage, I could have done the whole fold over it.
First time offering it up to the rest of the guard. This is without any hammer work at all. I am replacing the whole top section rather than just adding a narrow strip for the extra length. The reason is that the further away I have the two welds, the easier it is the control the distortion. Also it removes all the old cracks and previous repairs which all needed to be cut out and replaced as lots of fatigue and inconsistent shape.
Fully tig welded both ends on. Can really see how much longer it is now compared to the stock one. Can see also how that one has a twist it. Both had a lot of big dents and very twisted out of shape.
I think the proportions are much more pleasing now. This is not the final position it will be fitted at but does show what it will look like once the rear suspension is at the final height.
This is the stock mounting position for the guard. The rear suspension is sitting 50mm-2" higher though due to the lack of weight the bed has compared to the Grand Cherokee donor. I measured the compressed length of the coil before stripping the donor down. With these 190 lb constant rate springs means that over both of the coils it works out that there is 760 less pounds, 345 kg, than the wagon. Seems like a lot less but you have to remember that two rear doors and a hatch, rear seat, side windows, roof, and all the lining etc add up to a lot!
Can see the rake it has right now is a bit much. Think the front and rear guards match a bit better now though and the bed sides don't look so plain now.
