Tyre Swing Arm From Pre Update onto Update Xj

[Jeep 2.5]

Hey guys.
So I recently bought a factory swing arm for really cheap and in good condition too! But I’m stuck on one thing. I’ve seen a few photos of updated Xj’s with the swing arm but I’m unsure how the swing arm itself connects to the body because the part that mounts to the tail gate of the car won’t bolt on becuase it was designed for the pre update model. The swing arm itself mounts to the body fine just not the part that locks it in place. I was just wondering if anyone has tried this before and how they went around it.

Thanks!! Here are also some pics

[Jimmyb]

[Jimmyb]

Found this on another site for you:

The latch plate is where all the real custom work on this took place. The original plate that was used to latch the carrier to the rear hatch was completely incompatible with the new style hatch. The shapes are completely different. The best way I found to solve this was to cut the catch off the original plate and just make a new one to mount it to. I used a low speed band saw to cut the catch from the plate. I then attached it to the latch on the arm and pushed it against the rear of the Jeep. This showed where it needed to be mounted and what needed to be done to make it all fit. First thing I saw that was in the way was the rear wiper. I took the wiper off so I could get it out of the way the started grinding away material until the catch fit around the wiper blade post. Once I got that to fit I had to see if I could move the blade itself out of the way. I only had to reposition the arm up just a little so the wiper would not hit the new catch assembly when it comes to it’s resting place. A plate was then made to go behind the catch and span all the way over to where the rubber bumper hits the rear hatch. I then made two internal plates that would serve as support plates to tie into the frame of the hatch. This is where I really wish I had thought to take pictures along the way. When you take the rear hatch lining out you will see that there is very little room to work in this area. The plates I made to go inside where about 4” wide and 6” long. About 1.5” from the top they were both angled so that they line up with the internal frame of the hatch. All the holes in the hatch were then marked and drilled with a sheet metal drill, then the plates and internal plates were drilled and everything was bolted up for test fitting. It worked perfect on the first try.  I only had to adjust the rubber bumpers to get the tension of the door right to that it wouldn’t rattle around any and that was almost it.