Front Frame Work
I've been thinking for a while about moving my steering box forward and up into the frame.  To accomplish that I need to replace the round pipe under the winch that comes in a stock YJ.  This will give the room for the steering box.  I'm also going to relocate the front receiver up into the new cross member.  With the steering box relocated, I should be able to move the front axle forward about 3".

11/13/02 - Work began
I got a great start on the project today.  I removed all the bolt all equipment up front.  Then I laid out what the new cross member / bumper would look like.  I decided on a piece of 4" x 4" x 3/8" thick angle iron.  I went to the metal shop and found the perfect piece.  A little rusted, but I can work with that.  I cut the angle iron to the correct shape, installed the front receiver (which will double as the grille body mount) and I drilled the clearance holes for the winch mount.  In the past I have had my front bumper cut flush with the side of the frame, but it always bugged me a little.  I decided to leave about 4" of material off the side of the frame and put a 45 degree cut on the face of the bumper.  This will have a little more style than the previous bumper.

Next I welded a piece of 2.5"x2.5"x1/4"wall box tubing to the top of the frame to support the frame while I cut the stock round tubing out.  This worked out pretty good since the frame didn't budge while I had it dissected.  After I had the frame cleaned up as much as I was going to, and I needed the temporary brace out of the way, I welded on the new frame cross member / bumper.  After it was completely welded, I cut the temporary brace off.

The grille support body mount was next.  I cut a piece of 2.5"x2.5"x1/4"wall box tubing to size and drilled a hole in it for the body mount.  I didn't get the piece welded on today, but it's ready for tomorrow.

I started looking at what the steering box mount would look like, but I don't have anything definite yet.

11/14/02 - Steering Box Mount, Axle Move
I got the steering box mount completed today.  It's a little more "redneck" than I originally had hoped, but it should hold up fine.  I'm going to carry some scrap metal around for a while in case of a crack or something.  I figure, if I carry the metal, I won't need it.  I also got the body mount under the grille completed.  Everything is painted as well.  After the box was installed, I measured to confirm how much I could move the axle.  Then I removed the leaf packs and drilled out the top 3 leaves 3" forward.  When everything was finished I took the Jeep for a test drive.  I really like the axle more forward.  Stiffened up the front suspension a little and I didn't notice a decrease in turning radius even though there should be one.  I took a drive in some dirt near my house.  There's an extremely steep descent down to the street (about 15' long or so).  I felt really stable on the way down.

Check out the pictures below.  There's one in there that shows the new approach angle.  Looks like it's near 85 degrees.