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1996 Rusted out undercarage

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Old Mar 9, 2012 | 07:40 AM
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Default 1996 Rusted out undercarage

I have a 96 Cherokee sport with a rusty undercarage just about everything down there's got it i was trying to find if there is a way to restore it to close to normal and paint it so this won't be a every month thing any suggestions please help I'm new to the forum so please help me if I some how posted wrong
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Old Mar 9, 2012 | 08:05 AM
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From: Pennsylvania
Year: 1988
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First: 1 Pic says a million words.

Second: Floorpans, cut out the car-cancer and weld new sheet metal in.

Third: If it is the frame that is rusted out, you can either "Plate" it, which I am not thoroughly sure about what that is, or you can say screw it and assume the car is dead in the water.

Fourth: Brakes- you can redo the whole set-up. I did... eck.

What is rusted? Help a lot to know that. If everything in your undercarriage is nothing but rust, I would pitch it...
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Old Mar 10, 2012 | 10:09 AM
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Thank god the frame is in mint condition and I'm not to worried about the breaks going to upgrade to a 8.8 soon and it's mostly the floor pans and above the drive shaft just trying to get a second opinion before paying to replace all the floor pans not the greatest at welding it's not in bad enough condition to Ditch just want to handle the problem before it gets out of hand will upload a picture soon
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Old Mar 10, 2012 | 11:01 AM
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Cherokee has no frame, it's unibody construction. Easiest way to see how much rust there really is; rubber mallet.

Get under it and start beating the crap of everything, if you can't beat through it, that's OK, if not, well......
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Old Mar 10, 2012 | 11:12 AM
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I know I Kind of assume that everyone knows that the jeeps are unibody, but the thing that looks like a frame underneath is what I was talking about. lol.

*Guess on here you can't take anything for granted... we still have almost, what, a weekly question about body lifts... lol.

My 80 Camaro was unibody, but the frame rail was rusted straight through, so I parted out the car for the good parts. Ruined my day, though... now looking for a Merc Cougar Eliminator.
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 04:47 PM
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As you can see worse in some areas than others
Attached Thumbnails 1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-1175042889.jpg   1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-1061520867.jpg   1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-159798545.jpg   1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-3267665611.jpg  
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 04:58 PM
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That's not bad at all. You can fix that. Pull your interior carpets and wiring way way up and have friend on fire watch with hose and extinguisher while welding is happening. Pic shows perhaps a more severe problem, yet was fixable. Your rails look great, I definately recommend rust paints, but not the ashphalt type undercoat sprays. You can repair much easier in the future with just paint applied.
Attached Thumbnails 1996 Rusted out undercarage-img_1754.jpg   1996 Rusted out undercarage-img_1778.jpg  
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 05:49 PM
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Originally Posted by peep
That's not bad at all. You can fix that. Pull your interior carpets and wiring way way up and have friend on fire watch with hose and extinguisher while welding is happening. Pic shows perhaps a more severe problem, yet was fixable. Your rails look great, I definately recommend rust paints, but not the ashphalt type undercoat sprays. You can repair much easier in the future with just paint applied.
Damn! Thats the worst I have seen. Props for fixing it yourself. I know I got rust issue. Buying a cheap welder today and begin practicing!
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 05:52 PM
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I did my floors. Lots of folks have to replace them. Just gotta put in the work.
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 06:52 PM
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Year: 1996
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i just noticed some cancer on my 96 cherokee. Only on passenger side though, i definitely have to show you guys some pics. Big hole near firewall, under the front seat, in the rear cargo area too...
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 07:08 PM
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Here's my new floor. I used it as a way to start teaching my 13 year old welding. Bought him a Lincoln handy mig, and let him go at it. He did every other three inches with flux core (not pretty), then I came back and did the gaps with a Tig. But we could have done it all with the mig.

1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-2142905088.jpg



1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-3270737086.jpg



1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-113071265.jpg



1996 Rusted out undercarage-image-2150812241.jpg

Yep I know, need a good cleaning and some more bed coating. I was thinking of doing lizard skin. But don't know anyone who's done it before without carpet.
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 09:47 PM
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I was just going to replace all the floor pans with the ones from quadratec don't have a welder though gotta find someone to do it for me is the hard part
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Old Mar 11, 2012 | 11:50 PM
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I am all for fixing things as it is a great learning experience.
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Old Mar 12, 2012 | 01:00 PM
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I live in Michigan just trying to get the funds up to order all new floor pans
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Old Apr 2, 2012 | 07:54 AM
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I was talking to my friend about my rusted out floor pans and he told me that you had to replace the whole body because of the unibody construction and cutting out the old floor pans to replace them would make the already weak frame even weaker and lots of work so does anyone know about this I have a few wholes in my floor pans but have no welder and very little welding skills this is a definite problem and just wanted to know If this was true and what's the most cost effective solution to this problem
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