Bought this 96 about 8 months ago for $500. 192,000 or so miles on it. was our daily driver for a while. recently bought an 01 XJ which has given me time to get it ready for state inspection in Nov.
so far i've replaced all 4 ball joints, 2 outer tie rod ends, the drivers side wheel bearing (while disassembling the hub assembly, I had the pleasure of having one of the bolts break off at the head!! Lots of fun and improper grammar!!!) and u-joint, all 4 shocks, rear half of the exhaust, plugs, wires, cap n rotor, even the pickup coil when nothing else cleared the misfire code.
i had known earlier that the floors were rusty so i ordered a set of floor pans from Rock Auto. thats where the fun started!!!

 

this was the wheel bearing/ bolt mess! took a few hours with a propane torch, punch, and hammer to get things back in motion.

 

once the seats and carpets were out i realized how big a mess i had gotten into! there was a combination of old galvanized stovepipe and washing machine tin where the floorboards once were!!

 

here are the floors after all the old patches were taken out. after the front was exposed i ripped out the rear carpet and it got really scary. the rust just didnt seem to end! I had started asking myself if it was really worth fixing. knowing how much i had already sunk into the mechanical stuff, i chose to press on!

 

dont you just love northern vehichles....

 

Looking at all those rust pictures gives me even more appreciation for living in the SW .

 

after an eternity of grinding, chiseling, cutting, and patching the surrounding metal and attachment points i welded in the floor pans. I started using plug welds but the Hobart 125 was running so good that i opted to make a bunch of stitch welds around the outside perimeter instead. on the drivers side i stitched about every 2 or 3" but the pass side got a full weld around the entire perimeter and plug welds every 2 to 3" for the frame/ unibody rail.b
After all the massaging and welding, i sprayed the seams with Flex-Seal. the rubberized spray stuff ya see on TV. it seemed to spray and fill ok. not sure how well it'll hold up. i'll prob use some Herculiner to cover it all at some point.

 

BTW if youre in the market for a nice wire feed welder for this type of project, ya cant go wrong with a Hobart 125 from Tractor Supply. it has been the best wire feed flux core welder I've ever used. made this job a lot easier!

 

I didnt have a replacement floor pan for the back but got a smokin deal on some 16 ga sheet metal, so i fabbed the back. took a few days but doesn't look too bad. the lower quarters are rotted too but i'm gonna take a few days to relax before tackling those.

 

Night and day difference, great job!