Upon removal of radiator, I inspected the uniframe cross member where the forward bumper mounts.

She is a little crinkled up in right impact side.

when I go to weld in the replacement from a junkyard Jeep, would it be better to take the whole cross member off and weld the replacement onto the frame rails or can I cut the damaged section off and replace that section of the cross member thing?

I want it done safely, not half ***. But I do have a lot more work so I’d like to save time where I can.

will the welds hold up in a spliced frame patch?

 

This is how I was thinking I could do it. Red lines are cut and weld lines.

if this was is not recommended then I will replace the whole section

 

It looks like most of your damage is in the fender apron. Sadly, I have experience replacing the fender aprons on both sides of an XJ. The fender aprons are held in with a series of spot welds. Once you drill out the spot welds, they come out pretty easily. I did not have to touch the front cross member (miraculously) so cannot help you there. Here is my saga of replacing the fender aprons (https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/reb...-apron-226647/). First side was a pain, second side was a lot easier since I had experience .

 

thanks for the link to your thread! That should prove very useful when it comes to the apron. Sorry to see it wrecked right after you fixed it up! Most of the damage is in that area but the upper control arm mounting bracket on the axel was bent pretty bad. Aside from the body damage and breaks, it’s not as bad as I expected... but I’m sure I’ll end up finding something else after primary damage is repaired