1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ SE 4x4 rear hatch and roof damage

1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ SE 4x4 rear hatch and roof damage
Hello Jeepers,
This is the a crazy question I need some help with straightening out my rear hatch roof area. I was taking my 1996 Jeep Cherokee off a U-Haul trailer at my house unfortunately by myself. ONCE I got it to the ramps and it started down it went quick and it rolled back into a tree. I feel like such a fool but crap happens.
I know I need to replace the rear hatch but I don’t know how to fix the roof area. I bought this Jeep new in Oct 1996 and still enjoy it but with this damage I don’t know if it’s worth fixing. The Jeep has been sitting for about 6-7 years and I’ve been tinkering with it off and on the last 4yrs. I would really like to continue to fix it up but I don’t know a lot about body work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

Not very confident of a good fix

 

It will need some pushing and pulling, but the body can be repaired. if you aint experienced in this kind of work, consider a pro body shop. You will likely want to use a Porta Power ram, and have some rigid fixture to anchor the body for the pulling and pushing. First you get the basic shape right along the hatch area opening, get the hinge areas in the right spot, then massage the roof panel, with a bit of shrinkage work on it, and you should be good, you may end up wanting to do a doubler on the inside in the double walled area to get it nice and strong again.


If you are on a low budget, a come along on that tree and a good anchor on the pushed in area, with some on the brakes (or with a sturdy timber between tree and bumper) can get the worst of it pulled out. Take your time, it is easy to make it worse.

 

Can you weld? I bashed in the rear pillar between the hatch and the side window last time I took the jeep out. I cut that section out of a donor and welded it in to mine. A little bondo and you'd never know I did the repair. I'm good at sheet metal fitting and welding, but suck at pulling dents.

That spot looks like it will be tough to repair. If you can't weld in a patch, I would say either a body shop or buy a roller and swap your parts over.

 

Ts fixable, but to make it economic, you would have to pull it out as much as you yourself using basic methods, then cut and weld new sections excised from an old body ( I would get a pre-update cut out with rear panel and hinges.

It would be a pretty big job. A lot of careful mig welding, you would need good welding skills

 

Thanks for your replies I appreciate them, I’ll let you know what happens 👍🏻