Hi guys! Ok so I bought a used Jeep Cherokee after having wanted one for a while. It's a 97 and it has <100k miles on it. I knew that the floor had been patched when I bought it, and the drivers seat was wobbling a bit. Today I took the seats out and ended up taking the entire carpet out to examine the floor. I was quite shocked with what I saw. I knew there was rust but I didn't expect ti to be this bad. Obviously it will need some attention. My dad thinks we should weld some new flat bar to make new seat attachment points and then fiberglass the entire floor to add some rigidity and prevent water from coming in through the bottom. What do you guys think is the best way to deal with this? Is this abnormally bad for a Jeep of this age? Is it even repairable at all?

Pics:

Driver side:


Driver side close up (front):


Driver side close up (rear):


Passenger side:


Passenger side close up (front):


Passenger side close up (rear):


Thanks for the advice!
-Adam

 

It's definatly a common thing for a Jeep that age to have rusty floorboards. Out of the three that I have had I've replaced sheet metal in all of them. Some people might say otherwise, but I don't think that yours looks that bad. As for the seat mounts, I wasnt able to find them on the web, maybe you'll have better luck. I just used some angle iron. Click on the link to check out some of the pics on my build thread.



https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/ol-red-82589/

 

Some people make their own floor pans others buy replacements.
Here are two sources: (Rock Auto lists them under the 'Classic' XJ model).
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...469928-1955275

http://www.quadratec.com/products/pr...+pan&submit=Go

 

Screw that!! That's half a Goodyear sign welded in! That thing will outlast the rest of the Jeep!

 

Would rivets be alright to hold the new floor in instead of welding? And what gauge/thickness of steel sheet should I use? Or should I go with an aluminum sheet so it can't rust? The problem with my floor as compared to the others I've seen is that my rust goes up the driveshaft tunnel which doesn't leave a very good place to attach the new floor...

 

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/r...-pics-1122602/

Pop rivets would be ok but you'll need alot of them. 18 gage steel would be strong though not super easy to bend. Aluminum sheet may be more pricey and you'll need to insulate from interacting (galvanic action) with the steel. But if you paint and seam seal (automotive seam sealer) before riveting that should not be a problem. You could talk to a local auto body shop and ask if they know a source for a full floor pan. Good luck, you've got yourself a project there.

 

I used 20 guage for the floor, and tied it in to the trans tunnel with 22 gauge, because it was easier to get the right contour with thinner metal.

 

I welded mine, but it should be a similar procedure if you are riveting it.

 

lol that looks nasty but yeah pretty much all it is is a cut and patch sort of thing i prefer welding tho

 

Hell, mine was worst than that...I had no floor left (in the front at least) The rear was pretty bad too. I ended up going the expensive way and bought a brand new floor pan (front to back minus the trunk)

 

Mine was worse than that also. I could put my feet through both fronts and could see half of my muffler in the rear. A couple friends and I just cut out all 4 pans and part of the drivers tunnel. Used sheet steel, seam sealer, and screwed everything down. It worked out pretty well. We just finished it last week and went wheeling for the weekend and it held up good.

 

When you bought the floor pans, did that replace to seat mounts also?

 

This is the best and correct way to repair rusted out floor pans. Nice job.

 

where are you located? i have a shell that has darn near perfect floors in it that you can have if you come cut them out of the jeep.. the shell is in pella iowa so if your close, feel free to come chop some jeep up....

 

If by mounts, you mean the studs, than no it didn't come with it. I got my guy to replace the ones that were the worst.

I figured since I'm keeping it for awhile, (plus it has low mileage) I was better off doing it this way. It cost an arm and a leg, but I'm happy it's done and don't need to worry about it anymore.