Billy Bee

00 Cherokee. Got it for free and out some money into it. As with most it's rusty underneath. When it is past the point of no return? I'm a fabricator by trade and can weld. I build bike frames, but ive never don't car frame work. Do I cut and patch the frame? Do I wire wheel and grind the rust that's there and reinforce?

the big question, is it worth it? I can get steel for .60 A pound so thats not an issue. The work I'm not afraid of. But since it's a unibody what are the main concerns?

BlueRidgeMark

Well, see this thread for one man's opinion. I'm currently pecking away at a project to take a section of the frame rail from my 94, and stick it in my 97. I've been told it's hopeless, but I'm going to have a go at it and see what happens.

fb97xj1

A unibody is held together with spotwelds. Thousands of them, and some are dang near invisible. If you dont have one already, buy a spot weld cutter, and maybe some extra bits. Cant remember the brand, but i got mine from Summit. After 100 or so spotwelds between the Mustang and the XJ, im still on the first bit. It lost a tooth, but its still sharp.


Post some pics of what youre dealing with. We like pics.

BlueRidgeMark

I just got one of those kits from Eastwood. It cuts spot welds out like a dream! Vastly superior to using a regular drill bit.

Billy Bee

Im just wondering if repairing the rails is easy enough and worth it. - Should I keep the jeep and do a restoration of the floors down, or just drive a while and sell. Seems a lot of people use rail sections from donor vehicle. My very rear is great. front to middle is bad. Using a jack crushes it.

May just find a better body down the road, fix it up, then swap everything else.

ajpulley

I decided to repair the sections of rail that were severely rotted on mine. Here is my results replacing a section of rail. For the remainder of what is rotted, I will form it on a sheetmetal brake with 14AWG, and weld up as necessary.

This is my opinion, and worth my garage-to-myself time.