My beloved 1998 Cherokee Sport XJ 5speed is suffering from some increasingly serious front end frame body rot that threatens to compromise suspension fitting attached in that area. My mechanic said it might be time to move on to another vehicle but suggested I post to a forum for possible advice about restoring this wonderful beach buggy.

Any ideas as to how I might proceed going forward? Thanks for any suggestions.

Exactly what? Picture helpful.

Can you weld? If not are you willing to spend quite a bit of money at a body shop willing to take on the project?

Post some good pictures of the areas

Its essential you provide several detailed pics of the damaged areas, even then it is very difficult to tell how bad rust is

the bottom line is all metal that is no longer structurally sound due to rust must be cut out, and new metal welded in

this can cost from hundreds to thousands, to not worth it

Three things about rust:

1. It's never lonely.
2. It never sleeps.
3. However bad it looks, it's worse.

Now, I can't preach at you that you should not try this, because I replaced the right rear frame rail in my 97 (only to total it a year later in an accident), but you really need to make sure you have a very good understanding of just how bad it is, and how much it will cost.

In my case I had a 94 that was headed to the scrap yard, and the piece I needed was in good shape, so it was a pretty straightforward matter of cutting it out of the 94 and welding it in the 97. I added some internal bracing (1"x 1/8" steel strips) to the joint areas. It came out fine, even with my poor welding skills.

All that to say, with enough time and money it can be done, but you must know what you are getting into.

Need pics.

as stated above some pics would help and ya need to know what ya have. start by checking to see how far it's rusted, use a screwdriver or something to poke at it. if a rust hole is an inch round, it could be a foot or more by the time you find good metal to weld to. Don't just plate over it, cut out the rust.

I had a 1985 f150 the frame went bad in the rear, i had a spare frame so we cut it off a foot behind the cab and welded, plated and boxed it in. it was near our house when it burnt down and melted the wires so I gave it to a friend who is still using it on his farm. so yes it can be done, but you have to know your skill level and be willing to take the time to do it right.

You don't need pics but you do need a welder.

He doesn't need the pics - we want them - in order to best answer the original question - is the severity of the rot bad enough that it's not "worth it" to fix it.

I mean, unless we're just going to cut to the chase and fully disclose to the O.P. that most folks on here will tell you to restore it no matter how bad it is.

Right, he wouldn't be asking if he wasn't all in. SO, if he can weld, great, if he wants to learn even better, if not then he pays the man if he can find him. My first go around with rot was failing inspection on my xj, and I took it to 'my' mechanic (easy, Dave!) who for about 6 bux fabricated with a plasma cutter a new U channel front to back passenger side and welded it in, then inspected it. Told me it was worth keeping and restoring. Boy he was right. After I got the Dana balljoints and welded a cracked frame side track bar mount it tracked like a railroad car down the road.

Because depending how bad it is, and where it is, even a body shop wont touch it. For ANY amount of money. If they hear the words "frame" and "rust" in the same sentence, they may tell you straight up they want nothing to do with it, without even looking at it. Sometimes it isnt worth saving. Sometimes it is. Some of us might tackle it (some have) no matter how bad it is because they know how, but many of us cant for whatever reasont. So yes, we NEED pics.

Quite honestly it isn’t a wise move to suggest someone “learn” to weld on repairing a frame that could possibly cause injury or death to someone if done incorrectly and the weld didn’t hold . Also ! If someone suggested you “restore” anything that has had a frame rail repaired or replaced isn’t giving good advice . Even a dented frame rail be it uniframe/unibody or full frame is considered salvage at that point in an insurance companies eyes. If you bring a car into an auto auction and you damaged the “frame” of any type with a car lift or by actual accident damage they make you disclose that it’s salvage or they won’t let you run it through their auction . Most people wouldn’t know this but just being honest it is something worth noting . . If you repair a frame it must be because you personally want to drive it and if you plan to sell it you should disclose it and do a signed liability disclosure so that it cannot fall back on you ....

X10 to all of the above.

And another X10 to all of the above. I think in some states any frame repair automatically makes it "salvage" and you had better disclose it.

I really hadn't thought that through when I did my frame repair, but as it is, I don't have to worry about the consequences because it's scrap now. IF I had thought that through, I might still have done it since I intended to keep driving it.

Grease and Mark are correct. However I would just add my .02.

If you have a vehicle that is rusted out to the point of major frame repair, I would suggest that its future use be limited to an off-road vehicle. Weld replacement parts and build it up as a trail rig. Chances are you won't be going fast enough to do major damage, and something else (axle, etc) would probably break before the welded section of frame.

We all have different definitions of "beyond repair" and most XJ guys would consider quite a lot to be repairable.