last night I poked a hole in my passenger side rocker panel just under the rear door . . . with my finger

I really wish it wasn't winter right now because now I'm really nervous about rust, and I'm scared about what I may find if I take the carpet out . . . I don't want to wait until spring to do it

 

you shouldn't have to pull the carpet to find rust,when i layed under my x with a flashlight i could clearly see all the rust holes

 

you can either buy replacement rockers for about 65 bux each and cut and weld them in.
or you can just cut out your rotten rockers and replace them with 2x4 .025 wall rectangular steel to make some built in rock sliders.
this takes a bit of fab work and some intermediate welding, but not at all hard to do.

if it's a daily driver, i'd go with new rockers.
if it's for wheeling some mid level trails, go for the rock sliders.


floors, you could do yourself, but since it's unibody, i'd get a floor repair specialist to do the job correctly.

 

Agree about the floors. I had mine patched instead of REPAIRED. I was looking for cheap but I wish I had spec'd the job carefully instead of using the word "patch". I think some guys hear that word and it gives them full license to cut every conceivable corner and then some. I know now!

Had one rocker repaired... looks fine, but if I had a welder and a place to work on it I would have gone with the box steel approach. Hope my 2 cents helps.

 

cool I'll look into these options

also, what's the best way to get to the blower fan? I think I have a bad bearing in mine . . . makes a horrible noise when it starts up in the cold

 

rust and jeeps go together dont be alarmed by it... remember that most is replacable on these. Aftermarket is huge for all jeep even the old AMC jeeps have an aftermarket to help you keep these creations on the road.

 

Welcome to my World!



Here is how I solved the rear rust problem




Good luck with your rust. I have thought of scrapping my Cherokee so many times, then she gives me a reason to keep her. It is going to take a lot more than rust to stop this XJ and the same for yours.

 

the big thing I'm worried about right now is whether buy the tools to do it myself, or take it to a shop . . .

it's all wait and see until I figure out how bad it is

 

its not as hard as it seems, just cut and paste...or i mean cut and weld.

 

I have replaced or repaired lots of old rusted floors. All I have to say on this is if you feel like its too much just take it to someone to do it right. You will have to determine whether its worth the money or not though. One thing you can do now is to try and dry it out the best you can, find out where the water is coming from and remedy that problem.

 

My passanger rocker has a spot where the paint bubbled off....I cat put my finger through it I pushed on it hard. so i wonder if its just on the outside....maybe i should drill some drain holes in the BOTTOM??

 

There are drain holes already but I'm sure there plugged up like most do.

 

whoops posted twice - sorry

 

You asked about the blower motor... I just replaced mine yesterday.
The motor is on the firewall behind the washer fluid tank. Had to move the washer fluid tank, which required moving a fuse/relay box first. Pretty easy on mine. The new one was about $35 or so at AutoZone. My old one grinded and whined and squealed until it died. Now I have heat, in Maine! (Still only runs on High though--haven't figured that one out yet.)