Post accident-save or scrap?
 

Hey everyone,

Got in a minor accident , other car hit me in the front drivers side wheel well area.

Long story short, cracked the axle, and messed up the door. I can replace the axle, (99 to 150 around here) but the door I'm struggling with. As you can see the door lines up kind of okay...a bit tight by the rear door, very slightly wider gap in the front by fender, but the top is totally out of whack. The latch lines up with the body so it's not sagging.

Frame doesn't appear to be twisted, as far as I can tell by looking at it, the rocker panels look intact, but windshield did crack slightly from impact so maybe some twist occured.

Hood also shifted a bit, so trying to fix that, but door is main problem. I'd probably keep it and make it off road only if I could, but not sure where to start on the door.

Pics below....if anyone has thoughts on how to fix the door it would be appreciated, otherwise if it requires a body shop and frame machine I'll probably just need to scrap it.

Thanks!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...f89931e5eb.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...717c4fdd55.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...4d08f3f7e8.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...b9d1641a78.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...b5b5623b7d.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...53a0baedcf.jpg

No reason to scrap. I don't know much about what could be done but if your thinking of keeping it just for offroading, just take the doors off

That was my first thought..but I live in the city and don't have a garage, so I don't think my landlord would appreciate a rusting out jeep sitting in the driveway without any doors...

Not holding my breath for a miracle here, but if I can learn something new or piece it back together I will.

I think you just need a JY door and quarter panel. A rattle can of matching paint will save you from hunting the same-colored door down. Can you take a pic or two of the hinges with the door open?

As long as the frame and main uni-body seem fine or very close to fine I'd try and round up parts at a salvage yard and keep driving it even as a daily driver.

Sure. Might be a bit confusing as I started loosening the door and fender, let me know if these help. Also , car looks tilted because of the broken axle and tire being bent in at the knuckle.

Fwiw, the hinge welds seem to be okay...won't know everything till door and panel comes off though
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...52edc85f32.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...7c56507884.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...12d8ba8778.jpg

Top hinge


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...c1ab13018d.jpg

Bottom hinge


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...866b5cac37.jpg

Top hinge.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...f3df1a603b.jpg

Rocker panel underneath

Hard to tell, it looks fine, axle is definitely messed...cracked and pushed to the right (away from impact) but the (stock-ish) replacement rocker panel survived and doesn't look crazy bent or anything .

Any idea or info on how I can measure or check the frame without bringing it into a shop? Spend a long time online but found little concrete info on how exactly to do it...
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...94fe9f7f57.jpg

Take the insurance money, part out this XJ, and start fresh.

No insurance money for me, its only worth 1100 or something so I didn't get collision on my car. Would have been like an extra 75 a month or something like that and I knew I'd get lowballed so I went without.

Doors are stupid expensive st the jy by me for some reason , so I'd hate to just throw money at a new one without knowing if it would solve the problem.

Anyways, its my first jeep, and I learned to work on it / fixed all the main issues (cps, tps, aic, nss, drive shaft issues, kick down cable, brakes, ac, alternator, end links etc) so def some sentimental value , but also being realistic it's not worth more than probably 3 or 400 at most to fix and use for offroad.

Has a fairly rusty 3 in Rubicon kit on it which I'm guessing I can't salvage due to the impact, but otherwise I can always pull parts for project 2.0, if the consensus goes that way.

I'm sure it's not scientific but I'd just go to the local salvage yard or get some willing buddies with the same year/model Jeep and take a good quality tape measure and start measuring as many key points and distances as I could. Might have to heat up and bend or bang out a few things but should be able to get it close enough to make it functional.

Here's pics of my '94 after it got wrecked over a year ago. Fixed it up and still driving it daily. In the middle photo you can see how badly my tire was bent in since the one on the other side was pointing straight ahead at this point.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...7f7575c0eb.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...55d0f68e15.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...bd25746709.jpg

OP where are you located? If near Connecticut i have a door and what not.

I'm actually living just outside of Boston, but grew up in CT and have a friend out in Sturbridge right over the line.

Maybe we can work something out?

Since Ct is not much of a stretch for you and I know you mentioned the landlord problem but this might be good for you if you can work it out:

http://newhaven.craigslist.org/cto/5703987680.html

Ralph, that'd be the dream. We all want a Jeep Junkyard out back, right?

This brings me back to the original point though, before I go buying a door, can anyone point out if the door itself is the problem here? I'll take it off completely this weekend and take better pictures of the hinges, and if anyone can point out other things to take note of I'll take pics of those too, but I don't want an extra door kicking around if that's not going to solve the problem.


The door itself doesn't look like it's horribly twisted or anything. Slightly bashed in at the bottom where impact occurred (I think the tire took the brunt of impact) - in other words, as far as I can tell it doesn't look like the door folded or did anything that would cause it to bend out up top like that.

The A frame pillar lines up pretty decently as you can see in the pic with the hood, so I don't think that's the cause, it's gotta be a hinge issue - probably the bottom one but I just don't know where to start adjusting.


PS: If anyone in the CT/MA/NH area has a door I could try out / snag on the cheap to check, that'd be much appreciated! - I don't think I can return one to a JY, but maybe I'm wrong - the ones around here seem to be pretty strict and pricey, there's not many 'u pull' places I'm aware of, mostly just parts that've already been pulled and they scrap the cars ASAP.