I am in the market for an early/mid 90's Cherokee Country with relatively low miles - found one literally one mile from my house asking $2k with 125k miles - interior is doable, needs a new paint job, but my biggest concern is the rust underneath - i am by no means a mechanic, i'll change the oil and that's it, so any work that needs to be done will be via a professional...being that the rocker panels, shocks, transfer case, etc everything else almost underneath shows pretty good rust, does this seem like a decent deal? anyone know just a general ballpark to get the undercarriage repaired, replaced? i know this is a stupid general question...just thought i'd ask - or, should i simply steer clear and keep looking?

 

 

No one will be able to give you an honest answer without seeing it. Some pics might help. But no matter what if you are going to pay someone to do the work it will cost you a lot more then what the vehicle is worth depending on how bad the rust is such as if it's only surface rust or rotted through.

 

Can you do your own fab work? Significant rust and sections replacement will cost you way too much if you can't do it yourself. A couple of pics for reference would help. I've attached one, I rate this floor and frame section as about 80% rust free.

 

Your post came at a great time as I'm picking up my '95 XJ tomorrow morning after having a ton of rust repair work. I bought all the sheet metal from Rock Auto and it was surprisingly cheap. 4 floor pans at $59 ea., 2 rocker panels at $29 ea. and 1 piece of sheet steel @ $100. I paid a friend of mine $700 to weld it all in and that includes a new alternator and serpentine belt when it went out while it was at his house. The guy that did the work is a retired body guy with a fully equipped shop at his home. He had to fabricate 2 rear spring perches and patch one area on the frame. I haven't seen it yet but he said it looks brand new and rides a lot quieter. I guess that's because there's not big holes in floor pan anymore. I have to say that the reason I went through with this that when I bought my new JK, the dealer was only gonna give me $500 for my XJ. I've replaced or fixed everything on the Jeep in the last few years including new head, radiator, tires, all belts and hoses . The A/C was replaced a few years back and the body is perfect. Otherwise I won't have done it. I've owned since new in '95 and I actually like driving it as much as my new one. I think the key is you have to find someone to do welding and fabrication cheap. The parts aren't expensive but the know-how involved in putting them in is expensive. Now that it's done I plan on driving it another 20 years. It only has 135,000 miles on it which is just getting broke in for a XJ.

 

Never _buy_ rust, you can get it for free if you want it that bad!

 

Always disconnect the battery before welding.

 

And never feed an XJ after midnight...

 

Don't buy it.

Every XJ is on its death bed due to rust. Some are closer to taking a dirt nap than others. You can spend a small fortune fixing rust.

You cannot replace the undercarriage on these Heeps.

 

You can, but it definitely isn't cost effective to do so, especially if you pay someone else to do the work.

 

thanks for the info folks...first day as a member of the forum and i can already see that it will be extremely helpful

 

Because only 20% of it is left right???

 

Unless you can get it for a grand or less walk away rust repairs can get pricey when your paying to have it done.

 

I picked up a '96 a couple months ago for $1000. Talked him down from $2000 because of the rust. The floor is gone in several areas, rockers are gone, but still picked it up because the frame rails had all be undercoated long ago and are completely solid. I am not a great welder, but for putting in some floor pans and rockers, I can get by. If I had to pay someone to do this, it would easily get in to the thousands.

Rust is tricky. Get under there and start poking and prodding with a screw driver and see where there is still solid metal. If you can poke that screw driver through any part of the frame rails, I'd run as fast as I could from it. If its just the floor pans and rockers, I've seen videos of guys that just pop riveted them in.... not my first choice in repairing them, but if you've got the time and desire to fix it up, rust is not an absolute deal killer in my mind.

 

That's the biggest issue, that's all there is. There are no "frame rails", take the material you use for the floor pan and fold it into a rectangular tube, there you go. Only a matter of time until the leaf springs punch through, then it's