ok I had my xj up on jack stands taking some mesurements for axle and lift change on it and sent it down on the stands in the rear just in front of the rear spring it had a cruchy sound or should I say soft spot, is there easy way to fix this or should I find another xj. this cherokee is a michigan truck all of its life so it has had to deal with the salt and the body is rough.

 

I have a 98 xj and I have just discovered that the where the front of the rear leaf spring attaches to the unibody, the unibody is rusted through on the bottem. Has anyone successfully repaired this before and how?
I do not plan on any serious rock crawling. The xj is stock at this time.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

First you're going to need to get all the rust out of there however you can. Remember, rust has ZERO structural integrity, so get all that crap off so you can really assess the damage. Wire brush that junk off.

Aside from using sheet metal or pre-made floor pans (Quadratec has some) you can look into unibody frame rail stiffeners. Intended to make the XJ more rigid to take off road punishment but if you have frame rail problems they'll also help.

 

My honest opinion........."throw it in the gutter buy another" well ok after a few things. Look at the rest of the unibody and looks for other rust and weak points. Start attacking weak looking areas with a screwdriver, if it goes through that area is garbage. Look over the frame rails, floor pans, cowl areas, any structure areas. If you only have one issue with the crunchy leaf perch then fix it. If not don't stick too much money in it as you are up for a losing battle with rust and structural weakness. I personally would rather deal with crash damage then rust damage.

Pics also help with advice on repairs