Jackson_Rosenthal

My story begins 1 year ago. I needed to a new car. I had a Saab 2.0T. It was a nice car until it started to do what Saab's do best.... break down. Every,single,day. At that point I knew I needed a new car. I did some research and found the Cherokee. The saint of all Jeeps. The Jeep that would save me from the Saab. So I found one in pretty decent shape.








Everything was going good. I got a new ca.. I mean Jeep and everything was awesome. I was already thinking about how I was going to build it. 3in lift 31 in tires, roof rack, etc. etc. Then after about 2-3 months of owning it I got into a car accident






At this point I was pretty devastated. I had little to no mechanical experience. I have never worked on a car before, let alone even change the oil. So this was a difficult time. After looking the Jeep over I found that the frame was still straight. So I gave it a go. After all my dream car is a 1967 Camaro RS so I better learn how to fix cars so I can build that one. But anyways, with only a few sockets, a breaker bar, screwdriver, and a hammer I got to work.

I faced alot of frustration from some stubborn leaf spring bolts. Thank goodness I knew someone who could weld a nut on it to help me remove it.



Everything was going smoothly. Got her back inline with the driveshaft, bolted up 2 new shocks and leaf springs, along with shackles, and backed her up.



Once I get her running I knew that I would have to hold onto this Jeep.


I finally got a new tire and wheel and everything was going smooth. Well sorta.



The gosh darn fuel pump went bad D: So with rusty straps, bolts, and hose clamps I managed to get the gas tank down and replace the fuel pump. I ended up coating the bottom of the trunk with some paint to prevent any rust in the meantime.


So now here I am about 2 weeks ago I got a new door and I also painted my wheels lol. (I know I gotta fix my exhaust, I was gonna get a new Cat-back for the Jeep)

Just today I pulled out my carpet to find quite the mess.




I have some old Computer cases so I'm gonna patch it with those. Hopefully my welding skills have improved over the last few months





So this is my Jeep's story so far. I have so much more to do and learn and I would like to share it with you. Thank you


Update 6/22

Floor pan is finally patched just gotta grind down the welds. (Yes, I know the welds are not very good, I'm using a $90 Harbor Freight 90amp Flux Core Welder, but it holds and I was able to jump on them and it didn't break so yeah )

TX RamRod

Welcome to CF! Good looking Jeep, glad to see you didn't give up on it.

Jackson_Rosenthal

Thank you! And yes I am happy I did not give up on it. Probably one of the best decisions I ever made

Jackson_Rosenthal

I finally found the time (and help) to fix my rear quarter panel. The pictures posted here are the progress up to today, 7/31/2017. Finish work and paint still needs to be done but this is a huge milestone for me. I have 0 experience with body work and this proves that anyone can do whatever they put their minds to.


First set of pictures are the before and damage.








First we began to pull the dented quarter away from the wheel well by taking a piece of wood from the back side and hitting it straight. Also we removed some material from the dog leg section and over the inner wheel well:





Next we worked back, giving ourselves some more room to shape the inner wheel well back to a "normal" shape. Also we trimmed the rest of the lower quarter off.





Then we tackled the inside lower quarter panel. My piece was so mangled and rusted I had to find a donor vehicle from a U-Pull it which almost crushed me when I cut the piece out.



The hardest part of this whole process had to have been the dogleg. This took the impact and got messed up pretty badly.



After some fabrication and more cutting we got the rest of the quarter off.



The moment of truth....



We got the quarter on, fitted, and welded with no issues. We still have to clean up and seam seal but for my first time I say not to shabby



We ended the night with this:





Which is an improvement over this:



And a far better improvement over this:

Pinkyman

Dang man that looks great!! Nice work!

Jackson_Rosenthal

Thank you! I have big plans for this Jeep.

bad_idea

If you haven't yet, don't grind down the welds on the floor pan. Grinding that flat will thin the sheet metal out. You won't see it, so why take away strength needlessly?

As far as the weld on the rear quarter panel, grind with the weld, not across it. Make sense? From front to back of the vehicle, not up and down. Again, in an attempt to avoid thinning the sheet metal out. Knock down a majority of the weld with a flapper disc, then finish up with a Roloc sanding disc on a die grinder.

Been there, done that. Don't care to do it again. Awesome work so far. Keep it up.

BTW, what the hell did you hit?

Jackson_Rosenthal

I just plan on doing seam sealer over the welds on the floor pans and I catch your drift with the grinding on the quarter panel. I got hit by another car going about 40mph. Basically I got T-boned xD. With the money I had at the time I figured just getting a new set of leaf springs and shocks would be cheaper than to look for a new car and so far it has paid off. The amount of things I have learned from this project is unreal. From body work to basic mechanic work to even some electrical work.