My 96 Cherokee Build
#1
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Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
My 96 Cherokee Build
So i got the jeep with a stalling issue and after throwing a coil and crank sensor i found the ignition power feed wire corroded where the harness goes through the firewall. After that i put 4 speakers and a cd player in it. Replaced the rear driveshaft u joints and the front pads and rotors, and swapped in the 703 neon injectors. now its on to the next project on it , the floor. once i ripped the carpet out this is what i found.
So I decided to start with 1 side at a time since there would be so much material removed i didnt want the jeep falling apart or something. The passenger side looks to be the worst so i started there.
The majority was removed with my impact hammer with a chisel bit. The inside of the rockers were really bad and where the seats get bolted down was really bad also, so i started the repair there.
And after that i want to box in the unibody with flat steel before the floor goes in but i ran out of argon last now this is how it sits now.
Let me know what you guys think, good or bad or just drop any kind of suggestions you got.
So I decided to start with 1 side at a time since there would be so much material removed i didnt want the jeep falling apart or something. The passenger side looks to be the worst so i started there.
The majority was removed with my impact hammer with a chisel bit. The inside of the rockers were really bad and where the seats get bolted down was really bad also, so i started the repair there.
And after that i want to box in the unibody with flat steel before the floor goes in but i ran out of argon last now this is how it sits now.
Let me know what you guys think, good or bad or just drop any kind of suggestions you got.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
That is pretty bad. I just removed the carpet on my 96 and found a few little rust puddles here and there. Out came the paint stripper and wire wheel. Came to find out the floor only had a little surface rust. Took care of the issue with a little POR 15 on everything followed by a spray in bed liner.
With that much rust it really depends upon what you want to do. It would be a fairly extensive restoration if you wanted to do it right. Or find some plate steel and start bending and welding. At this stage the floor/ unibody is shot. If you are set on keeping it and have the funds my suggestion would be in building a fully integrated tube chassis welded onto the unibody substructure after removing all rust. Then weld back in a floor. It would take some time / engineering and funds, but it would last and perform. Other option is to find one that is in much better condition. That is only one opinion.
With that much rust it really depends upon what you want to do. It would be a fairly extensive restoration if you wanted to do it right. Or find some plate steel and start bending and welding. At this stage the floor/ unibody is shot. If you are set on keeping it and have the funds my suggestion would be in building a fully integrated tube chassis welded onto the unibody substructure after removing all rust. Then weld back in a floor. It would take some time / engineering and funds, but it would last and perform. Other option is to find one that is in much better condition. That is only one opinion.
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I plan on welding flat steel to the top of the unibody structure and then welding large sheets of flat steel for the floors. i think that should be pretty solid since the floors are what got rotted away and the unibody structure is still solid.
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So i made some progress this weekend. Got the unibody welded up nice and sold and bent the first part of the floor and got it started to be welded in.
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Year: 1999
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So i got the passengers floor in all on the top. Its far from beautiful but at least you dont have to worry about your feet hitting the ground. i Just want to weld the plate steel floor to the unibody structure.
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All the material i welded in was 1/4" since crux was saying that i needed to build a cage for it to keep its strength. i just dont want the jeep to fall to break in half.
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Year: 1996
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As an engineer I tend to over design everything. Then again I have never had a system fail on me before. Well only once, but they flew the plane straight into the ground sheering off the winds at ground level. Thankfully the bird was unmanned. Was a little funny though watching them go grab shovels recovering the plane.
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its alright i just kept in mind the stronger the better since i do plan on taking it off road and threw some harsh environments.
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Thanks guys. you think it would be necessary to try and weld the floor plans to the unibody or should it be stiff enough?
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Year: 1996
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If everything is tied in together it would be stronger. Only down side I could see is when it starts flexing the new metal would be more rigid than the OEM sheet metal and might tear or pop near the weld. If your doing frame stiffeners then it would be very rigid front to rear and would mitigate this significantly.
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Year: 1999
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Got everything welded to everything i could on the underside and then sprayed the first layer of bedliner down.