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So this will be the home for my 99 Cherokee build. I just bought it yesterday. I was looking for another 4x4, but something fairly cheap with good cargo space that I can use to haul my drums to and from gigs, but also be a fun toy / project as well. I was torn between a Toyota 4runner or a XJ. I ended up going XJ because well, it just seems cheaper for parts and to buy. So here I am. My 99 XJ. It has 169k on it and is no where near perfect. Has a few issues that I will address as time permits. I am a fairly new father, so I got to play full time worker and father / husband much of the time as well. Ill play with the Jeep when I have a minute here and there. Ok, so on with what I know. I think the color is called Gunmetal Pearl if I am not mistaken. I am still trying to learn. It has a chrysler 8.25 rear end and some sort of lift on 31's. The jeep seems pretty slow honestly, but i know jeeps arent fast anyway. The steering or alignment needs done. The drivetrain makes some clunks when putting into D or when letting off and on the gas. Have heard the AC only blows out the defrost vents. The rear has a squeak over bumps. I dont know if its leaf springs or the rear hatch. The drivers door contacts with the front fender when opening. and there are a few other body things I need to touch on when I get time. Now that I have looked at it more. I am almost wondering if I gave too much for the vehicle. Oh well, live and learn. I started last night taking off the plastidip off the stock silver wheels. Not really much of a fan of plastidip on wheels. Just looks cheap to me. Anyway, I will update when I can. For now here she is:
So I have about finished pulling all the plastidip off the wheels. I'm almost ashamed I bought this jeep and didn't inspect it better. I feel like I should have spent the 800$ more and got the one probably in much better condition.
Anyway too late now. So the jeep kind of has a
Funky smell. Almost zoo like. I decided that since I found a dime sized hole underneath on the passenger side I would go ahead and take the front seats out and rip up the carpet. Man am I ever glad I did that. The carpet on the passenger side was soaked underneath and covered in textured rust with a small dime sized hole. Do you guys think it would be better to cut this side out and weld in a new section? I also found out the zoo smell. In the back corner a mouse or something has lived in there for a while there was a pile of animal turds or something piled in the corner. That's what is in the pic of the corner.
How does a jeep get so wet on one side? Are they prone to leak in certain areas and leak down into the floor board?? The driver side floor looks fairly decent. I hate I gave 3k for this jeep now.
Gross. It looks fairly decent otherwise. You'll get it cleaned up soon enough. It would probably be best to just cut those floors out and weld in new metal.
Glad to have another Knoxville person here. There are some good groups around here who can help you get the rig sorted and figured out.
ok, so what I thought was turds, was not. I got the wire wheel out tonight and started going to town with it and a shop vac. It ended up being rusted bb's. Someone had spilled a ton of them. I think if I get a good grinding wheel or a really stiff wire wheel brush I can knock most of the rust away. I still have to cut out the front passenger floor board no matter what and redo it. I am unsure how big to cut though as I dont know how big the pans are the come from online. Also, i am trying to figure out how in the world I remove the hump section that the front part of the seat bolts to. I am guessing drill out the welds??
Tonight I picked up a spot weld cutter at harbor freight. I'm working on trying to get the braces off that are welded to the floor pan that hold the front parts of the driver and passenger seats. It's being a pain getting those detached. I'm trying to hurry and get this done so I can coat up the floor in some kind of rust protection and then bed line or go back with new carpet. I am leaning at monstalining the whole floor but I have read it gets really hot
I started removing the bad parts of the floor tonight. Honestly I probably could have just welded in patches but now that I have started I'm just gonna go ahead and rip up the passenger side Front.
It wasn't bad at all under the seam seal and heat / sound materials.
Finished cutting the floor out tonight. I got my monstaliner and chassis saver today.
Now I just gotta finish cleaning. Cheap away the hard sound deadener in the cargo area. I haven't decided about the front floor boards if it should stay or not on those.
Gotta decide if I wanna buy a pan or just patch in some metal.
I probably should have just bought the floor pan already in shape. But i finally screwed down and now need to mark and run some welds on this sheet metal I have sort of massaged into place. its slowly coming along:
I got fed up trying to get my home made sheet metal patch to fit correct, so I broke down and ordered an actual floor pan yesterday from four wheel parts. Should make the process go much easier and I can move forward on something that I should have already had done a long time ago!!
It is unfortunate that you had to start off doing a lot more work than intended but it's a good thing you found the issues and are knocking them out.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks man.
The floor pan came in today. Looks to be an OEM fit. Hopefully this will help me get my butt in gear and finish my floor so I can get it monstalined and put it all back together.
05-11-2015, 12:43 PM
XJ Newb. 99 Cherokee Build
