Hello all,

Glad to finally call myself a Jeeper and I'm excited to learn alongside y'all and become a contributing member of this community. On to the rust! So i'm essentially just looking for some perspective from those of you who have been around the block. It's been easy for me to think I need to replace every little thing I come across, and maybe I do. With this issue in particular I wanted to reach out. Below are some pics that give the general vibe. The shackles are by far the worst spot on the jeep. I was about ready to grind down the whole underbody and do some kind of undercoating (method not yet decided on). Figured I'd take a step back and get some advice before I blow things way out of proportion.

Last known photo of the fuel filler heat shield next to the shackle mount.
lol, was surprised this thing fell out with a flick of the wrist... not worried about replacing as of yet, definitely some thin material there...
no more heat sheild and more overview of the location
tow hardware covering where the shield was bolted, will be removing to further inspect frame rail
Not bad
Shock bolts, bonus pic of a whacky evap line from fuel tank>charcoal canister... pretty sure that's what's throwing my evap codes.


Rockers and floor boards are clean thankfully. So... give it to me straight doc! I'd appreciate the real talk am I being overly concerned? Naive? Thanks

 

 

Rust belt here. That would be considered in good shape, and you are in a good position to slow it down. You can clean it up, the something like rust reformer then top coat (2-4 coats). You could por-15 it. Or you could simply oil it up (something like Fluid Film or spent oil). Though once you go oil, it is tough to go back (all the oil would have to be removed before anything will stick again, like paint). I oil mine.


I would recommend new shackles if you intend to replace your leaf springs at any point. They aren't looking so good.

 

Ha you got that right! The leaf springs are in really rough shape too. I am planning to replace and get new shackles as well. Anyone have any recs on greasable OEM sized shackles? I will be putting a lift on it but not looking for any lift from the shackles.

Thanks for the advice on the rust. I like the idea of no rust so I may have to get over my aversion to oil... the paints just seem so much cleaner to me.

 

Your bumpstops are in pretty bad shape as well.

 

Greasable stock height shackles - https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/prod...t-shackle.html

These were recommended to me - I went with the non-greasable OEM style crown shackles, though I haven't got them in yet.

 

I bought these. Haven't put them in yet but they are very good quality

 

Yep. Good stuff.


I noticed that. Unless you have a press, get springs with the bushings already installed.


Learn to love oil. A good RMS leak is the best preventive for rusting in the rear of the vehicle.

No, really, Fluid Film is, but the RMS leak will do it, too.

While you're doing the springs is a good time to do the shocks, as well.

 

Ditto on the RMS as a preventive ! I just replaced mine along with the oil pan gasket and the oil filter adapter gaskets and distributor gasket plus the valve cover gasket. I thought it would be nice to have it all clean, and be able to check for leaks. All the while I was cleaning and wondering if I should just let it be ? No rust till I got towards the rear end. I still think I'm going to clean and paint mine, then oil it !!! Good question , I was wondering the same thing ! Either way, I'm still going to keep a gallon of used oil, it's great for cleaning really dirty parts on the first pass !

 

The RMS feature... I'll remember that whenever I have to sell a cherokee =]

Looks like fluid film for the win, thanks for the vote of confidence. Honestly I had recently looked at a 99 that had been coated with texaco grease and it was the most obnoxious job I've seen and couldn't imagine working under the vehicle with that. How is working with the fluid film applied? It looks pretty light. Thanks again! Also concerning the shocks... I'll be installing a lift kit (goodbye stock tech thread) which comes with shocks. Rubicon Express is throwing in the mono shock upgrade for free this month FYI to others who may be looking. I'm excited to get it in but prepared for these bolts to be a headache. Going to start pb blasting this weekend 3 weeks out. Once everything is off looks like I'll be doing a wire brush to get rid of the flaky stuff and just spraying over with fluid film. Sounds a lot less cumbersome than paint! Only area of concern is my rear brake lines which I'll likely just replace while I'm there... not pictured but rusty AF

 

Fluid Film is awesome. But a total mess when doing anything under there. Do not spray it down with Fluid Film till after. I spray down my Jeep every October for the coming winter. They use that crap on the roads where I live. In April I power wash it off. Because I am still doing things to my Jeep. No garage so everything gets done in the warmer months. Goal is to be done with working on the Jeep, except for needed repairs and maintenance, and Fluid Film in April for the whole year. But frankly is a Jeep ever really done?

 

That's about how mine looks and I drive mine everywhere including a 116 mile round trip to a cottage in Michigan every weekend. I would hit the shackles with a hammer (just a light tap) to make sure they're solid and do the same with the "frame."