Stick a fork in it, it's done.

Looking for the source of a rattle from the rear, didn't take long at all to find it. This is the right side frame rail just above the axle.

 

Scary to see, but if it's not rotted throughout the chassis, any shop with a decent fabricator could fix that right up.

 

That sucks. I really can't believe how thin the uni-body frame rails are in the first place. When I cut away the entire floor to make my camper. Seeing just how thin the material is, I realized how important frame stiffeners are for us who want to do any of the more difficult trails.
Yeah time to go shipping! Good luck on your search.

 

That sucks. I take it they salt in the winter where you're at ?

 

Wow, sorry to see that, Mark.

 

That'll buff out.

But seriously...I'm with TwistedWrench. She can be made better...stronger...slower.

 

If you like your rig, that can probably be cut out and repaired.

 

You guys are tempting me. I do NOT like the idea of being without a Cherokee.

But the question is... where else is it that bad?

 

I'm relatively new here so I don't really know much about your rig, but if you've put a lot of work into it then I'd say full frame stiffeners and keep it. But if it's more of a daily then just get another one and part this one out.

 

Find out, THEN make your decision. Crawl under her with a good light and a screwdriver. Any areas of the frame that look iffy, poke at it, hard. If it's sound, you won't do any harm. If you stab through, it needs to be addressed.

Count the bad spots, and see if you want to save it.

Assuming you remove any seats, carpet, insulation above the area(time=labor=money) before bringing it in, if I was doing it at our shop, that spot in the pic would be about a $350 repair.

 

This is good, but you HAVE to fix the problem first. Rust is cancer, remove it ALL, or it just keeps spreading.

 

I wouldn't toss it. Strip it down, cut out the rust, reinforce, and repair.

 

Odd spot to rust through. Is there an access hole or something in that area that let water/salt in? How does it look at the leaf spring mounts?

 

It makes sense from a design intent standpoint. XJs were meant to be light(er)weight wagons with decent offroad capabilities. And AMC Jeep/Chrysler's definition of "decent offroad" was never meant to tackle the more difficult trails.

The great thing about uni-body construction is that it allows you to achieve a relatively high strength and stiffness chassis with thin-walled structural sections. Which allows you great weight savings. They will never be as stiff as fully boxed frames, but then again a fully boxed frame will never achieve the weight savings that a uni-body does. As with all vehicle designs, it's a balance of tradeoffs.

The fact that XJs were produced for 17 years and are still popular 15 years after production ended speaks well to the good design decisions made. Overall the XJ is an excellent balance of design and performance tradeoffs.

Unfortunately for OP, one of the weaknesses of the XJ uni-body is rust. Rust kills thin walled structures. I hope after assessing the situation, OP can indeed get the rust out and frame welded back up.

 

Good observation. I have wondered about that myself. The other side is headed down the same road, but it's nowhere near as far gone. It seems to have started at the bump stop mounts, judging by what I see on the other side.



Driver's side rear wheelwell.




I do have a bit of rocker panel rust, but it's minor. Yes, I know it needs to be dealth with. I mention that because the rust distribution on this Jeep is really weird. The tow hitch is just shot.



This tow hitch is done!


Up front, there isn't any rust. It's all in the back.