Originally Posted by Cheddarnut

I hope you can see by the variety of responses that you certainly have options. While some folks think you should ditch it, others say fight the rust etc. My advice to move on was based on your comment about not welding and taking the position that you would need to seek professional help to attack the problems. When you spend to have areal body shop cut and weld the pans, then a mechanic to go through the suspension and address what they find(shocks, springs, ball joints, exhaust) you may actually spend more than the jeep is worth. I just want to share that I've had my Cherokee for twenty years and I have spent money on it like that time and time again because I love it. So dropping a few grand on repairs, parts or upgrades has always been worth it to me. Now I'm a tinkerer with a garage and it's not my daily driver now, so parked for projects is ok. When it was my DD, I lived in an apartment with no garage and had to pretty much pay for anything I wanted done or get evicted ( my leases always included some pretty mean language about outdoor auto repair). I still took care of it and gave it some love. I would say if you love it and want to save it then you'll need to spend to keep it safe. If you like it and don't have the money or want to spend it, then find another with less or no rust. They are out there even in the northeast. Let's us know what you decide..interested in your thoughts.

Originally Posted by SteveMongr

What we are seeing in those pictures is likely rust originating from the other side of sheetmatal. It will be worse inside the rockers, body panels and under carpet.
My opinion, move on if you plan on building up this rig.

Originally Posted by Brill

I don't really have much money into it yet (other than the purchase cost), so if I end up having to replace the whole floor, rocker panels, various body panels, etc. then it seems like it would make more sense to just start with something that doesn't have rust.

Originally Posted by Brill

That is my biggest concern right there. If the rust is just a couple of simple fixes and then I can move on to other things, then fine, but I'm worried that if I start breaking things down the rust turns out to be a lot worse than it looks from the outside. I don't want to get in over my head and end up chasing rust issues for the next year instead of building it up the way I want to.

I don't really have much money into it yet (other than the purchase cost), so if I end up having to replace the whole floor, rocker panels, various body panels, etc. then it seems like it would make more sense to just start with something that doesn't have rust.

Originally Posted by Brill

Oh and I double checked that rear shackle. It's not actually broken but about half of the thickness of the shackle is basically gone due to rust.

Obviously something that needs to be replaced but in the immediate future is it dangerous to drive around like that? How much stress/force is on those rear shackles with normal driving?

Originally Posted by Cheddarnut

No way to answer a what if like that. There are too many variables, when would it fail? If you are in the drive through at Starbucks, no issues. If you are rounding a bend at a higher speed it could be harder to control. There is a lot of stuff all attached to the rear end so it's not like your car will explode. If you need to keep driving it a while, just go get that fixed now. I would say a good repair shop could weld on a new bracket. Not a huge repair if you limit it to just that.

Originally Posted by Brill

It looks like it is just the shackle itself that is in bad shape. The bracket that is welded to the unibody is fine.

It looks like the shackle can be bought for like 50 bucks online but it's my understanding that those shackle bolts can be a real beast to get off?

I actually don't need to drive it anymore at all. I just don't want to sell it to someone like that if it's going to be dangerous for them to drive out of the parking lot.