Thats such a bummer dude.. Atleast you made it out ok. That JCR bumper really took a beating!

 

Trying to load the pics I found and it won't let me. PM me your email and I will send them that way. I removed the fenders, sway bar, grill and rad. support, and took it to the frame shop to get everything "right". I then removed the bent inner fenders using a spot weld cutter, and then I cut off the frame ends. I inserted square tube into the exposed open end of the "frame", and welded it in using the holes I had previously drilled into the frame. I then slid some donor frame ends over the tube and welded them in place the same way and also all the way around where they butted together. I also replaced the factory brace between the front frame ends using the donor rig again, cut the spot welds and then welded it in place on the wrecked rig. Take lots of measurements to make sure its right when you weld it back together. I plated the outside on both sides with 3/16, and I also built a steering box brace just to make sure everything was solid. Had it aligned and abused it for years hunting and wheeling without issue, and drove it on the highway plenty. Everyone gives me crap about having dead cherokees around, but having spare parts like these was priceless to me, plus having one to reference that wasnt wrecked helped a lot also

 

Why dont you just go pick up another jeep and swap your parts? The piece of mind would be worth it in my book. I can understand wanting to fix something yourself and make it better then it was but thats a lot of front end damage and a little unibody crack somewhere you might have missed could turn into a nightmare or worse down the road.

 

No way would I spend the time on an 89 renix cherokee with 267k miles. Maybe if it were a 91 up and you were just going to use it as a trail rig. But it will never be right as a dd.

 

I appreciate your concern, but this cherokee means to much to me, and I'm not about to give up on it just yet.

 

Makes a good point. How much is your time worth? You're going to have a LOT of time and probably a fair bit more money involved for a Jeeps that is worth, well, not much. Hate to be a downer.

 

More people tell me it can't be done, the more inspired I am.

 

THis is very doable. PPL are making it harder then it needs to be as well.

Find an unwrecked rig to get measurements off of
buy some 2x4x.25 and some 3/16 or 1/4 plate in 4" width
cut inner fender structure from the frame at the desired repair area.
Cut the 2x4 to length and mock up using good welding/fb techniques. Plate the inner top and bottom of the repairs. Reweld inner fender structure to the 2x4.
If you feel it is needed you can always add some tubing from the front of the new frame rails back to the firewall.

The only tricky thing I see is making sure the steering box is in the same relative location in the frame rail, and that isnt but so hard in my opinion.

 

So your saying just to use tube?

 

That is what I would do.. Why put mutiple layers of sheetmetal back. The front frame area is actually 2 boxes... ANd would be a true pita to weld right.. IN my opinion. It would be a lot of butt welds on galvanized.. and then you wouldstil have to plate it.

Cut it off cap it.. weld 2x4x.25 to it.. plate all sides makein sure you keep it square and true. This is going to be your hardest part BTW.

 

No one is saying it can't be done! The question is is it worth it on a very old, high mileage vehicle where a better base vehicle could be had rather cheaply and your mods transferred over.

 

Further up, it turns to 2x5

 

The size tube you need depends on how far back you have to repair. On my truggy I am using 2x4x.25 as frame rails on the front and for my rear frame.


As for what is cheaper to do.. You can fix this rig for under 200 in material and about 12 hrs worth of work depending on how fast you work.

 

Alright everyone here is the current plan, since I've made a deal with a local shop.

Use heat on driver side to bend it back the little that it needs. Use my old JCR bumper reinforcement plates as stiffeners and weld the onto the outside area.

Passenger side is pretty mangled and could go one of both ways.

1. After heat is applied form it back together and weld on JCR reinforcement and plate the inside as well.

2. Cut off damaged section, but still weld JCR reinforcement on and use it as a template for the replacement piece of tube.