dnraitzyk

Hey everyone, I am new to the forums, but have had my 2000 cherokee XJ for about 6 years and it has 138k miles. I finally have some money to spend to get it to where I want it to be. Before I do anything in terms of performance and cosmetics I want to get the rust on the underside figured out. There is extensive rust on a lot of the underside. I realize if there is a fix it will be expensive and tedious. What are my options? Is it beyond repair? ( I really am ready to put some money into it, I love this car). Pictures attached.

Thank you,

David

TrailerTrash

Welcome to the forum dude

I notice the shackles and leaf bushings look terrible. other than that i dont see much bad rust. how about the floors, rockers, and frame rails? shock mounting points front rear top and bottom aswell.

just snap as many pics as you want and post em up

dnraitzyk

Thanks man. I am slowly getting to know my jeep more now that I am out of school. I did not get a pic of the floor pans, but there is some rust. Attached are more pictures.

dnraitzyk

Bump?

andrewmp6

Most of that is normal surface rust.That trailer hitch looks nasty and so does those side steps i think i see you have on it ?

Suprmn

judging by your pictures, your jeep looks pretty solid. The trailer hitch and springs etc are easily replaceable. Its the basic unibody structure that really counts, and yours looks workable. On my jeep, anytime I go under it, I take a wire brush, rust preventative paint, etc. etc. and just clean up part of it and paint it back. If you live in a rust prone state its a constant battle but you look to be starting from a pretty good place.

diskman

RUN! Don't walk.. To the nearest Lowes and purchase 10 cans of "Fluid Film". You will also need to order the $20 "Spray Wand". off Ebay. Google Fluid Film can extension. 18 bux on Amazon right now.

Hit up the nearest manual carwash and WASH the underside to remove all traces of dirt/salt. Use a hose and flush out your frame rails too.

Allow to dry with a fan for a few days or until it's completely dry. Ramps will allow the frame to drain and dry.

Spray on Fluid Film everywhere underneath. Use the wand to do inside frame rails. I removed the plastic covers on my doorjams, drilled a 1/4 hole and shoved the wand in there while pulling out wand and holding the spray on.

Fully coat everything. Pull the tail lights and spray in there too. Pull door panels and spray inside the doors too. EVERYWHERE

This will stop the rust dead. It won't FIX it, but it will stop it and over time it will convert it to a stable black iron.

Repeat yearly. $100 and it will make your Jeep smell like feet for a week but it WILL work.

Cheapskate option: Used motor oil in a cheap undercoating gun. Doesn't last 1 year tho and messy.

dnraitzyk

These are all great ideas. Unfortunately I live in an apartment and cannot do any work on my own. I'm thinking of taking it to a body shop run by someone I know. Is this going to cost me $1000s or is something that I should just wait and continue to drive with until I have a work area?

diskman

Should be able to go to a car-wash at least, let dry and Fluid-Film the bottom in the Lowes parking lot..
Spend an afternoon in a buddys driveway and spray the internals. Won't take longer than a few hours to stop that rust..

Body-shop option will run in the THOUSANDS and will not stop the rust.