Hi there; 1st post here, but not new to Jeeps. Been an ASE certified Master tech, where I spent 18 years making a living from beneath an alignment rack. then on to Ind. maintenance in a steel mill for a few years then hurt (Will tell the details later) so now on disability.
I have 2 Jeeps at present (01 XJ also) but this pertains to my '97 TJ.
I bought it in Y2K fresh off of a lease with 19K miles. Now only has 87K. 4.0, stick (love that combo), Godawful 3.07 ratios. (5th gear useless)
Now honestly the closest this think has been to "4-wheeling" is thru the snow and salt in Chicago winters, and an occasional "assist" to pull out someone who ran off in a ditch.
It has been sitting 18 mo in the garage; (Dr request NOT to drive a stick while I was in the stupid "Moon boot" (air cast) from a BAD leg injury. that means it has missed out on the last 2 winters!
but the frame went to He!!; my son and I just got done swapping everything over to a replacement frame. Never wrecked, but it is THIN on the driver side, just ahead of the rear axle arch. Yet the body is perfect; isn't frame steel heavier than sheetmetal?
OK back up about 2 years, pre-injury when I was daily driving this thing (which I miss doing badly, BTW)
My cat went bad so I took it to the local exh shop to have a new cat and muffler installed. (I put 5K on it between then and getting hurt/parking the Jeep) While it was on the rack, the muffler guys, in having to pull the skidplate to access the old cat, came in to tell me that we had a problem. All 3 nut serts in the frame stripped upon them removing the 'plate as well as the middle one on the pass side. WTF? I can't remember how many times they asked me, "WHAT year is this"? because they could not believe it either. I looked at it the best I could while it was on the lift, and found the frame packed with scale about 1/2 way up as seen thru the "chaindown" holes, on the frame sides. I could understand this on maybe a 77 or a 67 vehicle but a 97? C'mon, now!
Fast forward to late last summer; I finally lost the moon boot, so would have been able to start driving it again.
I decided that I wanted to remove the step plates and wheel flares to have them repainted, as we all know how they fade, so I wanted to dress it up a bit. In the process the nut serts spun in doing this, and I found a "soft spot" in the frame rail near the back step plate mount.
I actually cut this spot out (Right by a "chaindown") with a grinder, so I could get inside there with a Shop Vac to suck out all the accumulated scale to at least minimize the "sponge effect" of the scale, holding moisture, and welded a patch in on that outer rail. I ran the Shop vac hose all the way into the rail as far as I could and beat on the outside with a ballpein to knock the stuff off that was hanging off the insides.
Well I finally got my painted parts back last month. (didn't realize it would take the guy 5 months that I took them to, in "getting to" my stuff.)
Well I go to reinstall my plastic and see that more scale has come loose and feel "piles" adjacent to all the frame's holes. The metal right under the bottom 4 link attatching point (frame itself not the added bracket the 4 link actually bolts to) I noticed the hole to the inside wall of the rail (behind the 4 link mount bracket) was rusted even with the bottom wall of the rail! Hit it with a hammer and the frame dents easier than sheet metal in that spot!
My son is 16 and about to get his license, so I gotta make this Jeep safe. so I found a '99 frame on Craigslist that was supposedly parted in 01 and was sitting inside a garage ever since. big difference in the cond. of the replacement makes the story at least somewhat believeable.
I just set the body onto the frame last night (been sitting on sawhorses for about 3 weeks as I found, retrieved, painted the new frame, and swapped the powertrain and such over to it. I even got pix of it hanging by 2 chain falls from the ceiling joists of my garage! The 10' ceilings come in handy, after all!
so is frame rust on a TJ common? Anyone else have trouble with this?
had a brake line blow while sitting in the garage over last summer so I replaced all the steel ones at that time (cut/flared/bent my own)
pass side rail, crossmembers and at least the front 1/2 of the drivers rail appear solid. I've seen front or rear frame sections on the junkyard search sites going for $300-350. good start for maybe a buggy where youre gonna cut and modify the frame anyways. I'd let the old one go, best offer to anyone that needs one.
I have 2 Jeeps at present (01 XJ also) but this pertains to my '97 TJ.
I bought it in Y2K fresh off of a lease with 19K miles. Now only has 87K. 4.0, stick (love that combo), Godawful 3.07 ratios. (5th gear useless)
Now honestly the closest this think has been to "4-wheeling" is thru the snow and salt in Chicago winters, and an occasional "assist" to pull out someone who ran off in a ditch.
It has been sitting 18 mo in the garage; (Dr request NOT to drive a stick while I was in the stupid "Moon boot" (air cast) from a BAD leg injury. that means it has missed out on the last 2 winters!
but the frame went to He!!; my son and I just got done swapping everything over to a replacement frame. Never wrecked, but it is THIN on the driver side, just ahead of the rear axle arch. Yet the body is perfect; isn't frame steel heavier than sheetmetal?
OK back up about 2 years, pre-injury when I was daily driving this thing (which I miss doing badly, BTW)
My cat went bad so I took it to the local exh shop to have a new cat and muffler installed. (I put 5K on it between then and getting hurt/parking the Jeep) While it was on the rack, the muffler guys, in having to pull the skidplate to access the old cat, came in to tell me that we had a problem. All 3 nut serts in the frame stripped upon them removing the 'plate as well as the middle one on the pass side. WTF? I can't remember how many times they asked me, "WHAT year is this"? because they could not believe it either. I looked at it the best I could while it was on the lift, and found the frame packed with scale about 1/2 way up as seen thru the "chaindown" holes, on the frame sides. I could understand this on maybe a 77 or a 67 vehicle but a 97? C'mon, now!
Fast forward to late last summer; I finally lost the moon boot, so would have been able to start driving it again.
I decided that I wanted to remove the step plates and wheel flares to have them repainted, as we all know how they fade, so I wanted to dress it up a bit. In the process the nut serts spun in doing this, and I found a "soft spot" in the frame rail near the back step plate mount.
I actually cut this spot out (Right by a "chaindown") with a grinder, so I could get inside there with a Shop Vac to suck out all the accumulated scale to at least minimize the "sponge effect" of the scale, holding moisture, and welded a patch in on that outer rail. I ran the Shop vac hose all the way into the rail as far as I could and beat on the outside with a ballpein to knock the stuff off that was hanging off the insides.
Well I finally got my painted parts back last month. (didn't realize it would take the guy 5 months that I took them to, in "getting to" my stuff.)
Well I go to reinstall my plastic and see that more scale has come loose and feel "piles" adjacent to all the frame's holes. The metal right under the bottom 4 link attatching point (frame itself not the added bracket the 4 link actually bolts to) I noticed the hole to the inside wall of the rail (behind the 4 link mount bracket) was rusted even with the bottom wall of the rail! Hit it with a hammer and the frame dents easier than sheet metal in that spot!
My son is 16 and about to get his license, so I gotta make this Jeep safe. so I found a '99 frame on Craigslist that was supposedly parted in 01 and was sitting inside a garage ever since. big difference in the cond. of the replacement makes the story at least somewhat believeable.
I just set the body onto the frame last night (been sitting on sawhorses for about 3 weeks as I found, retrieved, painted the new frame, and swapped the powertrain and such over to it. I even got pix of it hanging by 2 chain falls from the ceiling joists of my garage! The 10' ceilings come in handy, after all!
so is frame rust on a TJ common? Anyone else have trouble with this?
had a brake line blow while sitting in the garage over last summer so I replaced all the steel ones at that time (cut/flared/bent my own)
pass side rail, crossmembers and at least the front 1/2 of the drivers rail appear solid. I've seen front or rear frame sections on the junkyard search sites going for $300-350. good start for maybe a buggy where youre gonna cut and modify the frame anyways. I'd let the old one go, best offer to anyone that needs one.