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32 Posts
So ive had this Jeep for 6 uears to the day and i decided to make a video on my Jeep and show you guys.. I never go to this forum to be honest i tend to stay on the fsj forums. Even though i have two ZJs. ALLLL the work youre going to see, i did laying in the parking lot of a townhouse with assigned parking i had only 2 spaces.. and a 90 amp flux core welder.... Also the 2nd post on the bottom has two videos doing a walk around of it today
Bought this Jeep when i was 28, wanted a classic style car and i first heard of the wagoneers when i was 23 i always wanted one. But i got a 5.9 98 Grand Cherokee instead. Years later i saved up to buy this wagoneer. I purchased it from a guy who was 24 and just got married.. He put 3k miles on it in 3 years.. so it basically sat, the prior owner to him put only 3k on it in 3 years as well. So in 6 years it was only driven for 6k miles. It was sold for 8500$ on ebay in 2010. And i suspect that those people who sold it are the ones who hid all the nasty rust.. bondo.. crappy fixes on the frame.. No cutting out the rust and just slapping a maaco paint job.. That still looks good but is starting to fade after 10 years.
I met the guy at a gas station and the exhaust had a huge hole in it so i didnt hear the lifter noise it had as the lifter noise goes away when you drive up for 100 feet. My bad.. and i didnt see alot of the rust until it started poping out of the bondo and paint and rusting worse as the years went by from me owning it. It also had hidden rust and crap i found as i did repairs i found more and more.
First year i owned it i repaired the floor boards.. It had holes here and there.. not too bad but the corners near the bench seat were the worst. Then i did the suspension.. lemme tell ya 27 year old leaf springs that saw salty roads had rust welded bolts to the shackle bushings.. i had to cut and cut and cut and struggle for a week to get them off. I replaced them with oem height springs.
Last year i dropped the gas tank. Replaced the tank straps. The triangle support bracket for the skid was basically dust.. and the frame was rotten fron point A to B and that being about 14 inchs long.. All rot i could pick at with my fingers. A hammer yeilded 3 handfulls of rust... some moron attempted to fix this by welding plates over rust.. causing it to rust 100x worse
I then replaced all but 2 body mounts.. all the rubber was rotten or not even there anymore.. I could lift the bumper in the rear and wiggle it up and down and the body would slam on the frame as it came down. How the body didnt roll off is beyond me.. All the metal mounts has holes 4x the original size.. so i had to cut them off and make new mounts.. at least the upper portion i mean. The shock mounts up front tend to rust on All the wagoneers.. you may not see it like i didnt.. but its there.. the mounts are hollow.. hold dirt.. rust the frame.. that gets into thr boxed section.. and rust the other side where the engine mount is.. I cut it all out. And welded new clean steel.. its solid now.
Fixed all but one of the leaks.. coolant oil whatever it leaked everywhere. I still cant get that upper seal out on the rear main.. Its beggining to get annoying filling it up with a quart every 200 miles.. might pay a shop for that.. I just dont like anyone touching my car.. I cant even get shops to replace ny tires without damaging something.. Like my c channle frame they bent by jacking it up wrong.
Uhg.
Anyway. This year.. I FINALLY got to fun stuff.. It has a 2.5 inch lift in the front and 3 inch in the rear. I did a folding spare tire carrier on the trailer hitch so i can open my tailgate.. I think tires on the roof are meh and its too big to fit under. I put on some Mastercraft courser mxts 31x10.5r15s. Remember these arent wranglers where you csn throw 37-40inch tires on. These Jeeps were made in 63.. 70s a 31 inch tire was huge.. Even with 4-6 inch lift the max tire size is generally 33.. 35s if you cut stuff.. and im not cutting anything on my body.
I put a factory brush guard on.. 7 round 100w halogen kc lights.. because well It looks bad *** in my opinion.. i added a 64 inch roof rack basket.. and 4 light pods to light 360 degrees around me. And some backup lights because well.. with that tint.. i cant see anything at night backing up. Lots of other nifty things. Like a speaker bar on the back headliner from a 5.9 limited.. that folding cup holder storag3 arm rest. Because well... we have 0 cup holders on these FSJs. And i wired in a auto dimming rear view mirror.. because i love auto dimming mirrors lol.
Anyway here is my Jeep. Ill start with the rust
fast picture
html diff online
Now the frame rust by the gas tank
This pic is actually the cross member beam sitting on top of the c channle.. rusted so bad it started sagging the c channle lip there
These pic are of it all cut out..
how to html
Lining up the donor peice.. yes it had some surface rust i had to grind off.. but its the only wagoneer.cherokee frame in my area.. and it was just surface rust nothing major
pictures of full
Body mounts
Now the good stuff. Painting the 79 factory brush guard i found on that 79 cherokee chief
Bought this Jeep when i was 28, wanted a classic style car and i first heard of the wagoneers when i was 23 i always wanted one. But i got a 5.9 98 Grand Cherokee instead. Years later i saved up to buy this wagoneer. I purchased it from a guy who was 24 and just got married.. He put 3k miles on it in 3 years.. so it basically sat, the prior owner to him put only 3k on it in 3 years as well. So in 6 years it was only driven for 6k miles. It was sold for 8500$ on ebay in 2010. And i suspect that those people who sold it are the ones who hid all the nasty rust.. bondo.. crappy fixes on the frame.. No cutting out the rust and just slapping a maaco paint job.. That still looks good but is starting to fade after 10 years.
I met the guy at a gas station and the exhaust had a huge hole in it so i didnt hear the lifter noise it had as the lifter noise goes away when you drive up for 100 feet. My bad.. and i didnt see alot of the rust until it started poping out of the bondo and paint and rusting worse as the years went by from me owning it. It also had hidden rust and crap i found as i did repairs i found more and more.
First year i owned it i repaired the floor boards.. It had holes here and there.. not too bad but the corners near the bench seat were the worst. Then i did the suspension.. lemme tell ya 27 year old leaf springs that saw salty roads had rust welded bolts to the shackle bushings.. i had to cut and cut and cut and struggle for a week to get them off. I replaced them with oem height springs.
Last year i dropped the gas tank. Replaced the tank straps. The triangle support bracket for the skid was basically dust.. and the frame was rotten fron point A to B and that being about 14 inchs long.. All rot i could pick at with my fingers. A hammer yeilded 3 handfulls of rust... some moron attempted to fix this by welding plates over rust.. causing it to rust 100x worse
I then replaced all but 2 body mounts.. all the rubber was rotten or not even there anymore.. I could lift the bumper in the rear and wiggle it up and down and the body would slam on the frame as it came down. How the body didnt roll off is beyond me.. All the metal mounts has holes 4x the original size.. so i had to cut them off and make new mounts.. at least the upper portion i mean. The shock mounts up front tend to rust on All the wagoneers.. you may not see it like i didnt.. but its there.. the mounts are hollow.. hold dirt.. rust the frame.. that gets into thr boxed section.. and rust the other side where the engine mount is.. I cut it all out. And welded new clean steel.. its solid now.
Fixed all but one of the leaks.. coolant oil whatever it leaked everywhere. I still cant get that upper seal out on the rear main.. Its beggining to get annoying filling it up with a quart every 200 miles.. might pay a shop for that.. I just dont like anyone touching my car.. I cant even get shops to replace ny tires without damaging something.. Like my c channle frame they bent by jacking it up wrong.
Uhg.
Anyway. This year.. I FINALLY got to fun stuff.. It has a 2.5 inch lift in the front and 3 inch in the rear. I did a folding spare tire carrier on the trailer hitch so i can open my tailgate.. I think tires on the roof are meh and its too big to fit under. I put on some Mastercraft courser mxts 31x10.5r15s. Remember these arent wranglers where you csn throw 37-40inch tires on. These Jeeps were made in 63.. 70s a 31 inch tire was huge.. Even with 4-6 inch lift the max tire size is generally 33.. 35s if you cut stuff.. and im not cutting anything on my body.
I put a factory brush guard on.. 7 round 100w halogen kc lights.. because well It looks bad *** in my opinion.. i added a 64 inch roof rack basket.. and 4 light pods to light 360 degrees around me. And some backup lights because well.. with that tint.. i cant see anything at night backing up. Lots of other nifty things. Like a speaker bar on the back headliner from a 5.9 limited.. that folding cup holder storag3 arm rest. Because well... we have 0 cup holders on these FSJs. And i wired in a auto dimming rear view mirror.. because i love auto dimming mirrors lol.
Anyway here is my Jeep. Ill start with the rust
fast picture
html diff online
Now the frame rust by the gas tank
This pic is actually the cross member beam sitting on top of the c channle.. rusted so bad it started sagging the c channle lip there
These pic are of it all cut out..
how to html
Lining up the donor peice.. yes it had some surface rust i had to grind off.. but its the only wagoneer.cherokee frame in my area.. and it was just surface rust nothing major
pictures of full
Body mounts
Now the good stuff. Painting the 79 factory brush guard i found on that 79 cherokee chief
