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Bent frame rail...

Sarge

NAXJA Forum User
Location
St Louis, MO
The pass side frame on my 1993 2WD XJ is bent where the fender bracket bolts to it. I'm considering just cutting thats ection off and having a welding shop weld some plate in there. The other side has the steering box attached to it.

Sarge
 
Without pictures it is hard for me to know the extent of your damage; however, I had my 88 XJ slammed into in April by a 19 year old while I sat at a stop light. I have it in the shop now and was amazed how much of the chassis came back to shape.

I was expecting a new quarter panel and a new rocker panel. After they pulled it out it the only thing that needed new metal was the outer skin of the rocker panel and the sheetmetal between the door and wheel well.

Take your XJ to a local shop and get an estimate on how much it would cost to "pull it out". It may cost less than you expected.
 
Sat down and looked at it for a few minutes. Realized the only thing that section holds or supports is the bumper and my airhorns. So I got out a BFH and a pinch bar and got sweaty on it. It aint perfect, it aint pretty but it'll hold whatever bumper I decide to put on it.

Sarge
 
Unfortunately......

Sure, can be pulled back either by a frame shop or by you if not too extensive and is not too complicated..... however, unibody will never be even close to the strength before damage. Is one of the drawbacks of unibody. I'd weld reinforcement plate(s) to where possible to assist with structure re-integrity if important to stucture quality. Is primarily why when searching for a good used XJ i wanted all original paint as well as a 'clean' underside. If was going to be damaged i wanted the responsibility not someone previous. Actually had a hard time even looking for a Jeep with ~35k miles!!
 
In additon.......

Since moving here to Utah school two full months ago, i have witnessed six wrecks- two car/motorcycle, four car/car!! In Va i have hardly ever seen any in years!! Really crazy driving habits here...very haphazard and unskilled i have gathered. Was here less than a week before i myself was almost involved in a fairly serious rear-ender. Has caused me to drive very defensively becoming almost paranoidly so. I want to keep this all original paint dang it!!
 
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