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Keeping totaled 2001 Cherokee for parts- worth the salvage fee?

clever forum name

NAXJA Forum User
Location
MO
We recently had a guy on a motorcycle lose control on a corner and hit our 2001 XJ Sport head on.

Vm0wa.jpg


Due to the frame rail buckling just behind the sway bar his insurance company replaced it, totaled it and quoted us a salvage fee of $900. While the body itself may be a loss everything else aside from the radiator/transmission cooler, tie rod, RH LCA, and sway bar seems to be salvageable (including the 2003 engine with a TUPY head!) After the accident reporting was done I even started it back up, drove it another mile to my parents' house, and left it there for the time being.

We've already replaced it with a pretty nice '99 but we've been kicking around the idea of finding another 00-01 Cherokee that has succumbed to the 0331 cylinder head crack and transplanting whatever's needed from our totaled vehicle to make another functional Jeep. We found this guy (2001 2wd SE) not too far away from us:

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/2898291421.html

It says it needs a new head gasket but I'm currently operating under the worst-case assumption it actually probably has a cracked cylinder head because hey, 2001 :( Thanks to kastein's advice on another forum we know it shouldn't be hard to hybridize the two as we have all the parts needed from the donor vehicle.

So, is the old one worth $900 in parts? If we decided to buy the other Jeep, just get it running with an engine swap, and leave it 2wd for the time being could we still just leave the "dumb" front axle in place, install the transfer case, and simply omit the forward drive shaft until we evaluate/repair the Dana 30?
 
personally I'd be tempted to keep it, esp. if you have had it for a while and know that everything is in good shape. Looks like everything from the windshield back is in pretty good shape, true?
 
personally I'd be tempted to keep it, esp. if you have had it for a while and know that everything is in good shape. Looks like everything from the windshield back is in pretty good shape, true?

Yeah, what got it written off was a combination of this framerail damage:

T6n1V.jpg

(for reference bottom of image is toward front of vehicle, visible bracket is for the sway bar)

and airbag deployment. Looking it at from the driver's side you can't even tell it was hit. Glass, doors, engine/transmission and transfer case, rear end, hatch, interior, hood, and even the front left quarter panel were fine.
 
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You said the engine is good...There's the $900 buy-back right there. My '92 was whacked worse than that, although thankfully all damage was above the frame rail. My son and I fixed it for well under a grand, including a nice paint job. I'd get the frame pulled and go from there.
 
Buy it back, I totaled my 01 bac in october, whole drivers side was done for. But I took good care of it and haven't found one like it since. Atleast use the parts off of it. Letting mine go was the my biggest regret of 2011, hands down.
 
Most of the auto body shops I've contacted say they wouldn't be able to sraighten the frame rail unfortunately, it's not only bent downward and inward but kinked and pushed back as well. Replacement is possible as per threads I've seen on other forums but it requires cutting the old section out, cutting a donor section off another vehicle, and welding the new part on which is a little above my pay grade right now. I can turn a wrench well enough but fabbing and extensive frame modification? Never really done it before.

We've already replaced it with this guy, a '99 with Selec-Trac and 130,000 miles:

nQeJ0.jpg


So since keeping it seems to be a good idea even if we just gut it we'll do that, but I think we'll set it aside for project parts and start looking for the right body with a dead engine and slap everything in as needed. I have to admit we only had it for a few months and I know it was nothing special but we had more fun driving that thing around on the weekends than in any other car we've ever owned. I know it's stupid but it was our first jeep and we got pretty attached to it :(
 
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Welcome! I knew I recognized that jeep from somewhere.
 
Alright, so we found a body and have done the transplant! We're now in the process of getting everything back in around the engine but I've sort of run into a roadblock:

G1uEw.jpg


This is the larger of the three catalytic converters, the one right in front of the muffler. I decided to try to get these three bolts off to remove the exhaust and broke off the bottom bolt, before I realized it would probably be much easier to attack the two larger bolts behind the cat instead.

I've been trying to get the bolt out to replace it for a little while with a hammer and punch to no avail. This IS just a really rusted bolt, correct? I'm not just hammering on a welded threaded stud or anything like a moron, am I?
 
Alright, so we found a body and have done the transplant! We're now in the process of getting everything back in around the engine but I've sort of run into a roadblock:

G1uEw.jpg


This is the larger of the three catalytic converters, the one right in front of the muffler. I decided to try to get these three bolts off to remove the exhaust and broke off the bottom bolt, before I realized it would probably be much easier to attack the two larger bolts behind the cat instead.

I've been trying to get the bolt out to replace it for a little while with a hammer and punch to no avail. This IS just a really rusted bolt, correct? I'm not just hammering on a welded threaded stud or anything like a moron, am I?

It should be just a bolt. I would remove the other bolts then use leverage by twisting the catalytic convert around to break off the broken bolt. The exhaust flanges should survive.
 
I wish you were closer, I would take the back half of the wrecked body from the B pillars back to make a trailer to tow behind my cherokee. That would be cool.
 
I've been trying to get the bolt out to replace it for a little while with a hammer and punch to no avail. This IS just a really rusted bolt, correct? I'm not just hammering on a welded threaded stud or anything like a moron, am I?

Had the same problem on mine. The bolt is splined and pressed into the flange. I tried heat and an air chisel and it wouldn't budge.
Final solution was to drill it out and replace it with a stainless bolt.
 
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