Those whom had frame stress cracks on their XJ.

Have any of you successfully welded it and so far get away from it? Obviously the stress cracks are known by the power steering box. Mine happens to be a bit further from the power steering box. I'd say about a good 8-10 inches further towards engine. It's visibly cracked and goes by the bottom of frame towards the middle then a good 3" towards the left. It's a 97" 4x4 xj. I love it and very happy with the car thus far. If possible I'd go to a collission shop and have them properly weld it. Slot of pessimists would say once a crack starts there's no stopping it. I'm hoping one person successfully welded without it coming back. Anyone?

I haven't run into any cracks on my unibody yet fortunately. Im planning on putting on some unibody stiffeners soon to prevent it on mine. If you're worried about them coming back after you have them welded up I would suggest installing some too.

http://www.hdoffroadengineering.com/products/xj-front-frame-stiffeners

This would probably be better in mod tech.

You can buy or make frame rail stiffeners and weld them on, that should take care of things.

Check out the steering box repair and reinforcements like C-Rok: http://www.c-rok.com/sb.html

You don't just weld the crack you have to plate the area around the crack, on the underside of the "rail" and on the opposite side as well. Probably threads on that illustrate the issue but these have some good pics. They show a crack by the trackbar mount and one in the rail just aft of the rear axle.

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/showthread.php?t=39844

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/showthread.php?t=36476

If it's back from the steering box area you might want to check your motor mounts. The only cross brace between the front cross member and the back of the engine compartment (if you can call that a brace) is the motor and mounts.

Post a pic.

Thanks guys!

if you want to weld the crack, drill a hole at each end of it. the holes will keep the crack from getting longer. weld the crack, then plate over it. i did this to my old jeep, and never had an issue again. i could tell after this fix that my steering felt sturdier from the wheel.