I had an "uh-oh"

bumped a tree in a freak wheeling accident (I'm sure none of you have done this before) and below is the result. I need ideas on how to pull/reinforce the uniframe without jeopardizing the strength (i've heard that frame-fixes, like some welding, usually causes more stress on the uniframe than good). The bolt nearest the frame crease is holding up my steering box and is now stripped. It just turns and turns and won't come out. There is a little bit of play in the steering box when I give it a good pull but nothing extravagant. Ideas/comments? (click the pics to enlarge)

You're gonna need to strip the front end, straighten the crease, plate the frame rails, and retap or replace the steering box.

Not a small job.

What year? Is it still insured? Get it totaled and make it a trailer queen.

its a 98 with low miles, still insured but its my dd, it would break my heart to have her be a trailer queen, but she would make any trailer look good.

It's just a Cherokee, there are tons and tons and tons of them. You can have it fixed, or as said before, have it totaled, buy it back cheap, and start getting radical with it (or buy it back, then fix it and have a cheap DD).

thanks xj92, for repeating what was already said and not helping a bit

Hate to say it, but when you pull the bumper to fix it, do yourself a favor and fix the bumper mounts and make them longer....about another 8 inches back would help alot.

Anyhow, how to fix would either be take it to a frame shop and have them pull it back out or get a BFH and get at it. I think a frame shop would be your best bet, but I've seen people fix them on their own. Another option might be to rebuild it with a section of frame from another Jeep....just chop it in, add splices inside and out of the frame and weld it up carefully.


BTW, any slop at your steering box is bad. You can't put enough force on it to really copy what happens when driving, so if you can move it on your own, its bad.

thanks 53guy, i'm going to get it in this week and have it parked until then.

KyletheJeepguy said:

it would break my heart to have her be a trailer queen, but she would make any trailer look good.

Click to expand...

Are you gay?

KyletheJeepguy said:

thanks xj92, for repeating what was already said and not helping a bit.

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Felt the need to emphasize what was already said since you seem overly attached to your woman that would make any trailer look good.

Off to more interesting threads....

xj92 said:

Are you gay?

Felt the need to emphasize what was already said since you seem overly attached to your woman that would make any trailer look good.

Off to more interesting threads....

Click to expand...

You got me there. I love my Jeep, therefore I must be "gay". I think there are a few thousand people on here who share my love for cherokees, being that this is an XJ forum, so if they are just throw-away vehicles to you then you might want to think about investing in a Ford and leaving the Jeep stuff to us, instead of intruding on posts where there are people with valuable information to help someone in need. Thank you for broadcasting the level of your intellingence on all of . Take care.

chain it to a tree and back up