Suprmn
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Des Moines, WA
I have done a bunch of searching and cant quite find the answer to my question. I have a 1988 Cherokee that is built. 5.5 clayton long arm lift, exocage, etc. etc. I have been working on this thing for years. When I bought it, it was a heavily wheeled rig and had cracks in the body at the top of the hatch that I welded back up. The front door hinges were jerked away from the body so far that I had to sledge hammer them back and do some welding to get the doors to work again. Rear frame crushed, but plated, repaired and working. The jeep when I bought it was a trailered wheeler. I have worked my butt off to make it a freeway capable rig again as we freeway travel between offroading. I know this wasn't the smartest way to go, but I wanted an exocage, and this one was nicely done, so I went for it. When I wheel it, the creeks and squeaks of the body are plentiful. It might just be me, but it "feels" like the body is flexing A LOT. It just doesn't feel like a "solid" jeep. Enough, that when I am really crossed up I expect the windshield to pop out. This always kind of bothered me. Then after I rode in my buddy's XJ with 320K on the odo and his doesn't squeak almost AT ALL when wheeling. It really has a solid feel. So, it makes me feel like my unibody might have seen better days and might be nearing the end of its life. All that being said, absolutely no cracks in the frame rails, or anywhere other than around the hatch. All doors and the hatch always open. I am getting ready for my next phase of mods, which will be pretty spendy, permanent mods that I cant switch to another jeep, etc. We wheel pretty knarly stuff, so the jeep will continue to get a workout. If I try some more plating to stiffen things up and tie in's to the exocage, am I likely to attain that solid feel I am looking for, or once these bodies have been flexed for so long is it a losing game with eventual body failure? I am considering buying another XJ to start over with. A stocker with no wheeling history. This means a ton of work to do all over again, so that is my dilemma. Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks in advance.