How bad is this Cherokee rust?

thekidwithquestions

Acquiring Jeep funds...
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So my brother bought a 1996 Jeep Cherokee 2 door 4x4, really neat little car, he got it for what we thought was a good price, but it turns out it has a lot of rust on the under body, some spots we were even able to stick a screwdriver through, so I attached a few pics to get some feedback.

Is it worth attempting to fix/get it fixed? or should he sell it and go for something less risky?

This is right above the exhaust pipe
F90EC5AE-84A2-4A8D-B773-1564AAEF847B.jpeg



This is a piece of metal the PO welded on to hold the brake cable
C205FF39-044A-4AE7-8079-9E719A6B034D.jpeg



58C716B6-008B-4B19-ABB5-26A381C290B2.jpeg


This is along the driver side uni-frame(?)
F90A1EE6-4DAB-40BE-8BDF-0187312C4199.jpeg
 
How's the rest of it? I bought a 5-speed, 2-door last winter, and kind of regrettably sold it this spring. Now I am learning to weld and feel like the one spot of rust would not have been an issue to fix, the steering box area. But also after dealing with my tj that needs a couple of fixes still I can say I do not want to purchase any more vehicles with rust, but mechanical problems no issue!
 
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Cherokee's rust more than wranglers do! Its all fixable, if you're motivated to do so. They will also drive down the road quite well with rusty doors, rocker panels and floorboards. For a first car that will most likely end up wrecked, just drive it.

Oh, and if you have to ask...its probably too much rust
 
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^^^ ... but seriously, I rebuilt a 95 XJ which included replacing the floors, cargo area floor, sills, etc. and it's all doable. The cargo area floor is no longer available but they're not hard make short of all the stampings. The hardest part is the part of the floor that is under the rear seats. Replacement panels aren't available, making them is difficult and it's a hard area to get to. For the most part rebuilding an XJ is no more difficult than doing similar uniframe vehicles. "Uniframe" and not "unibody" is the word the factory used. I guess they thought is sounded "stronger".
 
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@thekidwithquestions I think your brother's intentions with this Jeep are important. Does he expect and need this to be a long term daily driver, or does he have intentions of beating on it in the mud and rocks? If this needs to be his one and only reliable daily driven ride, I'd start looking for another one to replace it. If it will be a secondary ride that will see mud and trail time, I'd keep it and start cutting and welding when I had time.
 
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