Question from a Jeep newbie

Nitro Junkie

Nitro Junkie

New Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
11
Location
NJ
Hello all. I bought an 05' Sport back in October. It's a silver 4.0L automatic hardtop with 83k miles, 2" lift and 32" BF Goodrich tires. It had 79k when I bought it. I had noticed what looked to be a spot of surface rust on the passenger side frame rail where the front of the skid plate bolts to the frame. Turns out, it's a little worse than I thought. It now has a dime size hole where the rust was. There's also some rot on the drivers side where the front trailing arm bolts to the frame. Other than that, it's in great condition.
How much does this devalue the vehicle? I paid $10,000, and I've been thinking about selling it.
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Nice clean looking Jeep from the pic. I'm sure to get any appropriate replies on your question people are gonna want to see pics of frame and rust your referring to. Also just from what I've seen so far, if you see a dime it's usually a lot more than just that. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Good Luck
 
I wouldn't be focused on selling it due to the rust you found. I'd be focused on how much rust there is, how much it would take to repair it all and how much that would cost.

Pictures of the frame would certainly help us help you. The picture you show looks like a great TJ for $10,000 that may only be sold much cheaper due to the rust or maybe a great TJ that is totally worth fixing.
 
Thank you both for your replies. I will post some pics when I get home. I bought the Jeep from a friend of my family who's in his 70's. It's never been off-road. The top hasn't ever been off according to him. I guess I trusted him too much. Other than the previously mentioned rot on the frame, it's immaculate. Inside and out. Pics of the frame coming shortly.
 
What you would lose selling it might be close to what it would cost to fix it. The body looks great in the pics, so it could be worth the effort, so long as there's not a lot most rust hiding underneath that's ready to break through.
 
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Here's a couple pics of the rot I mentioned in my first post. The one I originally said was the size of a dime is now a little bigger because I pushed at it with my finger, and some more rot broke away. The other picture is the rot I mentioned on the driver's side frame rail just behind the trailing arm. These are the only two spots on the frame that have rot that I can find.
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That's not the best frame I've ever seen but it sure is far from the worst. I'd tap around those holes with a ball peen hammer and see how big they want to be. I'd also tap around the rest of the frame to see how strong the rest of it is. Then I'd follow that up by trying to loosen the bolts holding the skid plate onto the frame to see if the nutserts spin. on this Jeep that would be 4 per side At the very worst that frame might need the long safety caps, but so far it may just need two short ones.
 
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Yeah, take a hammer and start testing the frame. Check the frame where the skid plate mounts too. It might look ok, but it's a very common rot area.
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the amount of brine NJ sprays on the roads around here in the winter.
 
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