I have a 2001 TJ Sport that I have owned since new. Bought it with 17 miles on the odometer and now have about 155k. It is no longer a daily driver it but I love this thing and it is the one vehicle that I thought I would always keep. It lived part of it's life in Maryland but mostly on the Virginia side outside of DC.
Last week, I brought it in to have a mild lift installed. 2 inch springs, new Fox shocks and stabilizer, adjustable track bars, and a transfer case lowering kit. The shop calls me at the end to tell me they are not able to install the lowering kit due to frame rust because the nutserts are just spinning and unfortunately there is some drive line vibration. Dagger. My Jeep has been babied its entire life and the interior/tub/engine are absolutely mint. While I knew there was some frame rust, I had my fingers crossed that obsessive maintenance and cleaning would have limited most of the damage to the surface. Unfortunately this was not the case and rust has eaten the frame from the inside out.
The shop that installed the lift put me in touch with another that can fix the section by welding in a safety cap for around $1600 or cutting some holes to weld in a new nut and patch for half that. After running through some options such as a tummy tuck or SYE to eliminate drive line issues, I ultimately picked up my Jeep and drove it directly to the next shop to do the safety cap fix. I am not sure if this was the right move but I am not quite ready to let this one go just yet especially with the new lift as well as mechanical and cosmetic condition. It's just the darn frame rust that it no doubt contracted in just a few years up north.
I was just wondering if I did the right move or should I have just cut my losses and moved on? I switched up to a Land Cruiser for family adventures and all this money could have made one pretty awesome rig. But I figured I expect to get another 10 years or so of faithful service out of my TJ and was just not quite ready to move on at this time.
Thanks.
Last week, I brought it in to have a mild lift installed. 2 inch springs, new Fox shocks and stabilizer, adjustable track bars, and a transfer case lowering kit. The shop calls me at the end to tell me they are not able to install the lowering kit due to frame rust because the nutserts are just spinning and unfortunately there is some drive line vibration. Dagger. My Jeep has been babied its entire life and the interior/tub/engine are absolutely mint. While I knew there was some frame rust, I had my fingers crossed that obsessive maintenance and cleaning would have limited most of the damage to the surface. Unfortunately this was not the case and rust has eaten the frame from the inside out.
The shop that installed the lift put me in touch with another that can fix the section by welding in a safety cap for around $1600 or cutting some holes to weld in a new nut and patch for half that. After running through some options such as a tummy tuck or SYE to eliminate drive line issues, I ultimately picked up my Jeep and drove it directly to the next shop to do the safety cap fix. I am not sure if this was the right move but I am not quite ready to let this one go just yet especially with the new lift as well as mechanical and cosmetic condition. It's just the darn frame rust that it no doubt contracted in just a few years up north.
I was just wondering if I did the right move or should I have just cut my losses and moved on? I switched up to a Land Cruiser for family adventures and all this money could have made one pretty awesome rig. But I figured I expect to get another 10 years or so of faithful service out of my TJ and was just not quite ready to move on at this time.
Thanks.