You've seen bodies rust. You've seen frames rust. I even posted a photo about two years ago of some leaf springs that had rusted through. But have you ever seen an axle rust?
I stopped driving my Cherokee when I put the T-Bird on the road, and recently went to move it around in the yard. I heard a clunking when turning the wheel, and when I got under to look I saw the track bar and shimmy shock mount had broken clean off the front axle and the spring perch was paper thin and swiss cheese. There is not enough of the bracket left to rebuild, so I need a new axle. This is a 1996 model year, the same Jeep I'd replaced the entire floor in last year...
On the plus side it'll be a good excuse to upgrade (the Jeep currently has 3.07 gears, most Cherokees have automatics and 3.55 gears). I'm also gonna lift the thing while I'm swapping axles.
The damage:
Holy !!! Through all the wicked heat and humidity and tornadoes,I wouldn't trade for anywhere else.No rust here (unless something is buried in wet ground for years,or under water for years).I sent Daminc a set of springs and other parts.Some over 20 years old,and look nearly new.I can NOT imagine having to deal with that.A lot of the cars you guys call "rebuildable" due to rust we would call a parts car.That is CRAZY.
it, man, it. .
ive seen spring hangers rust, ive seen the spring purches (SP) rust, But just ! ive never in my years living in the rust belt have never seen that.
wow, that is bad.
you might want to inspect the rest of the car for something you may have missed.
Wow!
rather impressive! BTW, are you saying your '96 Cherokee has a manual? 4.0L? I'm looking for a manual trans for a 4.0L efi Jeep, in case you decide to part it out.
You are nuts! LOL. I nearly melted the last time I went back down south. And trading rust for a 1,300% reduction in tornado warnings every week seems like a steal to me. I can't tell you the last time I ped my pants because that triangle shaped cloud almost looks like a funnel cloud.
Right, I dont know what I would do down there. It was bad enough last weekend when a few tornadoes came through here and killed 5 people, destroyed a school, took out a police station and flipped half their cruiser fleet. There were like 60 or so homes/buildings damaged or destroyed. Thats about the worst I've ever seen here. But the thing is thats like, every weekend down here.
You win Carm.... I can't beat that.
Rust vs. Twisters is kinda skewed though....
Rust...will happen to everything out there that's not protected..
You have a lot bigger chance of dying from a bee sting than from a tornado.
(of course, my own logic may be flawed-I've been IN 2 tornadic storms, seen 10 or 12, and been stung by a bee once. came close enough to needing an ambulance from the bee.)
But then again, we get rust AND stem-winders, so they both can politely kiss my skinny ass.
I've checked it over, and this is the only (remaining) rust. I replaced the floors from firewall to tailgate and rocker to rocker last year. I also replaced the rockers themselves. I was actually thinking about selling it and buying a small truck, but now I've got to do all this work I'm lifting it and keeping it.
It is a 4.0/5-speed, but I'm not parting it out. The body is too good and drivetrain too strong. It only took an hour and a half to have the front axle out, so it's not really that big a job.
Ok, now I know it's bad, when it beats Jerry...
BTW, hope you've had a tetb-hole shot recently :hick: :rollin:
I've seen rust so bad you can't figure out what kind of car you're looking at. Nova Scotia is definitely the place ferrous metals go to die. That's about as nasty as I've ever seen an axle, though, and by far the worst Jeep.
Wow, that is impressive. You have raised the bar.
If you live in the tornado belt, you just learn to turn up the TV. It'll drown out those tornado sirens.