2001 Cherokee and Rust

[tiburontropic]

I have a 2001 XJ are they just as rust prone as the older vintage? If not when did they seal the bodies better?

 

[cklaus]

first and formost it depends on where your xj has lived and how much moisture, salt, and overall harsh winters it has seen. i have a 2000 and from the underside, the body seems to have a gray enamel undercoating sprayed on it from the factory which i plan to cover with bedliner when it warms up outside. the body has no rust (from my carfax history, it spent its life in tennesee and 2 years in michigan before i got it last year). that said, all the bolts exposed to the outside are thoroughly corroded and have signs of rust when i pull them out (assuming they come out in one piece). as with any other year, spray any bolts with PB blaster before you plan on wrenching. my upper shock bolts snapped and i had to replace them. the large bolts of the suspension came out with no breakage.. but they were thoroughly corroded. Anti-seize is your best friend when reinstalling nearly every bolt you put back in.

 

[needsrepair]

Like he said it very much depends on your location. My son in socal has an 1986 cj7. Hes said when he pulled the front fenders the mating surfaces where like new. No rust on it at all. Sun faded but no rust. i have a 2000 xj in Mich. Its not real bad but its just starting to show at the bottom of the doors. I dont plan on running it in the winter so it should do better. Since I run my vehicles until they are absolute junk and I know I will be wrenching on them for years, I grease/anti sieze the crap out of everything. I have gone through and sprayed a number of different grease, chain lubes, etc. type products in everything I can to prevent rust. I sprayed all the unibody boxed areas, inside the doors and rockers. It drips out for a while but no big deal. Oily metal wont rust. I also use electrical type grease on all electrical connectors. Dont go wild with the grease on Deutch?/weather pack type connectors. If you put too much grease in them it can create a hydraulic effect and push the pins out of the connectors. When I have to use the crimp type connectors I inject them with a little grease before crimping. If you make solder connections grease them and use heat shrink. How many times do see people fighting with lug nuts. That squeeking and squeeling when they force them on and off is eating the crap out of the threads. A little anti sieze will do wonders. Dont go over board. There are some areas to be careful with. OK OK Ill shut up now. I do hate rust though.