Is this crazy or worth it, swapping bodies?

[troy]

I guess it is not techinically swapping bodies, but buying the same vehichle only in better shape and swapping all my stuff onto it.

My current XJ is nice, but getting up there in miles and is starting to rust (MN rust, not CA rust). I could fix it (would only be a matter of time, since rust is in all the door seams and winshield channel) and paint it, but even if I did all the work it would be easily $1,000. The transmission also needs a new torque converter.

Realistically my Jeep is worth $1,500-2K ('98 XJ, 242K). I'd likely dress up a replacement vehicle in the same fashion:

- OME Lift
-OME shocks
- D30 all rebuilt with new hubs and brakes.
- 8.25 (new factory replacement with 4.10 and tracloc and ZJ discs)
- BFG or Duratracs
- Nice stereo system (Alpine w/ipod, Infinity seperates, sub/amp)
- Husky floor mats and cargo area
- Heated seats
- rearview mirror with compass/temp

I'd likely get little additional dollars by keeping my Jeep complete with the above items. However, to buy these for a new vehicle would cost a pretty penny. I also have all new steering, control arms, and the rest of the rubber replaced on my current Jeep that could be swapped over. New Battery, starter, alternator, the list goes on.

I realize there is labor involved, but am I nuts to buy the cleanest '97-01 XJ I can find and swap all this stuff over, then sell my jeep with the stock parts on it to recoup some cost? I figure after the smoke has cleared I'll only be out a couple thousand and will have a vehicle with 100K less miles and little to no rust.

I could then add front and rear bumpers without feeling like I'm wasting money. Thinking ARB front and TJM or Detours rear tires carriers. The other option is to sell the whole works and buy a newer vehcile to outfit, but It's likely get to be $10-15K to get it where I wanted.



Here is a little on my current rig:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24715

Any thoughts are appreciated. I try not to talk to my wife about this stuff, as she does not understand.

[KevinR]

Do it. At least for me, I find working on the Jeep to be therapeutic (assuming nothing goes terribly wrong). An XJ is a great platform and if you've already put so much into modifications, why not get another vehicle that they'll transfer too? You're right, you would get hosed selling it with those modifications on it.

[brushogger]

Sounds like a great plan. Dealing with northern states rust is a never ending and expensive battle. Moving the goodies and putting the stock parts on your old jeep is very smart. This is particularly a good idea for a vehicle such as the XJ where there is a relatively cheap supply of good clean trucks from other parts of the country. To me it's well worth a 12-18 hour drive to retrieve one, but I hate dealing with rust. Nothing worse when maintaining a vehicle.

[DaJudge]

I would buy another stock XJ in good condition and swap everything over. I think you have already realized that you would be money ahead to do this. Put all of the stock stuff on your current one and sell it for whatever you can get. In the end you will have a newer vehicle, built the way you want it, and a little cash to help with the bumper purchase.

[kc0tma]

I don't know, for me it seems a little crazy. Really what it comes down to is do you want to uninstall all the parts twice then reinstall all the parts twice and have to sell a rust bucket, or do you just want to drop some extra cash and start from scratch? Personally I'd go with option two but only because I'm lazy.

[96discoXD]

I'd do it. the problem with rust is that it's often like an iceberg, you only see ten percent of what's really there. I think that is especially true on a unibody vehicle. When I decided to get a wrangler, I really wanted a 4.0 5speed with a hardtop, but it's so hard to find a solid YJ that I ended up getting a 2.5 with a soft top because the frame and tub were perfect. Just my $.02.

[troy]

I don't know, for me it seems a little crazy. Really what it comes down to is do you want to uninstall all the parts twice then reinstall all the parts twice and have to sell a rust bucket, or do you just want to drop some extra cash and start from scratch? Personally I'd go with option two but only because I'm lazy.

That does sound crazy, but my rationale is that I would not get much if any extra money for the upgrades selling it as is. Then on top of that I'd have to pay full going rate to reaccumulate the parts that I essentially gave away.

I'm a little lazy, but I'm cheaper than I am lazy. I have the cash in the bank to buy something else (a hundy cruiser has crossed my mind), but I keep coming back to having a very nice cherokee for only a couple thousand more than I have invested. Every other option I think of quickly spirals into a $10K+ build. I like vehicles that last a long time and are already depreciated to near zero. I'd keep this one, but the spots the rust is in would be a never ending battle.

The bulk of the work is swapping the axles and that just insn't that difficult. I've done it enough times that I'm just not concerned about the work. I do appreciate you being honest and it did cause me to think about the amount a work would be double.

Selling my the rusty parts Jeep shouldn't be difficult. I don't expect much out of it, it everything works great and I'll price it right. Just thinking it through at this point.

[mcneil]

Nice XJ, Troy.

I think you got it right.. rusted (I'm native NY, so I know true rust) unibodies are almost never worth fixing.

The only deviation from your plan that I suggest is keep the old jeep as a parts mule. Not sure what your local market is like, but I can't imagine getting more than $1500 for a good condition XJ with that many miles. Additionally, you're going to cut a lot of stuff to get those axles and suspension off. Leaf spring bolts that have to get cut off, brake lines that crack when loosened, etc. By the time you're done, you're probably looking at ~$300-$400 in new hardware to get the old chassis sell-able. Might as well just keep it for parts at that point.

[troy]

Nice XJ, Troy.

I think you got it right.. rusted (I'm native NY, so I know true rust) unibodies are almost never worth fixing.

The only deviation from your plan that I suggest is keep the old jeep as a parts mule. Not sure what your local market is like, but I can't imagine getting more than $1500 for a good condition XJ with that many miles. Additionally, you're going to cut a lot of stuff to get those axles and suspension off. Leaf spring bolts that have to get cut off, brake lines that crack when loosened, etc. By the time you're done, you're probably looking at ~$300-$400 in new hardware to get the old chassis sell-able. Might as well just keep it for parts at that point.

I have thought about keeping the Jeep for parts, but I'm positive the wife would not allow it. Most of the points of concern have been apart recently and living in the Midwest like I do, I liberally paint and coat with anti-seize (leaf spring bolts). Brake line had to be addressed when I did my ZJ disc conversion. Hopefully the replacement Jeep will be in nice enough shape to not have so many problems due to the elements.

As a backup plan I have a U-pull junkyard about 15 miles from me and they always have a handful of XJs there. Plus, I usually try to replace with new parts when financially possible.

[The Adam Blaster]

Have you looked around to see if there is a built XJ with low miles on it for a reasonable price?

I had been thinking along the same lines as you though, buy a lower mileage XJ and use that as a daily driver, wheel the "big" XJ and probably break it to bits at some point, then swap everything over. My case is a little bit different because I want to get a RHD Japanese XJ, but that's pretty specific to my needs.

It seems that buying a built machine is the smarter choice financially.

[troy]

Have you looked around to see if there is a built XJ with low miles on it for a reasonable price?

I had been thinking along the same lines as you though, buy a lower mileage XJ and use that as a daily driver, wheel the "big" XJ and probably break it to bits at some point, then swap everything over. My case is a little bit different because I want to get a RHD Japanese XJ, but that's pretty specific to my needs.

It seems that buying a built machine is the smarter choice financially.

If there was a buillt one that had tasteful mods that I liked for the right price, I wouldn't hesitate. However, the majority of the built XJs for sale are not of the expo style and are usually done with an eye towards the least amount spent to get the biggest tires on it.

I will be keeping an eye out for XJs that already have a nice winch bumper and/or tire carrier on them. At this point I'm most concerned with overall condition and then add the parts that I currently own to it. Nice paint, little to no rust are my biggest concerns. I'm not even too concerned with miles, especially if it came from the south west.

[Dr. Jones]

The ol' XJ body swap is actually pretty common practice. My brother-in-law has done it twice... but he has a lot of free time.

[Bad Karma]

I am doing it right now... Bought my Scrambler in California, swaping all my stuff from my CJ-7 onto an aftermarket frame, swaping all the CJ-8 stuff onto my CJ-7, then selling the CJ-7.

[Root Moose]

If you like the platform, do it. To me, hopping in the Cherokee is like slipping on an old shoe. Very comfy. If something happened to mine I'd buy another and transfer the parts without even thinking about it.

I made a point of not winter driving mine anymore and took it out of daily driver service once I started modifying it. You may want to consider same for the new XJ.

[wjeeper]

I would buy another stock XJ in good condition and swap everything over.

X2!

As my friends say: "Cherokees are like diapers, run them till they are messed up, then change it out"

I know a guy that has had three Cherokees.....same long arm kit, bumpers, tire carrier, roof rack and axles (lockers/ gears/ etc) just bolts it under a different jeep. He rolled the first two Cherokees and simply transferred the parts to the new one and parted out the old Jeep. One side benefit is you can use the old rig for parts to spruce up the new one.

If we were talking about a rare rig swapping the bodies might be worth it. Cherokees are dime a dozen. They are literally all over the place and its easy to find one in great shape......why go to all the trouble of a body swap?

[cocco78]

Hard to tell from the pics in the other thread but that Jeep doesn't look bad at all. I think it would be a waste of your time especially since is so mildly built to go through all that work. I mean I know people that have used XJ's hard and after a few seasons swapped there custom lift and axles to newer XJ's. I could see if you had thousands tied up into it. Who knows tho, I could see myself doing something like that... I'd probably just pick up a wreck or something to swap in a newer engine/trans/tcase unless it was really to rusted to do that.

Oh, I'm over in the UP so I know rust just as much as you do! It sucks. I've been on the lookout for a decent clean low mileage XJ and haven't found anything decent within 500 miles :Wow1:

[Momrocks]

This is a pretty common practice. People I know have done the same thing after a couple of flops. I can understand living in the rust belt that the same thing is required. Money wise I feel it's your best play.

:safari-rig:

[troy]

Hard to tell from the pics in the other thread but that Jeep doesn't look bad at all. I think it would be a waste of your time especially since is so mildly built to go through all that work. I mean I know people that have used XJ's hard and after a few seasons swapped there custom lift and axles to newer XJ's. I could see if you had thousands tied up into it. Who knows tho, I could see myself doing something like that... I'd probably just pick up a wreck or something to swap in a newer engine/trans/tcase unless it was really to rusted to do that.

Oh, I'm over in the UP so I know rust just as much as you do! It sucks. I've been on the lookout for a decent clean low mileage XJ and haven't found anything decent within 500 miles :Wow1:

Thanks, the Jeep is really nice all the way around and as I'm looking at what is for sale out there my 240K heep is in better shape than most with 100K (except the rust). I'm in no rush to dump it, it is just after living in the midwest for 30+ years, I know when you start to see rust it will quickly develop into a problem. I'm not talking about a little surface rust. It is not uncommon to find surface rust on things like hood hinges of new JKs on dealer lots up here. That is part of the reason I'd have a hard time dropping $20-40K on a new vehicle only to have it die a slow death in the salt.

There has been a few that have said to not drive the Jeep in winter and find another daily ride. I just can't justify this as I have other vehicles which I consider my fun vehicles taking up storage spaces. I actually view my Jeep as the vehicle to abuse so my other vehciles don't see rain/snow etc.

It will probably be one of those deals where I wait until something comes up that I can't stop myself from purchasing. We'll see. I'm actually surprised at how many people on this board think this is a good idea.

[Metal Twister]

Component swaping is fairly painless and makes perfect sense. Take all the good stuff off the old rig chop up whats left and put it in the dumpster. Its a fairly regular event around here. :coffeedrink: I just put a FSJ Cherokee body on a Blazer frame. That took a little fab work as well as mixing and matching of parts. Id do it again but I would give it a lot more thought before doing it again. :Wow1: Swaping over compenents made for the same type vehicle would be easy, fast, and cheap. If ya like the vehicle that much it sounds like a logical plan to me. Take pics so we can watch the progress... Ready, Set, Goooooooo:smiley_drive:

[njjeepthing]

You could do everything listed above or just buy this one already done!
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50033:Wow1:

[XXXpedition]

i'd swap everything over. a friend of mine did just that - took him two weeks to go from a 89 XJ to a 99 XJ.
he bought a clean low-mile 99 for 4k and he sold the 89 (back to stock) for a grand...

[cocco78]

Thanks, the Jeep is really nice all the way around and as I'm looking at what is for sale out there my 240K heep is in better shape than most with 100K (except the rust). I'm in no rush to dump it, it is just after living in the midwest for 30+ years, I know when you start to see rust it will quickly develop into a problem. I'm not talking about a little surface rust. It is not uncommon to find surface rust on things like hood hinges of new JKs on dealer lots up here. That is part of the reason I'd have a hard time dropping $20-40K on a new vehicle only to have it die a slow death in the salt.

There has been a few that have said to not drive the Jeep in winter and find another daily ride. I just can't justify this as I have other vehicles which I consider my fun vehicles taking up storage spaces. I actually view my Jeep as the vehicle to abuse so my other vehciles don't see rain/snow etc.

It will probably be one of those deals where I wait until something comes up that I can't stop myself from purchasing. We'll see. I'm actually surprised at how many people on this board think this is a good idea.

Yep, rust sucks. I don't drive my Wrangler in the winter anymore after I built it to help protect it from the damn road salt. I have a 99 GMC Sierra 1500 I use for yard work, towing the camper or the Jeep, and to drive in the winter months. The truck was well taken care of from the day it was new, it even spent 5 years living in North Carolina. Now its got rust through above all 4 wheel wells, both the inner and outter rockers are rusted away, along with the cab corners :Wow1: But it runs good so maybe after it rusts away I'll pull the 5.3L Vortec and 4l60e and drop them in my Comanche :smiley_drive:

I just recently sent one of the coolest vehicles I've ever owned to the crusher, 83 AMC Eagle wagon... It was beyond saving :( It looked good from the outside but underneath there was nothing left from the seats on back...
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs374.snc3/23977_1268276986160_1206893872_30665562_2730917_n. jpg

[bldeagle10]

IMO i would buy a newer less abused xj. rust free. then before throwing on all the parts strip it down and do as much as you can to prevent rust! spray bedliner or get duplicolors underbody deal done. or Line-X's underbody spray done. do the same under carpets. and any areas you notice rust on your current jeep. scour the vehicle and find anywhere that the factory paint is thin or they missed spraying (i found tons of spots but i dont have much to worry about since im in dry arizona :]...) cover those areas with paint or liner depending where they are. then swap parts over.

its alot of work and money but im VERY OCD about stuff like this and in my mind its worth it in the end

[Hill, Bill E.]

.

As a backup plan I have a U-pull junkyard about 15 miles from me.

East bethel, or Rosemount?:ylsmoke:

I'd swap the parts, especially if your current ride is set up the way you like it.


This stinking rust of MN is why my CJ gets stuck in the barn this time of year.

I love driving it, but as it's 30 years old, and from TX, it doesn't see any salt.

I use my XJ as my winter DD, and once rusted out, I plan on doing the same thing.

Heading south or west, and finding a really nice '98-'99 XJ and swapping my axles/suspension/bumpers/skids/etc.