I’ve honestly been very lucky with my Jeep. My previous daily driver was a 2009 Subaru Legacy, and while it may have been excellent in the snow it had a very high cost of ownership. I figured out that it was costing me on average $100 in maintenance per 1000 miles travelled. It may sound silly to have sold the Subaru and bought a Jeep that was 9 years older but I have zero regrets doing so. The Jeep has never left me stranded, and never surprised me with an issues until recently.

With winter approaching fast, and my Civic only having summer tires I needed to hurry up and finish the Cherokee. The Civic was also suffering from a stuck open thermostat that ensured the engine temperature never reached operating temp, and my heat was always cold.

Patching Holes

This post is a continuation of the mini series about restoring my old XJ cherokee. In the previous post I talked about cutting out and welding in a new rocker panel.

This post is the second part in my mini-series of restoring my old xj cherokee. If your interested, check out my attempt at saving the rusty roof.

Like most xjs out there, especially those in the rustier parts of the US, the rocker panels needed some love. I never really captured a good before shot of the rust on the passenger side rocker. It was roughly 9" in length and about 3" wide. I finally decided it was time to fix it when I managed to puncture a hole in it using my key. (You can even see the hole in the picture if you look close).

I’m a big fan of older vehicles. I just love the simplicity of them and how easy they are to work on them. Plus the cost of parts really can’t be beat. Since my civic is far from snow worthy I also own a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. It may not be the prettiest vehicle out there but it’s never let me down, and has successfully traveled 20,000 miles in it’s first year of owner ship with a couple road trips ranging in the 800-1000 mile range.