Rocker Replacement Thread (& Cab Corner too)

[jpnjim]

OK,

I did this a while ago, but didn't see a writeup here, so, here goes:

 

This was a $500 MJ that was decent, except for a cab corner that had been stuffed (& fixed with ALOT of Bondo!), and a beat up rust rocker on the same side.

 

I didn't take many pics of the 'damage' directly, but you can see it here:

closeup:

another angle:

[jpnjim]

I just cut the cab corner off with a jigsaw:

 

Then identified what was junk under the corner:

 

 

 

and cut that out too,

I used a drill bit to drill out all the spot welds, but they make a spot weld cutter thyat's supposed to work better:

 

 

 

Clean all the gunk out (there was ALOT of gunk in there) & straighten anything you bent in the removal process:

 

Then just prime & paint (I didn't snap a pic of the final paint):

[jpnjim]

I bought my rocker from Mopar, but just checked again last week, looks like they're discontinued now. :(

 

Not a good thing.

 

 

Anyway, prep the new rocker for welding.

 

You're pretty much welding a flat surface to a flat surface, so the prep & burn isn't tough,

getting the hinge support in place was the hardest part (needed to be straightened after removing the old rocker),

and it wasn't that tough after taking a few measurements from the other side to make sure it was lined up right.

 

Test fit the rocker:

 

Then test fit the 'new' cab corner (this o0ne was cut off my old trail MJ):

 

 

 

 

Then burn it in, and prime over any bare metal:

 

I wasn't in a big hurry to finish, so I screwed the new cab corner temporarily:

and called it done for a while.

[jpnjim]

I'm lacking a few pics of the corner install,

but basically, I cut it to fit where I had removed the other cab corner,

leaving about 1/2" of overlap,

bought a cheap flanger from Harbor Freight to flange the overlap.

Then burned that in too:

 

 

 

 

I cleaned up the welds with a flap wheel on the grinder (no bondo for now), got some rattle can Sienna Pearl, and it turned out pretty good for for a trail Jeep:

[64 Cheyenne]

Nice! Now that I see how you did that, I wouldn't be fearful of doing any work like that along the same lines. :cheers:

[biffklg]

Where did you get the cab corner panels?

[jpnjim]

I cut that one off my old MJ:

 

and the rocker was NOS from Jeep (now unavailable):

[Incommando]

Muffler specs please?

[jpnjim]

It's just Chinese Flowmaster copy, by Thrush,

2.5" tubing, offset/offset.

 

The muffler openings for the 2.5" tubing were way oversized tho, so I had to cut some pie slices out of them, and weld it closed to fit the 2.5" pipe, so I wouldn't recommend it.

 

It does sound good though.

[Incommando]

Thanks. I like how you mounted it.

[Finn]

What year are those Cherokee doors? Were they a direct swap?

[jpnjim]

2001.

 

The doors bolted right on, but the latch post had to be changed to the later style.

I think there's a write up around here somewhere.

[btm24]

I might just do this instead of trying to pull out my dent :ack: Thanks

 

Brandon