Xj Front End Damage - Fixable?

[Geonovast]

My dad was in a wreck last week. He's fine, but he's looking at totaling out his XJ, which I would like to talk him out of doing if some new parts would fix his XJ. Unfortunately I can't go look at it personally, so I was hoping to get the opinions of you experts to see if fixing it is worth pursuing.

 

[Comanche County]

I think its repairable. If the crumple zone in the inner fender is bent, it might be a pain to get the replacement panels aligned right.

[87manche1]

Id fix it not hard at all ive seen worse

[jimoshel]

You can't accurately assess body damage from a couple pics. But it does look repairable. I'd certainly try before scrapping it. If the right front frame horn isn't bent then it's a R&R job. If it is bent then if not to bad can be straightened. Or cut the piece out and replace. Try opening both front doors will give a clue. Do they open and close freely with no hang ups or noises? If they bind then you have serious body damage.

[xjrev10]

Sir Sam would be able to get er dialed in I bet.

[Geonovast]

He's proving difficult to get on the phone.

 

I'm going to see if he can pop the hood, get some inside pics, and some underneath pics. I know it's hard to assess body damage from pics, but I wanted to see what you guys thought before talking to him about it. Since a good number of you think it's doable, I'll push him to get it fixed. If you guys had said it wasn't worth it, it would be a different story.

 

He's already looking at different XJs, but he's been happy with this one for a number of years, and I'd like to keep him in it/an XJ on the road.

[Alexia]

The inner right fender is going to have significant damage and will need inspection around the door hinges for ripples. This damage is repairable, but generally it requires taking a cut from another XJ to do so. As well, with how far that bumper is pushed in there may be damage at the front frame.

 

Fixable? Yes, but certainly much easier to sell it for parts.

[Garvin]

I have to agree with Alexia. That front bumper is pushed back pretty far meaning there might be actual frame rail damage. If the frame rail is bent then the crumple zones are atleast tweaked some and from the angle of the bumper, the drivers side bumper mounting point is also probably bent (that is an easy fix though). It's almost impossible to say yes or no to repairable unless you can get some pictures of the frame itself.

[Geonovast]

I've finally spoken to him, and he has several concerns about repair. I don't know if he's actually going to get any addition pictures or not, but he's already got a few XJs he's ready to go look at. I've at least got him sold on buying it back from the insurance company. Hopefully its sacrifice can save another XJ. I really don't wanna see it go to a yard. It's astounding it's in as good a shape as it is, he didn't mention what he hit, but apparently it was torn up enough to have an axle removed from the vehicle.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I really really wish I could see it up close, but it's 600 miles away.

[jimoshel]

Where is it?

[Geonovast]

The truck is sitting in Beaver Dam, WI.

[terrawombat]

Looks a lot like the '99XJ I picked up a few years ago:

 

 

 

 

 

Front axle was bent:

 

 

Threw a spare axle on it:

 

 

 

I eventually threw a spare passenger fender on it and drove it for a few months. The inner fender well was pretty dented up, but I was able to use a BFH to straighten it out enough to get the fender holes to line up. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't affect how it drove. I didn't really need the XJ so I parked it, gutted it, used the interior for an MJ conversion and sold off the parts I didn't use. Wound up making a good deal of money on it since I only bought it for $500.