RowerJim Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 Recent accident damaged the front end and looks like the front brace on the unibody frame is broken. 86’ 2.5L manual 4x4 What are my options? Do I need a full frame replacement? Can I just get the front piece replaced? Most posts I’ve found suggest getting a donor car and replacing them quickly down the rabbit hole of just upgrading to a 4.0L. I can post a pic once I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 pics will help. otherwise we're just guessing. but yes, it's entirely possible to drill out spots and replace pieces of the front frame for repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 Here are the pics of the damage. From what I can tell I know I’ll need new: fenders, grille, header panel, bumper, all lights and repaired frame. Anything else obvious? Does the frame look repairable? Appreciate the expert help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 that front crossmember is easy to replace. I don't see any wrinkles in the frame horns but you'll need to pull of the bumper to get a better view. all in all I think the patient will pull through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 Whelp went to take the bumper off and turns out a bent the bracket in the perfect spot to not fit a socket on the bumper bolt or bumper bracket bolt. Bent the bracket pretty good. Any suggestions beyond brut strength? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 grab a sawzall and cut off the bumper and anything else in the way. all the wrecked stuff is junk anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandBoost98 Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Looks like a wrench would fit in there. Or you can use a BFH and bang whatever out of your way. But cutting your way to it might be easiest like pete said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Janitor Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 My MJ was in an accident similar to yours. I ended up welding frame stiffeners to repair and reinforce the unibody. Replaced the fenders, hood, header panel. Used oxyfuel to heat up the original "frame" boxes to bend them straight, and lots of clamps to sandwich the frame stiffeners. Quite a bit of fabrication involved if you tackle this yourself. End result: Details in my build thread: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 Thanks Airborne! I'm not the welder you are so once I get it to a shop I’ll have to assess but I do like the idea to reinforce with the unibody and make it bulletproof for any future accidents. Plan to beef up the bumpers as well to help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Janitor Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 3 hours ago, RowerJim said: Thanks Airborne! I'm not the welder you are so once I get it to a shop I’ll have to assess but I do like the idea to reinforce with the unibody and make it bulletproof for any future accidents. Plan to beef up the bumpers as well to help with that. Yup definitely need a welder or know someone who has one. Is insurance going to cover the damage? I'm thinking a shop will want thousands in repairs. Could maybe use that money to buy a welder and the parts to fix it yourself, then pay for a paint job and still come out ahead. Depends on what insurance says and if they total it and all that jazz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSch88L Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 First things first: start by stripping off all the damaged parts; it will help you make your parts list, and you're pretty much garantied to find hidden damage that you can't see right now. Then, measure your frame structure to really know what's going on. I you need them, I have one pic of the unibody blueprints, otherwise I also have the Comanche Body Manual, so I can always take more pics with my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 7 hours ago, OldSch88L said: First things first: start by stripping off all the damaged parts; it will help you make your parts list, and you're pretty much garantied to find hidden damage that you can't see right now. Then, measure your frame structure to really know what's going on. I you need them, I have one pic of the unibody blueprints, otherwise I also have the Comanche Body Manual, so I can always take more pics with my phone. Yup, that’s been my last few days working to strip off the damage best I can in between the rainy days. I’m expecting to find more as I get deeper so hopefully pleasantly surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 Cut the bumper off and looks like the front section definitely needs to be replaced. Hard to tell if either side would though. Looks like the bracket bend into the unibody on one side so hopefully that can just be straightened? side with the bracket is passenger side without the bracket is driver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 the front crossmember is a piece of tin and barely does anything anyways. I don't really see any damage to the frame horns. looks like the crossmember just tore. what's the measurement between the frame rails? I'd be tempted to just bolt another bumper on and drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSch88L Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Here, to get you started! And for the minor tweaking/straightening of small sections, a big crescent wrench and/or the biggest set of channelock you can find will work great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted May 14, 2023 Author Share Posted May 14, 2023 Well it took some time but thought I’d share the results of the repair. Airborne or anybody, I did have some trouble finding all the front end pieces. Anybody know where I can find the final pieces or what I might have gotten wrong. Notice right above the turn signals I’m missing chrome. I think I have 86 bezels but seems there are extra pieces I can’t find. Ideas??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Car Enthusiast Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Damn chrome does look good on these old things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 On 5/14/2023 at 2:01 PM, RowerJim said: Well it took some time but thought I’d share the results of the repair. Airborne or anybody, I did have some trouble finding all the front end pieces. Anybody know where I can find the final pieces or what I might have gotten wrong. Notice right above the turn signals I’m missing chrome. I think I have 86 bezels but seems there are extra pieces I can’t find. Ideas??? those are pretty rare these days. best to put an ad in the wanted section and see if anyone has any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 I think I’ve got a full set of chrome off an ‘86 that I picked up a long time ago before I realized it wouldn’t fit my ‘91. Don’t remember what I did with it. I’ll have to do some digging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 1:35 PM, gogmorgo said: I think I’ve got a full set of chrome off an ‘86 that I picked up a long time ago before I realized it wouldn’t fit my ‘91. Don’t remember what I did with it. I’ll have to do some digging. If you do end up finding it, let me know would be awesome to complete the front end. thanks for searching even if you don’t find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 35 minutes ago, RowerJim said: If you do end up finding it, let me know would be awesome to complete the front end. thanks for searching even if you don’t find it. are you also missing the lower chrome trim that runs under the grille? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowerJim Posted May 19, 2023 Author Share Posted May 19, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 8:37 PM, Pete M said: are you also missing the lower chrome trim that runs under the grille? Hey Pete, Yup missing that one too. Wouldn’t mind a clean top piece either. Was able to salvage the old one from the accident. Have a lead on the bottom piece? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted May 20, 2023 Share Posted May 20, 2023 Unfortunately that box of stuff didn’t make it into my basement during my move last fall. I’m guessing that means it’s sitting in the back of my MJ at my parents’… but hard to say. I’ll have to check next time I’m there. Work insisted on hiring movers for me and it definitely only made the move more stressful. Everything just kinda got unceremoniously dumped into boxes with no obvious organizational logic and then piled in various places at the destination. Seven months later and I still can’t find half my $#!& and so much of it got damaged. Super frustrating. But enough of that rant. If memory serves the early headlight bezels are two pieces, one to go around the corner marker and the other for the headlight, and I believe the marker portion has the upper bit of chrome built into it. I want to say that was my first clue the stuff wouldn’t fit my ‘91, the hole to receive it simply isn’t big enough, but that was ten years ago now so memory of the details is getting a little fuzzy. I think to make the newer chrome parts work you’d need to swap the header panel. I think there’s three generations of header panel/trim, and while it visually looks the same and some will mix and match, not all of it does. I wanna say it’s ‘83-‘86, ‘87-‘90, and ‘91-‘96, eventually reducing the complexity and number of pieces. But I haven’t dug into it much since trying to figure out why the pieces I pulled didn’t fit ten years ago. I’ll keep trying to track that stuff down. I know it exists somewhere, it’s just figuring out where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Janitor Posted May 20, 2023 Share Posted May 20, 2023 On 5/14/2023 at 11:01 AM, RowerJim said: Well it took some time but thought I’d share the results of the repair. Airborne or anybody, I did have some trouble finding all the front end pieces. Anybody know where I can find the final pieces or what I might have gotten wrong. Notice right above the turn signals I’m missing chrome. I think I have 86 bezels but seems there are extra pieces I can’t find. Ideas??? What accident? Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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