Whenever my dad brings it to his work to do stuff to it it gets looked at, seems to me your friend didn't even bother to take it to a mechanic to get it checked out before she bought it, if she had she wouldn't have had that accident, glad she's ok though.

it was....and now its 2010...its 24 years old....this vehicle he is speaking of was a 2001...there is 15 years difference in the vehicles...and they use different coatings nowadays to prevent rust or to try to prevent it....:mrgreen: when the cj7 was made they just had leaky engines and such to try to prevent rust....:mrgreen:

haha.. true.. but that didn't help the one I was looking at.

I'll take any corner you take in your Cherokee at the same speed in my lifted truck. My truck might be a little taller, but it is also twice as wide as your cherokee. Not really an issue unless you are lifted 12 inches riding on 44's.



I look under my vehicles from bumper to bumper every 3,000 miles. I do all my own maintenance and fluid changes. Everytime I change my oil, while I'm waiting for the oil to drain I slide under the whole length of my vehicles with a drop light just checking stuff out, greasing everything, checking u-joints etc etc.
Minions that trust the idiots at the quick lube places to take care of their vehicles make me laugh. When it comes to working on your vehicle you either have to take to a real shop, not a quick lube joint, or just do it yourself.

Fixed it for you..."thumbsup"

Im not disagreeing with you there, but she bought it from the first owner who is a family "friend" of hers. Im pretty sure WV has safety inspections as well, some states the have them mandated also make sellers/buyers have it inspected before the sale. Im not sure why this didnt happen, but it didnt and now a single mom is stranded and her and her daughter almost wrecked because of this weaksauce truck and come to find out, this is a VERY common problem. She has written an email to the NHTSA, Isuzu, and the WV DMV to try and get some resolution, but nothing yet..

What percentage of the general populace does this? Even in rustbelt states I bet it less than 50%. I thoroughly inspect my vehicles as well, but then again Im a broke ass mechanic too:mrgreen:

I agree it is probably not very many people, but if they aren't willing to do it themselves, or take it to a dependable mechanic for service work/inspections it is their own fault.
I worked as a mechanic for about 3 years. Thought it was what I wanted to do for a living. Studied, passed a few ASE tests, then just got flat out burnt out on it. Day after day it was just fixing some other ungrateful jackass's rusted out shitbox.
I'll tell you what though, after working for a good shop with a great reputation and having people bring their vehicles to us after Wal-Mart or some other shop full of high school drop outs screwed their vehicle up, I will NEVER trust my vehicle to a quick lube place of any type.
If I don't have the want or time to fix what is wrong with my rig, I take it to a friend that I know I can trust. I don't even like getting tires put on my rigs after knowing what kind of idiots most places hire to bust tires.

Generally the frame and suspension doesn't rust out on American cars I have seen. I think I would much rather have some rusty rockers or cab corners, than a frame that is about to snap in half.

Yup, we've had some pretty rusty unibody vehicles that lived a lot longer in Illinois ans Iowa than some of these body on frame imports that are rusting apart in states with milder climates.

The bad thing is, my father used to build them at the SIA Plant here in Lafayette, Indiana when they were in production.

It isnt your dads fault though, its the engineers/companies problems for not spec'ing the coating processes/steel quality or thickness better.

Buy german, keep up on maintenance, and NEVER worry about it. also...to avoid rust, move south, you idiots.