I had a loud grinding in the drivetrain and expected my mechanic to tell me I needed a re-build of something. It turned out to be a rusted frame problem.In his description he said "Frame badly rusted out, cross member under transfer case, bolts pulled out of rusted frame". He said (as others have) the frame was poorly designed- there should have been drain holes for the water to escape. It was bad enough for my transmission to hit the ground if i hit a bump too hard. I wonder how many people don't even know about this defect, or how many accidents may have happened because of the rusted frames.

Buying my Jeep new as a retirement present for myself in 2001, I am the original and only owner.

My Jeep is in otherwise beautiful shape with only 89,000 miles. I've spent thousands having it customized to suit my needs so going off-road alone wouldn't be a problem. Last year I bought a teardrop trailer to finally be able to take my dream vacation this fall- and now THIS!

THIS should be a real safety issue, and subject to recall. There is no way the body of an automobile should out-live the frame-ESPECIALLY a Jeep! The ad's show Jeeps barrelling through mud and water, so if anyone should have a frame to last, it sure as hell should have been JEEP!

We need a class-action suit.

I bought this Jeep used for my daughter but it ran and drove fine. After driving it about a year, I was performing maintenance underneath and noticed a small crack just behind where the front control arm bracket is welded to the frame. I reached up to poke it with my finger and was able to poke completely through the side of the frame! I had to decommission the Jeep and tell my daughter she had no wheels because it appeared to me that she was one pot hole away from the frame giving way and entire front axle collapsing under the vehicle. After searching online, I found that others have experienced similar problems; mostly in the North East. This Jeep came out of New York.

Also, after a thorough inspection, I discovered that the central cross member that holds the transfer case was also loose due to the deteriorating frame. The bolts that hold the cross-member had actually started to pull through the frame and it has separated about 1/4" from the frame. I also noted that there were no drain holes anywhere along the lowest point of the frame. That is a design flaw! My solution was to purchase a used frame from a light rollover that came out of N. Carolina and swap the entire frame. Before installing the new frame, I drilled drain 1/2" drain holes 4 inches in front and back of the mounting holes for the central cross-member. I also thoroughly rust proofed the entire frame inside and out. I've been driving it since and have had no further issues with the frame. I'll add some pictures when I figure out what I did with them.