Frame repairs :(

[derrrrr456]

Ok so when I bought my jeep, I knew that I would have to repair the passenger side rear section. It was noticeably rusted and I actually stuck my finger through it before I bought it haha. The jeep was otherwise spotless so I couldnt pass it up even though it had a lil frame damage.Over the past few weeks, it had started flaking rust (probably from moving again and not sitting at the dealership). Then, at the car wash the other day, the high pressure blew the rust right out of the frame leaving this:

Now, taking out a 22 gallon gas tank is a royal pain in the ASS. But I persevered. Using a transmission jack to lower it out of there and busting my knuckles a thousand times to loosen the screws on the hoseclamps. I was intrigued to find that my gas tank was plastic:

Well, then it was on to wirebrushing the hell out of the undercarriage, because I will never see these parts of the jeep again after this repair is done. This is what the crossmember looked like after scraping off the rust flakes and a tiny bit of wirebrushing:

Tomorrow I will finish the rust removal and hopefully get some rust reformer and protective enamel applied to every nook and cranny there is. I also took the opportunity to use my bare hands to clean out any collected dust/packed in mud out of the entire vehicle! My fingernails are black now haha.

Will post pics and a summary of the finished job soon!

[teckman02]

If you have a good welder and I am not talking some110 flux core wire feed a good 220 buzz box would be good or heck if you can TIG weld pull the tub off get yourself some plate and rebuild that area of the frame... Or go out and buy a new frame there are some places that make new replacement frames for the YJ

[COBrian]

Yeah taking the gas tank out is a pain. that is NASTY rust you got there... all the way through, I would totally be concerned about areas you can not see. I know a new frame is a ton of work, but if you are planning on keeping her long term, it might be worth it for peace of mind.

[AJ Quick]

You have more rust than I did... and I eventually had to say screw it and get a new frame.

Learn from my troubles by checking out the blog: http://www.jurassicjeep.com/tag/rust/

[derrrrr456]

The rest of the frame is perfect, solid as solid can be, ive cut out all the cancer back to strong metal that I have no worries about. I have a complete preformed section from quadratec sitting in the barn that I am going to weld on in the next few days. I dont really have any worries whatsoever about the rest of the frame. Maybe I'm crazy, but there really looks to be no problems anywhere

[teckman02]

The rest of the frame is perfect, solid as solid can be, ive cut out all the cancer back to strong metal that I have no worries about. I have a complete preformed section from quadratec sitting in the barn that I am going to weld on in the next few days. I dont really have any worries whatsoever about the rest of the frame. Maybe I'm crazy, but there really looks to be no problems anywhere

Sounds like a plan just burn it in good what kind of welder do you have?

[derrrrr456]

teckman its a Hobart Stickmate LX. Its a pretty decent welder

[derrrrr456]

Some updates on the repair. The bracket shown below shall be welded in tomorrow! I am scrambling around getting ready to take my jeep to a show on wednesday. I found and took care of every single rust spot underneath, spraying rust reformer on every piece of metal that even might think of rusting. On the spots with no rust reformer, i sprayed flat black protective enamel.

A picture of the crossmember for comparison, the lighting was bad, and its hard to get good pictures of the undercarriage, but I can assure you that it looks fantastic. The entire undercarriage of the jeep is now flat black and it looks sensational!

Will post pictures of the finished product!

[ratrace427]

That looks like a quality repair piece, someone took pride in building it. Well as long as it sits good. That area is a fail area so i bet they sell quite a few of those.

[derrrrr456]

Sorry for the very late post... Havent had the time to fiddle around on the forum. Here are some pictures of how the repair came out. The weld went pretty smoothly, although I did end up losing my exhaust bracket, but it doesnt rattle or anything so I don't care.

I sprayed everything underneath with flat black, here is one small section of the frame for a reference to how it looks.

And one pic of the jeep currently, why not!

All she needs is paint and tail lights! ...and the winch, which is sitting on my porch. (Assuming I stick with the #10 build)
More posts to come!