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how bad is it??

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  1BeastXJ 
#1 ·
Just bought this as a project - going to learn as I go - how bad is it?? It's a project jeep....
 

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#2 ·
It's not good, that's for sure.
If you want it to be a project, I'd start looking for a replacement tub. That one would be tough to fix.
There are some rust repair panels out there, but it would take an experienced welder with the proper equipment to do all of that and do it right. Not something a novice would want to tackle.
https://raybuck.com/product-category/make/jeep/1997-2006-jeep-wrangler/
Hopefully the frame isn't shot.

Did they pay you well to haul it away for them? ;)
 
#4 ·
No offense but welding isnt hard, and it really iritates me when people who havent actually tried it or havent actually done any restoration try to sway people away from fixing what they have.. It can be done.. His is far from unfixable. Give me a 24 pack of some Hard Cider (dont drink beer) and all the supplies and I would fix his **** for free with his help... I did it to my 90 wagoneer with a $100 90amp flux core welder and i was a complete noob...

Just do your homework... do some practice welds.... on sheet metal from lowes and go to town... My wagoneers floors were wayy way worse and i did it.. My first welded patchs didnt look that great but after and the rest were pretty good beads and the best part is its holding fine. Floorboards are hardly structural.

I could fix those floors with my 4 inch cutting wheel. Some 16ga mild weldable steel.. my drill and wire wheel. And ny 90am flux harbor freight welder in one day..

The body panels are a little different because panels are thinner steel and a flux core burns through metal any thinner then 18ga if youre not carefull. But i habe done outside pillars on my wagoneer as well and after i grinded it down.. bondo and rust reformer and black enamle paint to paint my black paint.. you would never know i did it..

I also did sections of my frame in the rear.. cut out fist sized sections on the channle.. got some 1.8th gauge from lowes.. cleaned it up and welded it on with some good clean beads and its been holding fine for almost a year now. And these welds were on the leaf spring brackets and frame holding the leaf spring brackets..

Dont let ppl scare you off saying you cant do it.... And the 90A flux,core i was told was a ****ty welder... and i dont doubt a mig is much better... but it suited my needs just fine they arent proffesional, but guess what i dont have gaping holes i can stick my hands through and no more exhaust and water getting through either. I know my welds need improvement and I am far from a structural oil rig welder.. But guess what.. IT WORKED its HOLDING and best of all i saved thousands of dollars vs having a "proffesional do it"











 
#5 ·
I'm not trying to scare him away, I'm just being realistic. This is not a small patch job and you will notice I did say:
....it would take an experienced welder with the proper equipment to do all of that and do it right.
Doing it right includes having a safe vehicle in the end.
Patching a floorboard or reinforcing a rail is pretty straight forward, and easy enough to get away with if you don't care what it looks like.
Look at the OP's 5th pic. That tub is ready to fall off. It's unsafe as it is.
Fixing those torque boxes where the tub mounts to the frame is not something I would personally want a novice or slop job on. A crappy job on those would be as unsafe as it is now.

But if the OP wants to trust his life on his welding, best of luck.

Or, as I originally suggested, start shopping for a tub, that one is junk.
 
#6 ·
Yea i can see where the body mounting in the back area it is pretty bad. And i agree now that look at it is would be a lottle hard to do then what i did on my SJs frame and floors. So i do agree the rust on that wrangler is pretty extensive.

Ive done the whole passenger front torque box in our 4.0 Zj and the frame rail inside it with my welder.. It was apot harder to do thrn the frame and floors and it was ugly because i couldnt find sheets of 1.8th in big enough the stuff in lowes are like 4 foot long strips but only 4 inchs wide so i had to weld multiple peices together.. but the torque box on the zj is way bigger girth wise. Lemme find a pic of my torque box i made ill show you.

For his youd have to remove the body to fix it so i can see what you mean on finding a new body. Guess thats the bad thing with body on frame vehicles if the body mounts go the vehicle is really unsafe.. at least on a unibody you wont have the body rolling off the frame lol.


Btw what is with wranglers and rust... its like they made all of these things to purposely rust horribly... I havent seen a ZJ for example or XJ rust nearly as bad..
 
#7 ·
you can buy steel in sheets, like ply wood 4x8 4x10 etc. feet.......most places will even brake cut it a few times free. Lowes is not a great place for steel. Go to steel supply places.

The frame under that poor jeep will be worse, just not seen. Jeeps though it seems the Jks are rusting less? some are 10 years old now in the rust belt. Tjs and older seemed to have a special coating developed in w2 that would make it rust away after a few years, leave no trace. just a mark on the drive way....
 
#9 ·
You also need a cutting wheel and some wire wheels for a electric drill too. I suggest you get all that at harbor freight too, and get the electric drill you pug in not a cordless one. Cordless sucks unless you can get some really expensive lithium one. I bought the red corded one at harbor freight for like $30 or something. And the cutting wheel you want is the 4 inch blue one. Dont get the cheap 3 inch red one. it doesnt cut worth beans. And get alot of 4 inch cutting disks too.

Also i suggest you get some rustolium rust reformer. Harbor freight sells it too, on my frame that was still in good shape but had alot of surface rust and some pitting i just banged it with a hammer to get all the chunky stuff off.. then used my wire wheel and went to town as best as i could. Then i sprayed 3-4 coats of rust reformer on it. Its been 7 months now and the rust hasnt come back.

Also for the 90A flux welder you should get yourself the auto dimming helm which is like $40 and keep it on 10-11 or so for the setting. You will also want a P100 Respirator which the pink duel cartriges which lowes or a welding shop sells. And get your self some wrap around goggles.. No glasses, actual goggles. And some hearing protection.

Trust me when welding it puts off alot of nasty fumes and dust.. Same when you wire wheel metal clean, specially rusted metal.. Without a respirator you are going to be tasting metal and rust in your mouth and have it stuck in your nose. Im sure you dont want to get cancer. And the goggles are for when you clean the metal so you dont get **** or little wire from the wire wheel stuck in your eyes.. And ear protection so you dont lose your hearing from cutting the metal and so forth.

Oh and you should get a different tip for your welder. The black tip that unscrews on the harbor frieght 90A welder is for a mig gas welder. Get a black tip for a flux core. It exposes the copper wire feed tip and gives you better welds for flux. You should also get yourself some .30 and .35 wire from lowes or a weld shop. Its better then the harbor freight stuff. And you want some .35 and .30 copper tips too

you can buy steel in sheets, like ply wood 4x8 4x10 etc. feet.......most places will even brake cut it a few times free. Lowes is not a great place for steel. Go to steel supply places.

The frame under that poor jeep will be worse, just not seen. Jeeps though it seems the Jks are rusting less? some are 10 years old now in the rust belt. Tjs and older seemed to have a special coating developed in w2 that would make it rust away after a few years, leave no trace. just a mark on the drive way....
Lowes was for fine for sheet metal for bodies and floors. They have 14-16-18 gague sheets that are pretty big and worked just for patchs like mine. But the thicker metal like 1/8th for frames and so forth was in little 4 inch by 3foot long sections which really sucked lol.

Also here our 98 ZJ 4.0 with extensive rust on the torque box and frame.. I fixed this with the harbor freight flux welder too.. This is where i had ti weld multiple 1.8th sheets together which sucked.. I didnt think to go to a steel supply place but then we pretty much have none, they are all out of business.

Anyway here is before and after. I know its alot of welds but doesnt matter, its fixed and its been holding fine for 4 months. And yes i left that bottom section open purposely there always was a drain there, but was too small and sand and dirt got stuck in the torque box and this is how it rusted from the start. And yes i know my welds are heavy handed.. If anyone doesnt like em they can suck my nuts, at least i fixed it myself and saved a ton of money

Now about that wrangler.. The only things i dont like that scares me is the rust thats inside the panel where the tail light is. That i dont know if you can fix tbh
 

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#8 ·
thanks to all who responded!!

I'm going to buy the harbor freight welder and some sheet metal and attempt to fix it!! I'm not looking for it to be perfect, but also considering using rear corner guards to cover up the bad hole in the back.

I found a local steel supply house for sheet metal, and researched using c channel to fix body mount rail

I will post pics as I go..waiting for alignment shop to fix it, then I get to go to work.

thanks!!
 
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