Went wheeling a little this weekend and the rusty spot on my fender finally crumbled, the problem is it took more with it then i expected. after further investigation this area has had body filler in it before and painted (before i bought it it 3 years ago). i have 3 bottles of upol raptor shake and shoot spray at the shop so whatever i come up with to fix this will be covered regardless. Im open to all suggestions. there is no metal left there to work with all crumbling or gone. oddly enough all other wheel wells look fantastic 0 rust. any way drop ideas my way, open to anything. I even toyed with the idea of construction adhesive. nothing off limits except ducktape
Angle grinder.
Cutoff wheels.
Snips.
PnP yard.
Cut from donor for max overlap.
Take much photos.
Fab ghetto rigging for positioning donor material using existing material (sans trim.)
Cut minimum from victim.
Clean edges.
Align via ghetto rigging.
Using _________ (double stick tape, duct tape, magnets) for temp hold.
Tack weld or rivet donor material.
Epoxy primer.
Body filler overlaps
Primer.
Rust inhibitor rattle can.
Or just skip straight to last step because why not.
You're going to need new metal, that's for sure. It's up to you whether you pick it from a junked WJ or order a replacement panel.
I wouldn't overlap metal when you stick the new piece on. I'd cut it out to fit then weld, grind flat, and skim coat before covering with your choice of finish.
is there a non metal way to go about this? I realize i could go down that road with multiple crappy ways to piece this together by not going about this the correct way and welding. but is there an acceptable alternative that does not require fabing in a new dog leg?
i really dont want to do that as i am not the worlds best welder or fabricator...still may go that route but wondering what the best non welding option is so i know what im looking at for options.
In other words, welding would be the #1 choice, but if i wasn't going to weld what would be the next best option?
Do it right or not at all. Get a new replacement panel and cut to fit, butt welds, grind, skim coat and paint it. Enjoy many years of rust-free wheeling.
Thanks, I am going after it this weekend I believe. Going to first strip it down and see how far the rust goes. Then decide if I'm going to weld in a new dog leg (the right way) or use a get me by type fix. There is quite a bit more rust on the bottom of this thing that has worked its way from the inside out so I am not thrilled about any kind of fix that is going to outlast the rest of the body....I have 175k on the tach and expect the 4.0 to go another 10 million miles, but the body will be lucky to get another 75k. Odd thing is the exterior only has one blemish that you can see and its this spot. But more is coming and will all come at once.
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