Is this rust concerning?

BeMore

BeMore

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Joined
Aug 29, 2020
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Location
Long Island, NY
Hey all,

Current JK owner and looking to purchase a 2004 Rubicon. The rig is super clean and obviously has rust. I hit the frame with a hammer and it seems solid, but I am far from an expert and don’t know what I really should be looking for. I attached a bunch of photos, is this something that can be easily repaired with an undercoating treatment or would I be taking on a money pit?

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An 04 with the manual should be a little kinder when it comes to rust due to the empty automatic transmission crossmember hole in the front of the center section of the frame. Since it is a later, model I wouldn't be surprised if the inside of the frame is somewhat clean. Make sure the inside of the frame is clean and go from there.

Every bolt will suck to loosen, but you might be able to get away without too many frame problems. It is hard to tell without seeing the inside of the frame. A hammer won't tell you anything.
 
If you are still looking to buy, invest is a bore scope from Amazon for looking into the frame cavities. They are about $40 to $60 and are well worth it.
 
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Looks to be mostly surface rust, which is easily removed/converted - google Ospho. Do you see any signs of bubbling in any of the areas? If not, I'd say you are okay. The shocks and steering stabilizer might be a little worse - hard to say if they are actually rusted through or just lost their paint...
 
I'd like to hear what you think about the rust. After all, it is "Super Clean". Perhaps your forum handle should be Stevie Wonder.
 
X2 on the scope. I got mine for $30. Use it to look at the inside of the frame.
 
BeMore said:
Hey all,

Current JK owner and looking to purchase a 2004 Rubicon. The rig is super clean and obviously has rust. I hit the frame with a hammer and it seems solid, but I am far from an expert and don’t know what I really should be looking for. I attached a bunch of photos, is this something that can be easily repaired with an undercoating treatment or would I be taking on a money pit?
Click to expand...

How much? I wouldn’t personally shy away from that on an east coast Jeep, but I wouldn’t be paying a premium for it either.
 
Thought I saw a hole rusted through the frame near the rear control arm. Check pic 6, might be wrong. Frame where the skid is looks funky towards the front too, bet ugly under the skid. Just check it out good.
 
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I wouldn't risk it with this one unless it's really underpriced. To treat this amount of rust it's going to require a lot of disassembly to strip everything. You're going to be snapping a lot of bolts in the process. That front body mount is going to be a problem.
 
Wingback73 said:
Looks to be mostly surface rust, which is easily removed/converted - google Ospho. Do you see any signs of bubbling in any of the areas? If not, I'd say you are okay. The shocks and steering stabilizer might be a little worse - hard to say if they are actually rusted through or just lost their paint...
Click to expand...
TY. No signs of bubbling. I will look into osph.
 
Easy enough to stick your finger in the frame holes. You will be able to feel roughness, flakes or sand-like texture. I bought a Jeep that looked similar. I spent 6 hours with a wire wheel brush attachment on my drill and cleaned everything underneath, then painted it with stop rust paint. I flushed out the inside of the frame with the car wash pressure hose, then coated the inside with Eastwood internal frame coating and drilled drain holes in the bottom of the frame to let water out in the future.

p.s. If it looks like this inside, pass on it.


rust inside frame (2017_11_20 00_38_12 UTC).jpg
 
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When the frames rot, it's almost always under the skid plate. Looks a bit crusty near the interface between the plate and the frame. Could just be surface rust, so you need to feel inside the frame holes. As @jodomcfrodo said, you're lucky the factory gave you an unintentional frame hole since it's a late-model manual, so your odds are a lot better. But judging by the suspension rust, I suspect this rig saw a lot of beach use. I live on Long Island, too, and I recognize the look.

In any event, not sure that's an 11k Jeep.
 
Hmmm....That looks similar to the one I picked up a few years ago. Mine is an 04 Rubi with a manual. Didn't look too bad. Came from southern OH and mid Indiana. Fast forward 4 years, and I'm looking for a new tub. My frame is still good. Definitely a benefit to the missing auto skid plate/crossmember. My tub has rust in every seam that is factory welded. Note: I've only driven it about three times in the winter since I've had it, and its gotten washed each time (and the roads were clear as well).

The problem with the rust in the seams is that once the factory coating breaks down, there isn't anything you can do to stop it. You can't prevent oxygen from getting into those seams. So, once the rust is there, it will continue to spread. The ONLY way to really fix it, is to drill all the spot welds, open the seam back up, clean the rust, repaint, and then re-attach the part. I say reattach, because I actually think body adhesive would be better to use than spot welds. that stuff fills all the available surface area in the joint and prevents air from entering.
 
2001slvrstntj said:
Thought I saw a hole rusted through the frame near the rear control arm. Check pic 6, might be wrong. Frame where the skid is looks funky towards the front too, bet ugly under the skid. Just check it out good.
Click to expand...

There is a large hole rusted through the side of the torque box just aft of the middle body mount. Something else is funky in that picture also. The standard Rubicon slider is a passenger side slider that has been jerry rigged to fit on the driver’s side. It only has one bolt in the lower flange that you can see, although there is probably another bolt at the front end of it that is out of the picture. So the question is, why was the correct slider removed and replaced with the incorrect part? Because of concealed damage and/or rust? That bears some investigation.
 
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