Cleaning out the frame to bare metal and found this

ObedaTJ

ObedaTJ

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Found this on my 05 LJ with 48k miles….
I was off today so decided to do some prep work for the winter. I want the frame to be good for the winter in NY so as I was cleaning it to bare metal, I came accords this. I have a UCF skid plate installed however I don’t think the frame will be able to hold this part much longer. Will this affect anything if i take it off until I get the frame repaired? This is the only horrible spot on the frame the rest is surface rust.

It may be up to a month before I can repair this and this is my daily

B3DCCB88-030D-4344-B12D-DBA556CAD30D.jpeg
 
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bromel said:
The critical part is the frame over the skid plate and where it curves over the rear wheels at the control arm mounts. How do those look?
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A lot of surface rust where the skid plate is but fortunately no rot. Barely any surface rust over rear or control arm mounts.
 
As @bromel said, one of the high risk areas is where the main skid is. I'd definitely take a screwdriver or small punch and see if you can poke a hole in the frame (both from the bottom and side) along both sides of the main skid. The smaller transmission skid, where your rust is, doesn't support anything except itself. The other area of concern would be where the control arms mount to the frame. Do the same thing around each of those.
 
bromel said:
All that matters is the inside of the frame. Does it feel smooth inside the holes? Or is it full of rust chunks?
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So inside the part I just found was a bunch of rust chips but the other parts just some dirt no rust chips as far as I can tell
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I mean, you're going to need full-length Safe T Caps regardless. The question is if it's safe to drive for the next month. Yes, probably, but maybe consider using another vehicle if possible.
 
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Irun said:
As @bromel said, one of the high risk areas is where the main skid is. I'd definitely take a screwdriver or small punch and see if you can poke a hole in the frame (both from the bottom and side) along both sides of the main skid. The smaller transmission skid, where your rust is, doesn't support anything except itself. The other area of concern would be where the control arms mount to the frame. Do the same thing around each of
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Where the main skid is appears to only be surface rust and not rot, I banged on it with a hammer and it didn’t go through.
Control arm mounts seem fine too.
 
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bromel said:
I mean, you're going to need full-length Safe T Caps regardless. The question is if it's safe to drive for the next month. Yes, probably, but maybe consider using another vehicle if possible.
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Can I just replace the part that’s messed up or no?
 
sycboi said:
The entire area was rotted out. The control arm mount has been rewelded and metal added in the frame. Be very observant where the transfer case skid plate is bolted. Make sure you check it out thoroughly…

View attachment 274566
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Hmm must be why the prev owner gave me two control arm mounts lol.

I am pretty decent welder and feel comfortable doing this kind of work. Do you think I should cut all that and replace with a safe t cap and redo the control arm mounts since I already have them?
 
ObedaTJ said:
Hmm must be why the prev owner gave me two control arm mounts lol.

I am pretty decent welder and feel comfortable doing this kind of work. Do you think I should cut all that and replace with a safe t cap and redo the control arm mounts since I already have them?
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From what I see there it’s hard to believe it won’t be further back as well. You may end up in safety cap territory…
 
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So I just found out it may actually be a couple months until I can fix this, maybe November or December.

The main skid plate is being held fine, had someone also look at it and he said I could drive it for years (not listening to him though) while there is surface rust in the main skid area, no rot.

I am thinking about taking that second skid plate off until I can repair it as it just hanging anyways because of my new skid plate. Will this be a problem if I remove it? No off-roading or any trails or anything just street driving. Believe it or not it’s just the underneath of that part of the frame that’s rotted out, the rest is really solid.
 
You may not like this answer but it's solid until it ain't. Im in the same situation as you are a clean frame on the outside with just one area that is damaged enough to have a hole. Yes you can keep driving but it doesn't bode well for the rest of the frame. Use an endoscope on the inside of the frame and examine very thoroughly. If I was you I would do full length safety caps across the entire length of the frame or get another jeep. Chances are if you have rot in that area the other more troubled spots are not far behind.
 
ObedaTJ said:
Will this be a problem if I remove it? No off-roading or any trails or anything just street driving. Believe it or not it’s just the underneath of that part of the frame that’s rotted out, the rest is really solid.
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No issue at all driving without that transmission skid. Personally I wouldn't worry much about this but I'd get it fixed. If the main skid section isn't bad and somebody looked at the control arm mounts it'll be fine. It's not like a Civic starts out any better than this.
 
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Just my opinion...., but I would repair that sooner than later...
November and December are SNOW months in New York...
Once you weld in the safety cap I would clean the inside of the rail as best as possible, apply a self etching rust encapsulater then coat with a oil based coating....
 
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97' 4 Popper said:
You may not like this answer but it's solid until it ain't. Im in the same situation as you are a clean frame on the outside with just one area that is damaged enough to have a hole. Yes you can keep driving but it doesn't bode well for the rest of the frame. Use an endoscope on the inside of the frame and examine very thoroughly. If I was you I would do full length safety caps across the entire length of the frame or get another jeep. Chances are if you have rot in that area the other more troubled spots are not far behind.
Click to expand...
I’ve checked the inside of the frame. Besides this spot with the hole, there wasn’t much rust chips at all inside the rest of the frame, the metal is still pretty thick
I’m not getting another Jeep lol. This ones got 48k miles. Torque boxes, everything is pretty clean besides this one spot.
 
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CharlesHS said:
Just my opinion...., but I would repair that sooner than later...
November and December are SNOW months in New York...
Once you weld in the safety cap I would clean the inside of the rail as best as possible, apply a self etching rust encapsulater then coat with a oil based coating....
Click to expand...
I am going to do that, just to be safe I will probably end up just installing full length center rails. I will be cleaning it up and coating the inside and then doing the outside of the frame with POR 15
 
CharlesHS said:
Just my opinion...., but I would repair that sooner than later...
November and December are SNOW months in New York...
Once you weld in the safety cap I would clean the inside of the rail as best as possible, apply a self etching rust encapsulater then coat with a oil based coating....
Click to expand...

It's okay going forward there won't be anymore snow in New York 🤣😐

ObedaTJ said:
I’ve checked the inside of the frame. Besides this spot with the hole, there wasn’t much rust chips at all inside the rest of the frame, the metal is still pretty thick
I’m not getting another Jeep lol. This ones got 48k miles. Torque boxes, everything is pretty clean besides this one spot.
Click to expand...

As long as you are confident about the situation. My main concern is any amount of rust at all in the frame. If it is even a bit scaley you will have a hard time removing and treating it of course compared to rust that's out in the open.
 
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