Does anyone have experience with Advanced Automotive in Chantilly VA for a Safe T Cap frame repair. They are on Safe T Cap's recommended installer list, but I'd like to hear from anyone with actual experience with them. Thanks.
Virginia Advanced Automotive (Chantilly, VA) For Safe-T-Cap Install
- Thread starter Rcroane
- Start date
Yes! Advanced Auto did my safetcap repair and I would highly recommend them. Not much to say other than the welds looked clean and has held up very well for about 4 years now. What I especially liked was they painted everything afterwards so it looks brand new. According to the front desk guy the owner that does it is one of the best welder in the area. I also had them do a bunch of stuff like install bump stops and replace the crossmember that somehow the 4x4 shop (Trick Trucks) forgot to do. Every shop in the area also has AA do alignments for them so they’re the go to for a lot of stuff.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...ed-on-with-this-frame-rust.14065/#post-229189
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...ed-on-with-this-frame-rust.14065/#post-229189
Best welder? Close to me? This has to be a sign to start addressing floor panels that need welding, thank you for recommendation!
That's about as solid a recommendation as I could have hoped for....thanks! I spoke to him on the phone this evening and I'm going to see him on Monday.
Yah sort of, been staying next to Baltimore without definite end date. This area is lacking competency, any recomendation and finding someone good at something has a weight of gold.
Bet you're missing that Florida weather right about now! And agree on finding talented craftsmen....which is why I come here for recommendations.
World tour off road in Annapolis has a good reputation. I used them years ago and team/owner was very knowledgeable. Likely not cheap but good work.
Dropped the TJ off for the frame repairs today. I had not mentioned here, but I'm using parts from both Safe T Cap (front) and Pocono (center and rear). I didn't like the design of the Pocono front piece. It includes the front body mount, but not the upper control arm bracket. My body mounts are in great shape and we would have had to cut out a notch to fit around the control arm bracket. I paid $135 extra for the pair of Safe T Cap sections. One thing to note about the Pocono pieces which I do not like and neither does my installer.....they only tack weld the bottom of their sections on the outside, with the full seam weld on the inside. This leave an entry point for moisture to sit between the bottom and side pieces. My installer is going to add seam welds to the outside. I also noted that Pocono does not include lower control arm bolts with their front and rear sections and the correct size is not available at any local hardware store so I had to order online. Lastly, Safe T Cap welds a nut in place for the upper control arm bolt....Pocono does not. I'm not saying Safe T Cap is worth twice the price, but there are some quality differences.
More to come when the job is done.
More to come when the job is done.
The shop finished the job in one day, which is what they originally told me and I'm not surprised since they are a Safe T Cap approved installer. I'm VERY pleased with the result. Here's a few photos. I wasn't present when the work was being done so I only have a few shots of the work in process. They use 3M Rubberized Undercoating inside and out. Before you ask....it wasn't cheap. If you're interested in specifics, I'll share if you PM me. If I shared publicly, I'm sure I'd hear that I should have done a frame swap. 
Woah - that looks super clean. I thought about a frame swap as well but have yet to come across a decent looking frame that wasn’t half a world away at any price. I was originally disappointed having to do this but will say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the results. And your body looks clean judging by the torque box similar to mine so I think it was worth the expense. I am coming up on 5 years on my repair and it still looks great. Enjoy.
The shop finished the job in one day, which is what they originally told me and I'm not surprised since they are a Safe T Cap approved installer. I'm VERY pleased with the result. Here's a few photos. I wasn't present when the work was being done so I only have a few shots of the work in process. They use 3M Rubberized Undercoating inside and out. Before you ask....it wasn't cheap. If you're interested in specifics, I'll share if you PM me. If I shared publicly, I'm sure I'd hear that I should have done a frame swap.
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Hey I've got a real similar dilemma... Safe-T-Cap price hard to guess, but I know a frame swap is about $5,000. I'd sure like to know what it cost to safe-T -Cap a nice low mileage 2001 TJ Sahara 5 speed
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This is the worst of my rust problem on an otherwise solid 2001 TJ Sahara 5-speed 76,000 1 family miles. Do I try to fix this like Safe-T-Caps, or spend $5,000 for a used no-rust frame swapped on?
If you can do a frame swap for 5k that would be a no brainer vs the caps in my opinion. I had my center section capped and the total from what I remember was around 2800 including the caps. I gladly would have paid 2200 extra for a frame swap but good frames are a rare find. That said, your frame does not look good and might not even be a good candidate for capping. That appears to be a lot of bad metal so if you have a frame and swapper on standby I would definitely go that route.
I checked. a couple of reputable frame sources today....clean frames are now running $2,000 to. $2,750 plus shipping if needed. At those prices, unless you do your own labor, a frame swap may not be a viable alternative vs. a quality repair job. Most estimates I've seen are for 40-50 hours minimum for a frame swap. That would put a frame swap in the $7,000 - $8,000 range depending on labor rates.....and that's if everything goes smoothly and no additional parts are needed.
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