Advice for cleaning TJ frame

[wowed777]

i have a 1999 tj that is in great shape. I was checking out the inside of the frame and there is a lot of flaking and junk. I don't want to cut holes in the frame. I tried to blow some out with my air compressor. I read many posts on this subject, but it looks like everyone cuts holes.

How do I get the loose stuff out without cutting the frame and what is the recommendation to coat the inside.

I have used Eastwood, but it looks like it's only available online from the Eastwood site. Is there anything else I can use? Anything I could dump in existing holes and let soak?

Thanks

 

[JDS123]

Depends on how much junk you have in your frame. Being in NJ, I'd imagine you might have a good amountt. It isn't easy to clean it out. I've heard of people jacking the front of the Jeep up high or parking on some sort of steep slope (like a gravel pile) and letting a hose run through the frame to get some of the smaller stuff out. When it comes to the bigger flakes, a magnet might be your best bet. Eastwood is what I've seen most people recommend. Not too hard to apply either. In terms of the outside of the frame, I've heard fluid film does wonders.


Make sure you drill drain holes in the bottom of the frame before you're done cleaning. Lets all the water and salt get out of the frame so it doesn't rust through.

 

[wowed777]

Thanks. The outside was all done in POR. Wondering if I could just soak the inside with Eastwood? Maybe two cans each side? Could I just pour POR into the hole and drags a rag through to coat everything (even the loose stuff).

 

[LukesfirstJeep]

I would want to remove the loose stuff before I coated anything. On my jeep I bought an adapter for my ShopVac that uses a small diameter hose, maybe 1/2". I did a combination of scraping up the loose stuff with my finger, piece of coat hanger and then vacuumed out the loose stuff. Tokk me about 20 minutes per side.

 

[Vulture]

Well, bear with me, here goes. This is what I did to clean the inside of my frame. First I drilled the recommended drain holes in the bottom of the frame rails just where the frame gets flat after the axle arches. Then I parked the jeep on an incline and ran a garden hose in all the holes until the water ran clear. This took some time, there was lots of mud in the frame. Next, I took a dead-blow hammer and pounded as much of the frame as I could reach to dislodge whatever was loose. Next, I made up an air hose from some stiff 3/8" nylon tubing and fed the hose in all the holes and blew all the loose crap to the back of the frame. Then I took a strong magnet on a flex-stick and fished as much scale and crap out of all the holes as I could get. There was quite a lot of debris in there but it seemed to be magnetic enough for the magnet to fish it all out. I had to take some pliers and screwdriver and bust up some of the larger scale in order to get it out through the frame holes. Then I did the air hose thing again and fished a second time. About this time, I read about another guy doing the same project and he had a good idea for a cleaning tool. Take about 3 feet of 1/8" cable and get a couple of lengths of small chain about 8 inches or so long, the length isn't real critical. Get a couple of swage sleeves and fasten the chains to the cable in an X configuration. Then put the unchained end in a drill, feed the thing in through all the holes and fire up the drill. This baby beats the shit out of the inside of the frame and knocked loose all kinds of crap that pounding didn't get. Then I did the air hose and fishing again. Lots more stuff but all in small bits. Then I flushed the frame out with water again. Then, we ran a fibre-optic camera down inside the frame and had a look around. The top of the frame and the sides about half way down looked absolutely new. Shiny, in fact. The lower half of the sides and bottom of the frame still looked pretty rusty but all the crap was cleaned out. So I thought I was good to go. Then...there's always a "then..." I took my TJ in to have lockers installed, re-geared and to have a SYE installed. The shop foreman came out to get me and said "There's a problem, you better come back here and take a look at your frame." Just what I wanted to hear. When they removed the skid plate there was 3 little "bridges" of metal left on each side where the nuts were welded in and the rest was air. Nothing, gone, nada. So, I had to resort to the Safe-T-Cap repair on the center section of the frame. It all came out OK in the end but I would strongly recommend that you take a good look where the skid plate bolts up to the frame because it can be totally rotted out and very hard to see!!! Good luck with your project!!