I have to replace my torque box as it’s rusted on both sides at all 3 mounting bolts. I also need to replace some if not most of my floor pans. My question is if I’m removing my floor pan will it make removing the torque boxes easier because you would have cut out most of the spot welds or am I wrong in that? I was going to do the safe t caps because it’s the easiest route but for cost sake was wondering if removing floor pans would mean I could get a cheaper torque box. My understanding is safe t cap is the only one that just slips over it. Also I know time is money so if safe t cap is worth the extra money for ease and getting my Jeep back on the road faster! (FYI the previous owner tried to hide how bad it was and it worked on this first time Jeep owner haha)
Floor Pan and Torque Box
- Thread starter Jtcarter06
- Start date
Makes me love my Arizona LJ even more! Good luck. No clue to your question. Sounds logical though.
They make caps for the torque boxes? I could be wrong, but safe-t-caps are only made for the frame. Besides that, capping rusted metal does not fix the problem, it only prolongs the useful life of the rusted part.
How much rust are you going to have to deal with? Frame? Fenders? Your profile states you're in Burlington. That Jeep is too rusty to be from Burlington, so I can only assume it's from a rust prone area and there's rust elsewhere on the vehicle.
Yes they make them for the torque boxes now (https://www.autorust.com/product/full-length-floor-channel-subframe-set-wrangler-tj-97-06/)
I’m sure I’m going to have to deal with rust but so far the frame seems good as I’ve gone around banging on stuff on the frame. I got it for a decent price and it’s really for an around town car to drive my kids in. I’m trying to get atleast 5 -10 years out of it before upgrading because at that point I’ll need a 4 door .
Considering the extensive tub damage shown is pretty deep into the structure it may make sense financially and be faster to just replace the whole tub. Just re-bodied my son's TJ and we paid $500 for a local tub. The safe-t-cap materials doesn't come cheap and there's a lot of work involved considering the current condition.
Well I got it to be an around the town car but i also wanted to get my feet wet on working on them. My buddies are both welders and one is going to help me redo the floor pans and maybe torque boxes if he has time and if not my other buddy just got done redoing a CJ and said he would help anyway I needed. There is actually not much rust on the floor pans but knowing the state of the torque boxes I figured just knock it all out at once and possibly learn how to weld at the same time. If I can get 5-10 years out of this then I’ll have gotten my moneys worth
Then removing the the torque boxes would be a good place to start and a set of the full boxes are are fairly inexpensive. After that you get good access the floor pans. Who's knows what your gonna find after getting all that crap off the underbody.
That's kind of what I'm thinking.
Just because he can weld doesn't mean he can weld/fabricate automotive stuff. You live close enough to racing country that good body fab guys are around, and I suggest you look for one if you intend to go through with this particular Jeep. Skip any caps, remove and replace the boxes, and do the same for the floor. Don't cover over any rust or rust damage. That's how you make things much worse. This will be a rather intensive job. BTW you should strip away that thick coating which I suspect is hiding a lot more damage.
Post some pictures so we can see what you're working with.
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