Floor Pan Replacement

[robo512]

Hey all,

I am currently in the middle of a body-off restoration on my 02. The body is currently sitting on a home-made cart I built. My drivers side floor pan is rotted out and I have a replacement ready to weld in. The question is should I put the body back on the frame before doing so to avoid any warping/twisting of the body without the floor structure there? It would definitely be easier to do it now with unlimited access to the underside.

 

[P man]

If the rockers are still intact and not rotted you have nothing to worry about doing the repairs off the frame

 

[robo512]

If the rockers are still intact and not rotted you have nothing to worry about doing the repairs off the frame

The driver side rocker was rotted and I am in the process of repairing that now. I need to find access to a sheet metal brake to get the two right angle bends at the bottom of the body so the patch matches. I'll wait to do the floorpan till that's burned in

 

[P man]

The driver side rocker was rotted and I am in the process of repairing that now. I need to find access to a sheet metal brake to get the two right angle bends at the bottom of the body so the patch matches. I'll wait to do the floorpan till that's burned in

You can form those bends with a vice, patience and some hammers/dollies

 

[Bennythebull]

Looking back at my own restoration I would wait until you put it back on the frame. It took a lot of work to get my TJ back on the body mounts after I replaced the floor pans. But I also replaced the body mount floor panels before I did the floor pans, so maybe that was more of the issue!

 

[robo512]

You can form those bends with a vice, patience and some hammers/dollies

I tried and messed up a few times now my patch is too fatigued/stretched out. its about 16-18 inches long I had a hard time getting it straight. I work in an automotive manufacturing plant so the fab shop guys should be able to make the bends for me. I just need to get another piece of sheet metal that was the last piece I had.

 

[robo512]

Looking back at my own restoration I would wait until you put it back on the frame. It took a lot of work to get my TJ back on the body mounts after I replaced the floor pans. But I also replaced the body mount floor panels before I did the floor pans, so maybe that was more of the issue!

I had to replace the center body mounts on both sides so I was kinda worried about that too. The 4 "corner" body mount bolts in that channel broke off in the tub under the floor pans so i hole sawed the floor to gain access to them from the top. I cut them out and will weld in new washer/nut combos with the new body bolts as reference once it is sitting back on the frame. This gives me a bit of leeway