Attached are photos of my frame, I purchased the jeep a month ago, and strangely it seems to have only gotten worse. What are the potential solutions I have for this? Frame swap? New body + frame swap? Thanks!
SaharaBound
TJ Enthusiast
Well you need at least full center frame sections with rear trail arm mounts Safe T Caps for the frame. For the body New Torque Boxes and I’m guessing Floor Pans. I’m guessing at least 2K in parts alone....labor in a shop I am guessing an additional 2-3K
The only proper way to fix this is a frame swap or parting it out and getting a new TJ without rust.
No one can tell you how long you have, but I personally wouldn’t be driving on that, it’s dangerous.
No one can tell you how long you have, but I personally wouldn’t be driving on that, it’s dangerous.
That has already been hacked up in so many ways. Safety caps might work dependent on how the existing patches were installed. Torque boxes need to be replaced.
I'm with Chris, a frame swap at best. The tub has issues as well but you won't know the extent of it until it's pulled. I'll bet you have a lot more damage you can't see. I hope you got it for really cheap!
Dang. I hate it for you man. I went through a similar thing a couple yrs back. Wish I would of known more before I purchased. Mine wasn't as bad but getting there. I was able to Safty cap the middle and back trail sections. I have the fronts and will do them soon . Yours looks to have a lot of slap welds going on. I would send those pictures Safteycap and see what they say. I wish I would of just sold mine with disclosure, cut my losses and bought another but I'm hard headed and rounding the disappointment corner. Good luck man.
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04solartj
TJ Enthusiast
X2 on this that thing is not safe to drive by the looks of it. i know i wouldn't drive it
Yikes. You can Safe T Cap it, but it's going to cost you. You'll almost certainly need full-length caps on both sides. Your torque boxes are also toast. You could put off doing that job, though, if you just want to get the Jeep safe to drive.
BlackSheep
TJ Enthusiast
When I worked as a motorcycle mechanic, when we saw a bike in that kind of shape, we would say "Lift gas cap, replace motorcycle". The body on that thing looks like it's pretty well shot just like the frame.
The guy I bought mine from replaced the frame. It was $1,000 for clean used. It turned into almost a total restoration. Every part had been examined, repaired, painted or replaced. Daunting project for sure, and tough without a lift and a lot of time.
unfortunately it's my daily driver and I 100% intend on restoring it fully, it's just a matter of knowing how I should start with the process. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a full frame swap as opposed to getting safeTcaps just to be sure the thing lasts me another few years, as well as repairing the body. thanks for the info, as disheartening as it is!
TJ2
TJ Expert
You’re not going to like my recommendation either. Cut your losses and sell it. Invest your hard earned money in a better candidate.
It will take a fair bit of time to swap the frame, replace the torque boxes, floor pans, etc. How are you going to manage this if this is your DD?
derekmac
TJ Addict
it’ll be cheaper and much easier to part it out and buy another Jeep. That is REALLY far gone!!!!!!
SaharaBound
TJ Enthusiast
Now that I have a bit more time to look at the photos, I’m going to agree and say that you can’t safety cap that. Technically you could, but it wouldn’t be worth the effort. Considering the condition of the tub, I think this might be a good candidate to part out or otherwise scrap. That is very rough.
Definitely a frame swap at a minimum, but your tub is probably gone too.
You could look into the frame kits from motobilt if you can’t find a good one around (but I’m sure you can). https://motobilt.com/collections/back-front-half-kits
You could look into the frame kits from motobilt if you can’t find a good one around (but I’m sure you can). https://motobilt.com/collections/back-front-half-kits
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