Frame woes

Joseph

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
392
Location
North Jersey
Another great week for the Jeep. After the fuel issue which I still haven’t had the time to figure out, I went poking around the frame real nice and good.

Two more holes! Looks like it’s going for surgery soon AGAIN. I have a 4x4 shop local to me do it, they cut their own C-channel real thick. Theyve already done both LCA mounts on my front axle, the passenger side track bar mount/spring perch, and my passenger side skid section. A year ago when he did my passenger side skid he said the driver side was fine. Goes to show what can happen in a year. I might be on my way to having done the most rust repairs in under a year in the state of New Jersey.

Before everyone comments about frame swaps, the only way that’s gonna happen is when I sell the turd and someone else gets to have the joy of that!

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Looks like you're going to need to cut a lot of sections out of the frame and replace them. Personally I would do a frame swap like @jodomcfrodo, but I know that's not what you want to hear.
 
NJ must have a huge budget for Salt and Brine. Here, they use rock so every windshield ends up chipped or cracked. I should buy some of those race car type tear away window covers. :)

They use salt and brine here but some of the time it's too cold for it to be effective so they'll skip it and just plow while leaving sand and salt on the intersections.
 
Did your repair guy cut the rot away first before capping the frame? If he didn't, that rust can spread pretty quickly.
 
It's very simple, if you want a vehicle to last, don't drive it in winter. Period.

We use tons of salt on the roads here in MN. The wife's '06 Fusion has been garage stored every winter since new and it's immaculate underneath, but her '10 Escape is driven year round and it's a rust bucket (both cars are around 100K miles). Nothing survives the salt no matter how much washing or oil coating you put on.
 
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When he did your passenger side the driver side was nowhere near fine.

Hopefully he did a better job cutting and welding than diagnosing. Holes like that only happen in one year when the metal is already too thin due to rust from several previous years.

I am glad to see your getting whatever you can get done to keep your TJ going as long as possible.
 
Looks like you're going to need to cut a lot of sections out of the frame and replace them. Personally I would do a frame swap like @jodomcfrodo, but I know that's not what you want to hear.
If I had the spare funds or space or time to swap a clean frame in believe me, I would. Last time he did the passenger side he took pictures for me of the process and each step. Looked pretty clean for the most part.

I’m sure something else would give on this Jeep before any of these frame patches did. Good welds are just as strong if not stronger than the original frame (so I’ve heard). I’ll probably have him throw in a couple drain holes while he’s at it.

I was gonna por15 the frame before I went out and poked those new holes. I’ve never cancelled an order so fast in my life haha. Jeep as an appointment for next thursday anyway. $2k+ in rust repairs I could’ve just had one flatbedded from down south
 
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I could’ve just had one flatbedded from down south

Yep, that's why I always encourage the East Coast and Mid West folks to just pay to have a clean one from out of state transported. I've done it many, many times.
 
Yep, that's why I always encourage the East Coast and Mid West folks to just pay to have a clean one from out of state transported. I've done it many, many times.
When this poor thing gets sent to her grave I’ll do that, if I don’t get an impreza or some other subaru
 
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@Joseph Where in North Jersey are you? I can put you in touch with a really cool dude who does all sorts of 4x4 on the side and is very reasonable for North Jersey.