How much of a problem with this rust be?

[BBoysJeepman01]

Your options to do this right are Safe-t-caps, fab the equivalent yourself, or a frame swap.

Most tj frames when they rot do it at the rear control arm mountsfirst, but who knows, maby yours spent its life parked facing down hill. I'd be carefully checking frame thickness over the skid plate and rear control arm brackets. You can probably keep driving like this for a good while, but you may hit a pot hole and suddenly the axle is no longer attached to the frame on one side, I've seen it happen. The choice is yours but I'd be planning to fix it sooner than later. You are after all taking a risk with the lives of anyone on the jeep with you and anyone on the road around you. Calculating that risk is up to you.

Also a YJ is a different animal, leaf springs are connected to the frame in two spots. Control arms just one.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.

Mine broke yesterday in this fashion. RH control arm mount completely free of the frame. 20mph with hazards 3 miles from home with a anal trailer attached. Very nerve racking and very lucky to have made it. Looked like this last summer. Planned on SafeTcaps in the spring. Looks like that day is now. Don't wait, just fix it

 

[BBoysJeepman01]

Not sure how small trailer turned into a anal trailer... Thanks autocorrect

 

[cliffish]

Not sure how small trailer turned into a anal trailer... Thanks autocorrect

at least you weren't texting your wife!

 

[BBoysJeepman01]

at least you weren't texting your wife!

No kidding lol

 

[joe98tj]

You could always build your own frame. Zero rust issues with that

 

[BBoysJeepman01]

Often thought about that once it was retired from daily driving and purely a trail rig. Looks like it retired itself after 20 years of service. Crazy how strong that motor still is, just rotted around it

 

[joe98tj]

A guy in my club did it. Of course the jeep doesn't see snow or salted roads now.

 

[BBoysJeepman01]

A guy in my club did it. Of course the jeep doesn't see snow or salted roads now.

Don't suppose he has specs/drawings of what he did to save those of us considering that some time? Did he go long arm or stock locations?

 

[joe98tj]

Don't suppose he has specs/drawings of what he did to save those of us considering that some time? Did he go long arm or stock locations?

Here's the write up:
http://forum.northeastjeep.org/index.php?topic=36114.0

 

[WSS]

Clean it, dry it, prep it and fish plate it. Do it right and the result will be a stronger frame. From here though, I would avoid drops off of cliffs until it has been fixed.

 

[WSS]

Mine broke yesterday in this fashion. RH control arm mount completely free of the frame. 20mph with hazards 3 miles from home with a anal trailer attached. Very nerve racking and very lucky to have made it. Looked like this last summer. Planned on SafeTcaps in the spring. Looks like that day is now. Don't wait, just fix it

My nerves are racked with just the visual. is it a rocket launcher kinda thing?

PS, reset your auto correct. It will continue to replace unknown words with often used words.