Is this frame salvageable?

superspeckman

superspeckman

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Been working on a project jeep (1997 Wrangler) for a few weeks now with my 15yo. Lurked here quite a bit and have a cooling system and suspension parts sitting in my garage. Everything going well and the old 4cyl runs well. Pulled the belly pan off today to do some inspection and rust prevention and uncovered a major issue. Frame rot on the driver's side between the 2nd and 3rd belly pan bolts. Is this frame a goner or can it be salvaged?

https://imgur.com/a/QLjCtw6
 
You could weld some Safe-T caps into the frame. They make some caps that cover that entire section up to and including the lower control arm mounts.

If the rest of the frame is in poor condition, a frame swap is going to be more worth your time and money. Used frames can be bought for a reasonable amount. There’s even a company called Throttle Down Kustoms that will build a new frame to your specifications and even galvanize it, but expect to drop some $$$ for it.
 
I have seen worse on the roads for sure, but it depends what the rest of the frame looks like. If you can get solid parts of the frame near there you might have someone weld it up for you. People patch frames all the time around my area. Now if the whole frame looks like that, you might have to replace.
 
TJ4Jim said:
Search around for a 2.5 frame and make a nice project out of it. Judging from the one pic it could cost more for the safety-caps and welding then a used frame.
Click to expand...
Is the frame on a Jeep that came with a 2.5 different than one that cane with a 4.0?
 
anything can be fixed, whats more cost effective is the question. go over the whole frame and see if you have more weak points. open that part up cut away the worst of it and get a peek inside the rail see what the rest looks like. if all crusty and you got big chinks falling off then a frame swap might be in order. if it's really just that spot get the saf-t-cap.
 
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I wouldn't touch it unless you want a project personally. What does the rest of the frame look like? That section in the photo is completely toast.
 
03coloradowrangler said:
looks to me as though it has already been welded with a stick welder, the edge doesnt look right to me, it should be smoother radiused edge.
Click to expand...

Looks to me like it was painted at one point to cover the rust. That's just the paint bubbling up from the rust underneath.

The best you can do is cut out the metal where it's severely rusted. Cut a piece of steel to patch the hole and weld it in place.

Hit the whole thing, inside and out, with rust converter. Then coat inside and out with used motor oil. Paint, fluid film, POR15, etc... are fine to prevent rust, but once you're at this stage that stuff just covers up the problem. You won't see it any more, but it's still there. Coating it in oil, every time you change the oil, protects what you've got left while letting you see spots that become problem areas. And it's free.

Understand you can't fix this, best you can do is slow down the rust monster. Only real fix is a new frame.
 
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I agree with @someguysjeep, go over the whole frame, checking inside the frame for frame rot, bang the frame with a ball peen hammer, if that's the only spot (and that isa common spot for frame rot), then just safety cap it and move on, it will save you some money and a lot of time if yo had to movec the whole thing over to a new frame.
 
WallyWest said:
Looks to me like it was painted at one point to cover the rust. That's just the paint bubbling up from the rust underneath.

The best you can do is cut out the metal where it's severely rusted. Cut a piece of steel to patch the hole and weld it in place.

Hit the whole thing, inside and out, with rust converter. Then coat inside and out with used motor oil. Paint, fluid film, POR15, etc... are fine to prevent rust, but once you're at this stage that stuff just covers up the problem. You won't see it any more, but it's still there. Coating it in oil, every time you change the oil, protects what you've got left while letting you see spots that become problem areas. And it's free.

Understand you can't fix this, best you can do is slow down the rust monster. Only real fix is a new frame.
Click to expand...

appear to be right after reviewing photos again, texture was simulating depth to my eyes. looking to the far left edge of the photo it does appear to be frame only.
 
yah ball peen hammer, and hit it, if it's solid you won't hurt it.... it if moves and dents easily it's toast. be sure to try the mid section right b4 the wheel humps on both sides, that's another notorious spot. put your fingers into the holes too, if you can knock pieces off that's another indicator of advanced corrosion.

cost effective doesn't justify compromising safety. so be thorough and make your best judgement.
 
Sounds like tomorrow morning I'll be back out with the creeper and a ball peen hammer. Looked up and SafeTCap has a product that replaces that center section by the skid. Pretty slick kit.

Anyone recommend a way to flush out or protect the internals of the frame?
 
i and others have drilled a 1/2-5/8 hole in the bottom of the rail. 4 holes 1 at each end of the flat center section b4 the wheel humps, in the bottom center of the tube. this will allow anything that collects an exit.
if you can establish the frame is worthy of repair and the rest is solid, you would clean best you can and use a product like fluid film.
if it's really clean you could go with eastwoods internal coating, but i think that's not likely.

the fluid film could be applied to a less pristine surface. and while it will not stop corrosion it can help stall it if kept up with.

some even go so far as to make a barbed mace on a stick and run it through the frame holes on a cordless drill to loosen stubborn crap and help clean some of the corrosion away b4 application.
 
It's bad, and the rot seems to extend farther up than normal. But it's probably fixable with Safe T Caps. The West Coast "You gotta frame-swap-it" guys tend to think that if it's bad there, it's bad everywhere, but that really isn't the case. Due to the lack of drain holes, the TJ frames rot out in very specific places. That said, I suspect the frame is similarly rotted near the rear trailing arms, so you'll likely need full-length caps that run you ~$800 for the pair.

If you can do your own work, it's maybe worth salvaging. If you are going to pay someone else, considering it's a 4-banger, it's probably not worth the expense.
 
Well I finished the "ball-peen inspection" and as it initially appeared the drivers side between the suspension humps is toast. The passenger side looks and sounds fine but I can feel large flakes of metal inside coming loose so it's a goner down the road. All six belly pan nutserts are rusted out. Also the rear frame already has SafeTCaps installed but they stopped at the skid and didn't inspect farther forward unfortunately. The remainder appears to be all surface rust on the frame that I was going to address when the new suspension install over the next few weeks. Anywhere I could feel inside didn't feel to be deteriorating. Really on the fence here. The Jeep was practically given away so I'm not heavily invested in the Jeep itself; just the suspension and maintenance parts I picked up already. General condition update:

https://imgur.com/a/56D3uwB
 
That thing is a bit of a mess. Depending on how much you want to throw at it, I'd do a frame swap. Would be a great lesson for a 15 year old as he'd get to understand how a vast majority of a vehicle goes together. 4 cylinder frames aren't that hard to find either. If you don't want to throw much more money at it, it might be best to part it out.
 
sounds like you've decided, you've confirmed the DS is crap and the PS is on it's way. a previous patch shows it's been advancing for sometime. maybe the caps are not the answer then, band-aids are not good investments.

next plan of action is part out, a small patch and sell it off, or find a frame.

if your tubs good, and you have space and time....think of the pride you'd have buildin this thing from the ground up with your boy............think of the respect he'll have for this vehicle if he hand built it with his dad. think of the knowledge he'll walk away with, think of the piece of mind you'll have knowing it's gonna last.
 
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