Rust removal tips

tjnas

New Member
Original poster
Joined
May 4, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Virginia
hey all, i’m a new jeep owner and happy to be apart of the community. i just bought a 02 wrangler that met all of the things i wanted, within my price range, but being in coastal virginia she’s pretty rusty. this weekend i plan on putting her on stands, wire brushing, phosphoring, then coating everything in something i still have not yet determined. could any of y’all who’ve done this before give me some tips or any knowledge you have? thanks!
 
hey all, i’m a new jeep owner and happy to be apart of the community. i just bought a 02 wrangler that met all of the things i wanted, within my price range, but being in coastal virginia she’s pretty rusty. this weekend i plan on putting her on stands, wire brushing, phosphoring, then coating everything in something i still have not yet determined. could any of y’all who’ve done this before give me some tips or any knowledge you have? thanks!
Pictures help us visualize the amount of rust. This helps us give better advice. For example the tools and procedure for surface rust, i.e. no scale, is different than what's needed for heavy scale rust (i.e chunks falling off).
 
Welcome to the Jeep community and to this forum.

Also, SLOW DOWN a little bit. Putting your Jeep on stands and poking around under there is a fine thing to do. It will at least give you some idea about what you have. Posting some pictures of where the skid plate bolts to the frame and above where the lower control arms bolt on will give us more info to help you. So would any other pictures you may have questions about.

Wire brushing itself is never a bad idea but phosphoring (is that really a verb?) could be something else. I know Phosphate coatings, like POR15 and others, sound great but you have to make sure you get it right and even if you do there is still a chance that moisture and other stuff will work it's way under it and give the rust a happy home to do it's dirty work. The best way to go on any frame, no matter what you use, is to do the inside first, then the outside.
 
I use several size wire wheel cup attachments to my drill to clean everything underneath. I finished my inside frame today with 4 cans of Eastwood internal frame rust encapsulator. I kept the hose off one can to spray the inside with a rust reformer paint and then maybe oily Fluid film each winter. I was shocked that my Perfect Texas Jeep started rusting inside the frame, after selling it 3 years ago to someone who kept it inside and only drove it 1200 miles in 2 years. I found 3oz of rust flakes.