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Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
Iv got a little nasty rust deterioration in the rear, Iv never worked on rust before so this will be a learning experience for me. What would be my best plan for attack?
Wow - looks a heck of a lot better than mine did. I needed new steel all over that area.
It looks like someone has already done something or the factory was really messy that day.
Whatever you end up doing, be very careful, that hump is where the gas tank filler runs and on my 95 it was just regular rubber fuel hose.
With such a small area, you can fix it correctly and cut back all the rust, get some new steel and have a skilled welder weld it in. However, if the rust doesn't go too far back (poke at it with a screwdriver and find where it is solid, again, being careful of the gas tank hoses) then you can knock away the rust, clean up the edges of the good metal and bondo it.
Wow - looks a heck of a lot better than mine did. I needed new steel all over that area.
It looks like someone has already done something or the factory was really messy that day.
Whatever you end up doing, be very careful, that hump is where the gas tank filler runs and on my 95 it was just regular rubber fuel hose.
With such a small area, you can fix it correctly and cut back all the rust, get some new steel and have a skilled welder weld it in. However, if the rust doesn't go too far back (poke at it with a screwdriver and find where it is solid, again, being careful of the gas tank hoses) then you can knock away the rust, clean up the edges of the good metal and bondo it.
I’ll clean it up a little more to see how far it goes, it looks to be pretty concentrated around the filler neck. I’m planning on using monstaliner once the rust is eliminated.
I’ll clean it up a little more to see how far it goes, it looks to be pretty concentrated around the filler neck. I’m planning on using monstaliner once the rust is eliminated.
Visually it doesn't look that bad, but rust is a sneaky, sneaky b@stard! Once it gets under the paint it goes on and on and you don't know it until you tap it with a screwdriver and it starts crumbling away.
I needed 2 plates, one on each side if you drew an imaginary line down the center of the filler hump. The whole back corner of my cargo area was gone. And the driver's side was the "good side"!
The tank filler hoses run sort of through the frame rail. You can sort of see the very edge of the frame piece in your pic.
Fortunately that area is pretty flat, so if you do have to weld in some new metal it will be easier than a lot of other places.
You can't make rust go away for ever. Every care eventually succumbs to automotive cancer. The only way to stop rust is to remove it completely. Best thing to do is cut out the infected area, and weld in a solid piece of steel plate. Coat with rust preventive paint.
Second best is wire wire the Bleep outa the steel till you see shiny bright steel. No rust left. Weld if needed to shore up and re-strengthen. Coat with rust preventive paint.
Third best option.. which is marginal at best. Is to coat the existing rust with phosphic acid or some other chemical that changes the chemical structure of the rust itself.
You can't make rust go away for ever. Every care eventually succumbs to automotive cancer. The only way to stop rust is to remove it completely. Best thing to do is cut out the infected area, and weld in a solid piece of steel plate. Coat with rust preventive paint.
Second best is wire wire the Bleep outa the steel till you see shiny bright steel. No rust left. Weld if needed to shore up and re-strengthen. Coat with rust preventive paint.
Third best option.. which is marginal at best. Is to coat the existing rust with phosphic acid or some other chemical that changes the chemical structure of the rust itself.
I definitely plan on doing it the right way the first time. Cut and weld plus chassi saver after the repair.
Once you get the metal replaced slap a coat of Fluid Film everywhere. It should NEVER rust again as long as it stays coated. Re-apply every summer and you will be good to go. I hose ALL my vehicle undersides now. Even removing the tail-lights to hit the quarters and spraying into the rocker panels. 0 rust now. WooHoo! $35 a gallon on Amazon. My Jeep takes about 8 of the spray cans to completely get the bottom and rockers protected. There is a neat 24 inch wand for the spray cans so you can really hit the rockers and frame from the inside. I have since started buying the gallon cans with a sprayer. Works wonders. Oreilly auto and Lowes stocks the spray cans but Lowes is cheaper usually.
