I pulled all the carpet out of my XJ a few days ago, and the drivers floorboard is rotted away. So bad I had to lay a piece of scrap metal and a floor mat down so my feet dont go through. So, I need to fix it, can't drive around with no floor. Where is the best place to get a replacement panel from? And what is involved with replacing it, as far as the unibody frame rails go? Does it need to be welded to the frame rail? I've never replaced panels like this on a unibody before, all my experience is on trucks with a separate body and frame.

 

Found a little on my '94 but underneath the rear "floorboard". I will sandblast prime and undercoat. I don't think I have to replace sheet metal (yet).

 

Go over to jeepforum, look up blacksmith, he has a huge write up on floor replacement. He did a great job not only fixing his floor, but making his jeep much stronger.

 

I use 12g diamond plate steel to replace mine. Makes a huge difference in strength. This also let me move the seat back 3".



Sorry for the mud

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Stronger sounds great to me, I'll definitely check that out.

 

If you are going to repair it, fix it right so you only have to fix it once. Go over the entire floor board and whack it with a rubber mallet, if you can't beat your way through it that area is probably OK. All the rust has to be removed because the is no way to stop it once it starts. Rockers are probably trashed as well. If you don't know how to weld, see if you can get into an adult education or night time vocational school program for cheap.

 

Already checked out the rest of the Jeep, this is the only rust on the entire thing. Rockers are even fine, except a little surface rust starting where it made contact with a rock and scraped all the paint off. But Im planning on welding some 2x4 tubing in place of the rockers soon, to act as a built in slider, so Im not too worried about what little bit is starting there.
I do know how to weld though, and I've done a little fabrication before. Built a solid axle swapped Chevy before I got the XJ, and did a lot of repairs on log trailers and lowboy trailers for a logging company I worked for.

Thanks for the advice though.

 

RockAuto has the floor pans for pretty good price.

 

http://s1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pZZ14QQtppZZ24

it's not a XJ but goes into a great photo how to of replacement sheet metal. pages 7- 22 on my photobucket account.

 

Be ready for a long write up, but it is worth it. He now has a very strong XJ that is far better than factory. I see that you can fabricate and weld, so this way of fixing your Jeep is the way to go.

 

I just did the entire driver side pan and it came out great. Mine was totally rusted out. Looked like flintstone jeep. If you go to classic 2 current fabrication they will sell the entire driver side or passenger side fo $80. I got it for a total of $100 shipped to my door. The pans on rockauto are the same but they act as the middle man. Classic2current is straight from the manufacturer. The steel is about 18 gauge and formed almost perfectly. Ill try to upload some pics if you'd like.

http://c2cfabrication.com/store/prod...24575:thumbup: