byekryam

Quick question. Doing lots of work to my Jeep to resurrect it. Can't afford the rockers right now. Has a little rot near front and near back, but not shot. Temporarily can I just drill a couple of holes and fill them with expandable spray foam to retard the rusting for now, or will that cause them to rust faster? Where is the water coming from that gets into them? From the rails above or from seams? If it's from seams, them this would block further moisture. If it's from the door rails above, then that would trap it in the above rails and maybe rot the bases of them. An education on this would be helpful Thanks

Lowrange2

Spray foam certainly isn't going to slow down rust. If anything it'll speed it up by trapping moisture in there.

philthycoder

If you're going to go that route for a temporary fix, I would spray something like this: http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-hea...-in-black.html
into the rockers first, to provide a moisture barrier for the existing metal/rust, then spray foam after the anti-rust is dry. Get the one with the extended 360 degree nozzle, you can poke it into small holes and get full coverage inside the rocker. As Lowrange said, putting just spray foam in is going to trap moisture between the foam and the metal and accelerate the problem.

Dan91

It certainly won't slow rust, as others have said. Furthermore, if you pump too much into a restricted space it can bow out weak rusty sheet metal. The stuff expands with surprising force lol.

byekryam

I appreciate the info.

Does anyone know exactly where the moisture comes from? Above, the seams, etc???????

Thanks

philthycoder

Water can get into the rockers from a combination of sources. The plastic sill covers are screwed into holes in the sill above the rocker, and water can definitely leak in through there. There are vents that sit directly above the rear of the rocker that you can see when you open the rear doors, and water can trickle down through there. And once you've got a hole opened up in the front or rear of the rocker, just good old road spray will do a good job of getting the inside of the rockers wet.

PocketsEmpty

I've thought long and hard about doing this with my rockers to try and save them and keep my interior bedlining project moving along. Even bought the stuff. I ended up buying a welder. I'm determined not to half-*** anything with my Jeep and that idea fell under half-assing.

sgjii

I am not sure what year you have or if they are all the same but on my 2001 there are intentional holes in the pinch seam of the rocker & floor panel. There are probably 4 or 5 along the rocker pinch seam that were stamped out in the factory metal and are there to drain the rockers. When I wash the truck, I do see water come from the front 2 drain holes in my rockers.

The Eastwood product is good for sealing and slowing the rust but I personally would be hesitant to fill the rockers with expanding foam afterwards. Whatever water is intended to drain through the rockers is going to have no place to go and will either backup and leak somewhere or lay inside body cavities accelerating the current rust or creating new. Just like doors are intended to pass water through the drain holes at the bottom, I believe the rockers are the same concept.

I think the best temporary fix would be to treat the existing rust and inside the rockers as best you can and with the products you can reasonably afford and find. Duplicolor makes a similar product to the the Eastwood one, called Rust Fix, but it doesn't have the tube for the nozzle that gets you 360 degree coverage inside a cavity. A welded patch is ideal but most people don't have a welder and/or the welding skills so a pop riveted patch would be a good 2nd choice and could most likely be done with tools you already have. A drill is something most already have and pop rivets are cheap. You can get rivets and rivet tool from Harbor Freight for $12 or less with coupons. On the rockers, I would be even less concerned with cosmetics and hold off on the fine finish body shop type work until you were ready for the permanent body shop grade fix. A patch and a rattle can of Duplicolor truck bed coating to paint the rocker with and you will have a functional repair that isn't hard on the eyes or the wallet.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...lt?q=pop+rivet
http://www.duplicolor.com/products/rustFix
http://www.duplicolor.com/products/truckBedCoating

byekryam

Great info thanks. I would prefer to do the best job, but right now finances are tight. Sounds like for me right now the Eastwood with an outer cover rocker with some seam sealer and rivits or having someone weld for me might be my best option. Thanks again

andrewmp6

Or insted of fixing the rust http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo....3#.Ujfz5D8vzng

byekryam

They look nice but are a little out of my price range right now. They did give me an idea. I'm thinking of just cutting out the rockers and welding in a piece of square tubing w/caps. Cheap and quick. Anyone done that before? Drawbacks?

PocketsEmpty

I really hope nobody would buy that. That's insanely overpriced, for basically the same thing as getting some 2x6 box steel and welding it in, plus a fancy rock rail.

Many people have done this with their Cherokees. This is the guide I'm going to follow (and add my own twist on it)

http://www.jeepkings.ca/forums/showt...er-replacement

Do some searching and see what others have done. It's a big project. The drawback would be how to properly support it...it all depends on your wheeling style though, too. I'm not a hard wheeler but I want this to be as strong as physically possible. Under that link above, I plan on also adding some box that goes up through to the door sill, and welding that to the 2x6, and then drilling holes in the door sill for spot welds to it for extra support.