So I bought this jeep a month or so ago and have been fixing the minor things ever since, and today I figured the rear hatch area carpet was bad enough that I needed to replace it. So I start pulling it out, and discover an insane amount of rust all underneath it spreading across the entire compartment. In some spots it's so bad that it goes all the way through. I'm kinda bummed because I was planning on having this thing on the road as my daily driver in less then a few weeks. So now I turn to the only people I trust for advice . I know ill be cutting out most of the back hatch, but I'm not sure how to go about doing this. Since it's a unibody vehicle I noticed a support beam type thing running on either side just inside the wheel well. If i cut around these will i be jeopardizing the structural safety of it? Also, how should i go about putting new sheet steel in? here are a few pictures..

 

yea thats pretty typical.... have you tried looking up some of the rust repair threads on here??? its kinda a long and complicated explanation to go through for someone who hasn't done it before

 

Yeah, I did several searches looking for a how-to but couldn't find one. I'm hoping I can do this and salvage some of the floor pan. I saw a few places online where i can buy a brand new floor pan, but I don't feel like paying 300$ :\ I would like to just cut out the places that really need to be cut, and try some rust reformer on the other places.

 

well a good start would be start wheelin and grinding away all the surface rust and really get a solid layout on what is through rust and what is surface rust...

 

I'll definitely start on that. Do you think i might be able to get some sheet steel at like home depot or lowes maybe? I wonder why Jeep decided to put so many holes in the floor pan that are not needed and allow water to get in :\.

 

stop and speed limit signs work the best for repairs

 

and a "how-to"
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/rea...acement-20296/

 

also license plates

 

if you're rear cargo area is that bad, don't look under the driver's floor pan...

Absolutely the best and easiest solution is to buy the replacement panels, cut out ALL of the rust, and weld in the new panels. Spot treating won't work - rust spreads like cancer, the only way to stop it is to remove it completely back to clean metal.

These should help:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93863
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=906957

 

There is no reason to replace a section of a panel that only has surface rust. You just need to cut out the rot (i.e. the metal that is rusted through or heavily rusted to the point of flaking apart). If you treat rust on a panel you need to treat all of it on that panel or it will come back with a vengeance. Once you get the floor pan solid you need to think of rust prevention. Like POR 15 or some sort of coating.

 

Thanks guys, I was hoping i could just get some 16 or 18 gauge sheet steel that i could weld in, Because the entire floor pan isn't completely only on the passenger side rear wheel hub. And i was thinking about coating it with some bed-liner and then putting new carpet in. if that would work? Thank's again for the suggestions guys.

 

Make sure you cut out the bad spots... don't just weld metal on top of it

 

Oh yeah, I'm definitely cutting out the bad spots. Just a scary task for me considering it's my first time. :\ I really appreciate the help. Could you point be in the right direction of where i can purchase some POR-15? Also is it a rust converter or just a paint? And is there anything i can do for like the subframe rails that look like they'll be rusted through in a few years?

 

You can actually get it from their website

http://www.por15.com/

It is a coating. People actually use it in motorcycle fuel tanks to prevent rust so it is pretty much chemical proof too...

 

Can I use some sort of rust converter on the sub-frame rails? and then coat those with Por-15 aswell?