jrg4.0

to my xuprise todat i decided to rhino line the floor of my jeep i took that carpet out of the back and to my suprise i found the back floor above my gas tank look like swiss cheese sick im stomach i went bout some 18 gauge sheet of steel and started to patch so far its going great but i paid 1300 dollars for my jeep its a 1996 it had brand new 32x11.50x15 tires on it with a 4.5 rough country lift is this a common problem with jeeps rotting like that the body on the outside is almost perfect i guess i was caught off gaurd i hope i didnt pay to much for it

offroadnut36

yeah its pretty common actually. welcome to the forums! Sounds like you have a nice setup. We need pics!!! lol

jrg4.0

i will try to get some pics on its nothing a welder cant fix long live the xj i am new to the jeep thing but i love it

winston427

Unfortunately it is very common to find rust in the rear cargo area and around the hatch striker. The usual problem is the seal around the hatch glass. It has a tendency to pull away from the hatch and fold under.

Check the glass by applying light pressur eto the inside at the top to see if it seperates from the hatch.


The seal will look like this.


To reseat the seal use a plastic window moulding tool from your local parts store. Or you can use a screwdriver, but go slowly and carefully to pull the seal back into place.

Aweber5

Don't worry too much I paid almost 4k for mine from a dealer. I know I over paid. About a month ago I replaced almost a third of the rear cargo area floor. I will be looking into the forward area soon. Mine is a 96 too with no visible sign of rust anywhere but underneath apparently. Such is life.

JeepingDan

I had to redo all the floors in my '89' When I got the '88' I figured it was going to be bad I ripped all the carpet out and turned out the floors wereint bad at all. I think the carpet helps kill the floors.

eqalias

I'm there right now on my '84. The good news is that it made dropping the gas tank much easier.

FlyingLow

I'm doing the same with my 96. At this point I don't know whether to patch it or cut it all out and replace it. You didn't do that bad. I have 136k on mine and it's still bone stock minus a cherry bomb muffler and some hella driving lights and I've got close to 6k into it. I should change the name from Ol' Blue to the money pit lol

offroadohio

as said its very typical. Mine is fairly soild for having 250k on it however its rusting around the seems of the floor and body. The middle of the floor is fine.

G_P

My Cherokee has 220k on it and seems to have rather solid floors even tho I have not pulled the carpet only looked from underneath.

It would seem that if there is a leak and the carpet is soaked it would hold the moisture and speed up the floor corrosion.

some people end up with soaked carpet and think that letting it dry naturally will be OK. IN reality most times it just helps speed up the rusting of the floors.