Ok, so i have discovered that the floors in my jeep are BAD. Lucky for me I have access to very cheap, clean steel, and an array of machines to form it to any shape needed.
What I am looking for is tips to remove the old floor. I bought 4 spot weld cutters, 10 cutoff wheels, 10 flap discs, a heavy duty wire wheel cup, and some redbull.

I am going to remove the entire stock floor, and replace it with some 14gauge hotroll steel. I hope that this will hold up better than the stock material that looks to be about 20 gauge galvanized.

I have the majority of the carpet out already, and am working on removing the plastic panels, sills etc.

I am also considering removing the stock rear wheel tubs and making some new, bigger ones, the stock ones are rotten on both sides in and out, and thanks to the previous owner, they leave a gap between them and the outer 1/4 panel skin.

This will be my first "major" fabrication job! I am no stranger to steel, or tools, but I have just never before had the ***** to take the knife to my ride with the intention of putting it back together lol..

ANY tips would be greatly appreciated
Once I get the floor out, I have a 60"x 144" sheet of cardboard I am going to use to make templates, that will then be measured about 100x and transfered over to a cad program and then into a program to cut out the pieces on a cnc turret..

I think I have most things covered, but any pointers always help!!!

 

well for starters you'll find lots of seam sealer in the old floor. that stuff sucks to remove because it smells horrible when it burns and makes a plasticy, nasty dust.

also while youre in there you could paint the inside of the frame rails, to keep them from rotting from the inside out.

oh, and the more welds you have holding the new panels together, and to the rest of the body/frame. the stronger the whole jeep will be. i noticed my Jeep was MUCH stiffer just after doing the passenger side.

Have fun!

 

I removed all of my floor except the top portion of the trans tunnel. I had spot weld hole drillers, but I honestly used it once and didn't go back. What I did was use a sawzall, cutting wheel, and a angle grinder with a cut off blade and eventually my plasma. Each tool works better in certian situations. I cut out the floor around the frame rail first then cleaned what was left off the rail. I found this to be the easiest way to do it. I used a sawzall on big chunks, and smaller cutting tools when I need the percision. I took off most of what was on the frame rail with an air hammer and thin bits. The air hammer works sick, but you have to be careful because it will go right into the frame or bend it up if you aren't careful.

Seam sealer sucks ***, I used a heat gun and a scraping tool to burn/scrape it off. Some times cutting from the bottom is better, sometimes from the top. It was a ****ty job and I am glad I am done with it. Wear a mask FYI and hearing protection your ears will thank you.

 

the hatch are floor came up nicely. then I ran into problems. Every seat belt bolt snapped off. the front leaf mount boxes are shot, the entire chassis rail on the outside on both sides is gone, The rust on the passenger floor climbed about 4" UP the firewall, both rear wheel tubs are ****, that cross brace under the rear seat is barely mounted in. You could damn near flinstone this thing from any seat. This is WAY above my skill level. This thing would fold up like an accordian in an accident, i haul my 4 year old and pregnant wife around all the time, so this thing is going where it belongs.. scrapper.

 

Sorry to hear that man. always a bummer when another XJ becomes nothing more than a pile of rot. Guess someone could still make a tube buggy out of it if they wanted to.

My floors and rockers are way rotted, but my frame rails and leaf mounts are fine. Although my leaf shackles actually rotted out and were completely broken before I lifted it.

Gotta love the northern road salt.

 

Want to sell some parts off of it before scraping it? I'm like 3ish hours from you.

 

Keep it and find another to put all your new parts on. There are quite a few on Craigslist in your area. But if you are gonna crush it, let me know too, I think I might be close to you.

 

The only way I have to get it to the scrapper is to drive it, so parting it could difficult.

I wont be buying another, no room to keep a parts vehicle. I live in an appartment, and work on my stuff at my parents 5 miles away, they dont want junk sitting around.

About the only thing coming off will be the 31s and new battery after i drop it off.

 

Some scrap yards offer free pickup if you're nearby. Call around and ask.

 

I would just take what you want off of it, and let someone come drive or haul it away for a couple hundred bucks.

There's always parts the rest of us wouldn't mind having, and seeing as XJs are really aging and the herd is thinning we need to save what we can.

 

I personally dont want to keep any parts. I just want to get SOME of my money back out of it. I dont have a bunch of time to spend pulling parts, and I have no idea what the parts are worth lol.

 

Moved to chat.