to be honest i have to agree with the others, i would go to the junkyard and try and find a hatch in better shape then yours.

if you fix it yourself, most likely gonna have to either just slap and piece of metal on the hatch and weld it on to the hatch and just cover up the rust

or

use the bondo fill in the holes, sand it, and paint it to match

 

A used gate w/ glass is @ $300 + shipping from one place I checked and I'm not likely to find one locally without rust holes. Maybe smaller ones, but it's a lot more than I want to spend anyways.

I can get some good bondo experience on this, and someday I could still replace the gate. Or maybe when I build the rear bumper I'll make the tire and fuel can cover that part up.

Realistically I'd say a good bondo job is probably going to end up looking the best.

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I wanted to show a picture from the rear underneath. The discoloration on the pumpkin is sortof an illusion....it's just droplets of dew, it rained all night.

 

Here's some pictures of what I did today. I really like this Jeep, now that I gave it the few days of hard work it needed.

I figured a little pre-bondo paint job couldn't hurt. I'm just going to bondo it up and not get those 500 dollar flares. It doesn't need to be perfect, although the back and rear passenger side are in need of some attention very soon.

Hopefully there'll be mud all over it a lot of the time anyways

 

And a triple post..........

 

hey according to pick and pull, i can get a hatch with glass(car style) for 50 bucks, so i would say anywhere from 50 to 100 for a jeep hatch ........lol just saying

 

nice jeep,your bout like me,i dont do all the rock climbing stuff either but i got what i need in case the situation gets nasty,lock in 4 wheel drive and go.im a hunter and i end up on some ruff roads sometimes.im running 235/75/15s now and wanta go to 31s when those wear down also.keep us informed on your rig,good luck.

 

Maybe I can get one cheaper than I thought. Found a black one on ebay for $150 with no glass, but it'd be ~$100 or so to ship it. I'll be looking around.

Yeah those in the picture are worn out 225s, but I've got 235s going on it Friday. Should be nice. I plan to lift it a bit soon and get some 31s also when the new 235s wear out.

 

drive out to harry's you pull it in pa.. you can get a complete hatch for like 40 bucks...

 

what brand of tires did you buy?? m235 are a good chose btw...

 

PA isn't too far. I'll give them a call. EDIT: I called and they don't tell you anything, what do I do go there and hunt & hope?

What's m235? Tires I got are Good Year Wrangler SR/A. I plan to do quite a bit of highway driving this summer, and hopefully there'll be enough tread left to haul sled next winter.

 

Fixed the holes and repaired the fender. Not finished yet, btw.

 

Finished rear hatch and fender.................actually sanded, masked and painted all 4 fenders today, plus masked off the hood.

 

Feast your eyes on this............painted the hood, license plate holder, and the vent covers behind the rear side windows.

Should have gotten bigger tires. Oh well.

 

I have now completely rebuilt the rocker panels using window screen and bondo, and fixed the hole above each front tire.

Also covered each of the 12 holes on each frame member that were left there by the manufactruer so it would rust out faster.

Jeep is like a boat now.

 

more pictures.............see all the stupid holes they leave....the salt and water goes right into the unibody and wheel-well/floorboards where it connects the body to the frame. Soon as that starts to rust and rot the rocker panels are next.....and from there you end up with a pile of junk and a good motor

Very well thought out plan to sell more vehicles to NYers.