This picture is from right behind the drivers side front wheel, where the body is connected to the frame........only rusted and rotted because they left those big *** holes there.

Any vehicle I ever buy will get all those holes covered etc....I love bondo.

 

Wow that is a lot of plastic filler

 

2 x 1 gallon size can. And I used 3 old window screens. The rocker panels are hollow, btw. It's tough, should last until I get the rockers hung up on rocks which I don't plan to do.

Looks good too, you forgot to mention.

 

Does look good but y not replace the rocker with some steel tubing? Wont have to worry bout them gettin hung up either.

 

Yeah it looks great You would be surprised how much damage street driving will do...

How did you secure the mesh to the body panel?

 

Thank you both for the compliment.

Someday when I lift it more and make some new bumpers, I'll probably do something to protect the rockers......maybe not though. I just wanted it to not look and feel like such a rust bucket.

I used clothes pins to secure the screen pieces to what was left of the rockers while applying the bondo. My own idea...........screen pieces and clothes pins

 

I mean did you epoxy the screen to the body or is it being held on with the filler?

 

Just bondo. All the surfaces were ground back to bare metal of course. And the window screen is metal also.

 

The reason I ask is bondo has the structural properties of a potato chip...

Not trying to rag on you but... IMO using bondo for structural repairs isn't safe. You are in NY which is a state that does see cold and hot temps, the chances of the rocker repair holding with just bondo is very low. Hopefully it doesn't fall off in a chunk while you are driving.

That said from the pictures it looks like you can turn out a great finished product. To make a good structural body panel repair without a welder consider using fiberglass matting and resin. Then you can bondo and paint over that. The repair would be 1000 times stronger and still look great.

 

What do you mean structural repairs? I could be wrong, but I think the rocker panels are more cosmetic than structural. The Jeep was holding together fine, I just gave it a makeover and covered the sores up. My uncle welded some large reinforcement plates to the bottom of the frame members near the back of the rocker panels for me to stiffen it up. I know for a fact the Jeep has never been driven hard a day in it's life though so nothing is out of true, just kinda rusty. It could use a lot of reinforcements probably if I was going to do much more than drive it.

Thanks for the info on fiberglass matting and resin too. Hopefully the bondo will do it's job.

 

There is nothing wrong with the use of plastic filler. Plastic filler like Bondo is an ascetic finishing tool it's use on a body panel can make all the difference. Things plastic filler does very well is to help even out a panel before priming and painting.

Things it can't do very well is provide structure i.e. filling holes or repairing panels. It isn't so much it needs help as it isn't designed for that task. They do make an epoxy based filler that is much easier than fiberglass and works like Bondo but is much much stronger. Usually it is used to raise a low spot more than 1/4". It is a more environmentally friendly filler than the old lead filling technique. But even the epoxy filler isn't designed to repair a panel.

Bondo isn't very strong when applied more than 1/8" to 1/4" thick...Using too much too thick can cause cracking and/or failure of the repair.


Like I said, it looks good. I just hope you plan on a more permanent repair.

 

I don't know if the Jeep is worth any more to me. Hopefully it holds together awhile. I have a MIG and an old stick welder here. I've barely used the stick and never used the wire feed one yet.

 

If it falls apart, I guess I'll carefully gut the interior and make sure everything inside and out is solid steel.

I appreciate the lessons in bodywork, since I just winged it this time with zero instruction aside from what's on the side of the can.

I don't care how many hours I may have wasted(15-20 hours on rocker panels).......I got to know the Jeep pretty well, and now instead of a hunk of crap it looks like a nice custom Jeep.

Classic too in my eyes....1st year Grand Cherokee. It's way nicer than any of the old style Grands I see around my way.