mgreig

meant to say bracket not shackle and cant edit title..

93 with 77k. power locks windows, clean interior

i bought this for an embarrassing price of 4500 thinking it was rust free. boy i couldnt have been more wrong. i took a quick look after a 6 hour drive and threw it on a trailer for an even longer ride home before shooting to work the next day for 5am. guy said it was rust free and with a quick onceover i thought it was. well i got home from work, really took a look and nearly pooped my pants.

the drivers side where the rear leaf shackle mounts is rotted through the sheet metal, and the "cross section"? is flaking away. unibody is VERY good everywhere else which is all i was really looking at when i bought it. should also mention its leaking oil from pretty much everywhere its just coated in oil underneath after a short drive.

anyways heres some pics. let me know how screwed i am dont be bashful. oh last pic is of passenger floorboard area. this is all my own fault for not taking a close look. the rest of it looks real clean along with the pics i was sent before looking it over. ive learned some HUGE lessons from this purchase.

robsjeep

A shackle relocator might be of help in the case of this rust. of course you should assess all the suspension before making repairs. this assumes there is something to mount it to that is not really rusty.

TrailerTrash

Welcome
you are in good hands here. Many of us have dealt with rust way worse than that.

The first thing I would do is go to a car wash and spray the "tire cleaner" all over in the wheel wells and wherever you can reach with the want underneath. Then blast it with water and clean it up the best you can.
That is assuming you dont have access to a pressure washer at home. That is really the way to go. Roll around under there and blast everything as clean as you can.

Then pull the seats and whatever else needs removed in order to get the carpet out. You need a clear view of top and bottom to asses the damage.

Grab a screwdriver and start stabbing everywhere it looks bad. If it goes through, it's bad. If it doesn't then it might be ok.

mgreig

I did see the leaf relocation brackets but they seemed to use the same mounting spot. The sheet metal around the unibody is what’s gone along with that cross peice starting to flake away. Unibody still good so if they just bolt up to that then I’m fine with relocating as a fix I guess?
But I’d rather “do it right”

Alright interior comes out today haha yes I have a power washer at home

I’ll start there and I’ll get more pictures posted today. If you guys think I’m not up a creek then I’ll keep it and start a build thread here. You guys seem active enough. What’s the manual to order for these? I hear haynes is junk

my plan was to put 3.5” and 31s and overland it with the kids. I knew I had to cool the tranny and all that and what that build entailed but I’m just hoping I can still do all that without worry

I’m just bummed because I had been looking for a while for a nice clean one and that’s what I thought this was. But 77k miles and when you’ll see in the pics it just looks like clear fade. This is what I get for rushing around and being careless


im not that big of a dope I promise. I do work on my own vehicles and I’m a stationary engineer by trade so we should be able to work together and make this puppy sweet I hope haha.




All in here is just squish squish haha. Here we go guys

boxburn

Once your interior is out you'll have a good idea of where you're at. The rear corners and front floors are very common spots for rusting away. At the front you should check with a hose for any leaks leading down to the floors, you don't want to do the repairs and leave any water getting in.

As you can see, I also had rust on the cargo floor next to the shackle mounts. Not trying to scare you into what you may find, but it is all repairable.

boxburn

Oh and you can probably find the manual you need here: Technical Manuals | cruiser54

TrailerTrash

Good luck!

The seat bolts might snap off.

And you might find treasure under them or under the carpet

boxburn

I don't consider orange metallic flakes to be treasure

mgreig

Alright I pulled back the carpet in the cargo area and it’s really only bad in the driver rear. It ate away where the shackle bracket would sit on the floor pan. And I’ll include some pics.

I haven’t gotten to pulling the seats out yet but from a close look the drivers side front and rear seem ok, passenger side front needs replacement or at least a patch behind mudflap. and there’s just a spot or two along the passenger rocker. I might be able to get away with a couple patches for all those spots. Tomorrow I plan to take the seats out and the carpet to get a closer look, but we will see what the wife has planned.




what’s a good company that makes replacement floor pans for these areas and the passenger front. I want this to be as painless as possible

TrailerTrash

I have seen alot worse. You have alot of cutting, cleaning, and welding ahead of you. Dont be discouraged.

As far as I am aware, front driver and passenger floor pans are the only part of the floor you can buy replacement panels for.

Definitely take the seats and all the carpet out. Rust likes to hide under the rear seats, in the rear floor, and sometimes in front of the rear wheel wells on the inside behind the interior panels. You dont want to fix all this rust and find more later on.

mgreig

@TrailerTrash
agree with you 100% and it is all coming out before i start with the repairs... i did find a couple companies that make the cargo area floorpan as a whole, and digging through threads i noticed replacement fuel filler line covers too.. ill try to find some links for ya

Ricthewrench

C2C had cargo pans, definitely read up on them prior to purchase. Not die formed, bent with a press. Some "lovin" likely needed to fit them. Good luck! R

mgreig

i saw those c2c cargo pans and thought the same thing. im probably going to just end up fabbing something up myself for the cargo area since it just seems to be that one spot so far. rust restoration is a little out of my comfort zone but this really doesnt seem too bad.

anyways im off till 9pm tonight for the overnight. plan is to have seats and carpet out today but thats wife and kid demand depending lol.

plan to keep posting here as i restore the jeep so i might start a new thread or see if a mod can re title it

robsjeep

The shackle relocators attach also to the frame to the trailer hitch mounting holes in the frame. (or at least some brands of these do) this maybe helpful for you.

before repair starts, check the entire truck for rust completely. many times other rust lurks. Id hate to fix the trunk floor and shackle to find later that the rockers are shot, or frame is shot, or window frame is shot etc....

now perhaps the trunk rust is the only significant rust, but make darn sure so you dont throw money into a rust bucket money pit. if bad rust elsewhere, it might be wise to cut your losses now.

What is a stationary engineer? Dont tell me you make fancy letterhead writing paper and matching preprinted envelopes, or do you?

GzrGldr

If that is what is being sold as a rust free vehicle, I feel like I got lucky and scored a showroom quality one. Good luck with your build. Still a nice XJ and definitely salvageable.