drcomanche Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 As the title implies, I got out to work on the truck today since it was nice, and while trying to leverage the exhaust pipe noticed a little bubbling under my rubberized coating on the frame rail. I tapped on it a bit and boom, a nice hole in the frame rail. It's on the passengers side just before the forward hanger for the leaf. It's only on one side of the frame rail, not the bottom or inside, but the frame rail itself feels kind of weak(not able to poke holes in it, but can feel it give a bit when struck) the duration up to the high point over the axle(which is where I found another hole directly over top of the bump stop). The drivers side is solid, but the passengers side had, apparently, filled with some loose soil that really held in the water, causing the rot. The other side of the frame rail seems pretty solid with no give, and the underside, while it does have some rust, isn't bad enough to give either. The holes themselves are about 2x1 inches before it reaches some slightly more stable, I'll be it weak, metal. I was pretty depressed and ended my work for the day there, fearing the worst. So my question is, can I do anything about this, or is it gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 This? If it were me........ I'd make up patch panels and weld them on to get me by for a year or so. In the mean time I'd save my pennies and work extra to buy a dead truck with a solid body to swap my good parts over to. I'd be looking in the deep south for one to drag home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drcomanche Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Yeah, that's the one. I'll keep an eye out for one. Really unfortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComancheKid45 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Patch panels done right will be just as strong if not better than OEM.....fix er up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I wouldn't give up on it, and I wouldn't put on "little" patch panels with the idea of lasting for a year or so. Since there are holes, I would start by washing out the frame rail with a power washer, to get ALL the dirt and mud and gunk out. Then I would get a couple of aerosol cans of rust killer and spray the inside of the frame liberally. Let it dry. Maybe set up a small fan to get some air moving through the frame. Then I would get some heavy-gauge sheet steel and cut it to the shape of the frame rail, up and over the axle. Keep it just a tiny bit less in height that the height of the frame rail. Weld it on. Then take another piece of sheet steel and make up a full-length U-plate to wrap around under the frame rail, with legs turned up on both sides. Weld that on. Paint liberally with multiple coats of Rust-Oleum gloss or semi-gloss black, then spray on a heavy coat of rustproofing. (NOT "undercoating" -- "rustproofing." They are not interchangeable.) Here's CWLONGSHOT's build thread, to give you some ideas on the repair. Scroll to post #391 for the frame repair sequence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drcomanche Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 It didn't link, but I'll look it up later. As for patching, I don't weld or do metal work(the only things I don't have any experience in). So one way or another, this is a rough spot. My moneys pretty tight and most of it went into the front axle rebuild. This really puts a damper on spring. I was hoping to take her out more this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Sorry - I copied the link but I forgot to paste it. http://comancheclub.com/topic/1175-cws-mj-2005-10/page-20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incommando Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 To repair the rusted frame on my CJ7 I got some rectangular tubing roughly the size of the frame. I cut the top of the tube off with an angle grinder to make it a c-channel that reached the top of the frame. After getting off all the rust and using a rust converter on the original frame I then tapped the c-channel onto it from below. Welded the top of the channel to the frame. I only had about $100 in the fix and it covered most of the frame on both sides. Doing a smaller area would not be expensive at all. If you have any 4x4 clubs in your area and you get with them you can often find a decent welder dude to help you out for a few bucks or a few brews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drcomanche Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'll look into it. Thanks for the advice, I really thought the worst for it and it's had me down for days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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