Just bought it and it needs frame repair!!!

[MSH5337]

Hello everyone. I've been looking for a Comanche for years and finally jumped on one this last weekend. Though I thought I gave it a thorough inspection, I messed up. I either completely missed the frame damage/rot, or did it myself hauling it back 4 hours on a tow dolly. There's a hole in the bottom of the frame right in front of the driver's side leaf spring mount. Looks as if the mount is pushing up through that hole, but it's hard to tell. What do you guys think? Will this be easy enough to repair? If so, what are your suggestions? Thanks in advance. 

[MSH5337]

Here's another view of it.

[MSH5337]

One more. 

[DirtyComanche]

That's been gone for a long time.

 

Check the other side.  It's probably similar.  Even if it doesn't look it.

 

I'd take the bed off, drop the tank, pull the rear axle, pull the brake lines off the inside of the frame, then do some exploratory cutting on the bottom portion of the frame to see how far the rot extends.  Make sure the spring hanger is still solid, or it will need to be replaced too.

 

As a repair I would template the whole frame rail that is affected in cardboard, being sure to extend 2" past any area deemed to be rotted.  Remove all rotted metal, clean to bare all exposed metal within the repair area and a couple inches past it.  I'd cut the repair pieces out of 1/8" flat bar, ending the repairs in a point.  I would weld it on with 3/8" plug welds pitched 1" from the edge of the repair on a 2" pitch, and then depending how I felt I would weld the entire perimeter or do 1" stitches.  The bottom would also have to be welded in, which I would definitely do as a continuous weld to the two side pieces.  Use weld through zinc primer on all surfaces that are to be covered over.

 

If you need it to not look like it was repaired, I would do similar, but I would go 4" past the damaged area and plug weld it with a staggered pitch and do the exact same repair on the other side (if it needs it or not).

 

I could take an example picture of other repaired/reinforced areas I guess.  This gives a reasonable idea of acceptable standard practice while welding to the uniframe, even if it is a ZJ/WJ reference.  It's not totally right, I believe Kraqa will admit that if you corner him on it now, but there's nothing in there that won't work.

[MSH5337]

Thanks for that man! That explanation helps a lot. Would the repair pieces be welded in flush, or overlap the frame? I am one of the worst welders you will ever meet, but luckily there's a guy in town who's a wizard at it. I'll give him a shout tomorrow with those details and see how much he'll charge me. The funny thing is the other side looks dang near perfect, and I can't find a spot of rust anywhere else on the "frame". But like you said, that doesn't mean it's not there.

[Eagle]

That photo looks like someone has already been mucking around with it. And didn't know what they were doing.

[DirtyComanche]

8 hours ago, Eagle said:

That photo looks like someone has already been mucking around with it. And didn't know what they were doing.

 

You are correct.  The spring hanger should not be welded around the perimeter from the factory.  I'm guessing they cut it off and moved it up to try to cover the hole?

[DirtyComanche]

16 hours ago, MSH5337 said:

Thanks for that man! That explanation helps a lot. Would the repair pieces be welded in flush, or overlap the frame? I am one of the worst welders you will ever meet, but luckily there's a guy in town who's a wizard at it. I'll give him a shout tomorrow with those details and see how much he'll charge me. The funny thing is the other side looks dang near perfect, and I can't find a spot of rust anywhere else on the "frame". But like you said, that doesn't mean it's not there.

 

Overlap the pieces.  Unless you're trying to hide it, but then only if you can put a doubler on the inside (generally far more complicated of repair at that point).

 

90% of this will be prep and fitment of the pieces.  If you haven't done much work with steel, you might want to enlist professional help for the whole process.  As Eagle pointed out, that spring hanger has already been mucked with, IMHO at this point it should be removed to determine what is going on under it.

[MSH5337]

I feel comfortable doing the majority of the prep work. When it comes to cutting the replacement pieces and welding them in though, I'm definitely going to get some help. I'm just pissed at myself for missing this, and that the POS selling it "forgot" to mention it. SMH. I did take a hammer and chisel to the rest of the frame though and it seems super solid. I'll know more after I remove the bed. Hopefully this will be a one and done fix. I've read a lot of the XJ guys will weld in entire frame sections from a rust free donor vehicle. Is something like that possible in this case, or are we better off going with what's previously discussed?