If it were yours, what would you do (floor pans)

[Billy Darson]

Fond Hello to you all.

 

I'm a new member but long time lurker of the CC Forum, 

Recently I've jumped into eliminating water intrusion and cleaning up the rusty and Swiss cheesed floor pans to asses what would be the best approach to handle it.

I have a POR 15 floorpan/trunk repair kit(essentially, had to buy separate items to compile the kit that whey were sold out of). Which typically comes with some fiberglass mat to lay, and wet out, with the POR15 over the questionable rusty metal. So where I'm at is, should I remove the side supports and the center channel frame rail cover? from the bottom the frame rails look fantastic, like the undercoat really did its job at protecting the metal. Which I will have to reapply, any suggestions on undercoats? the interior, well we know... LOL. While lurking and searching posts on the topic of floor pan replacement, I saw many people suggested the floor pan replacements offered by KeyParts if you had the $, or if you're handy with welder, make em.

Well, I'm ok with welding, not terrible, but far from good, safe to say i'm a novice. So regardless which method I choose it looks like I'll be welding. at the very least welding the side supports back on and center channel/rail cover...

 

So if were your MJ and you had this kind of rust damage, What route would you take for a proper long-lasting  peace of mind repair?  

 

Much thanks for your input.

[garyweb3]

I had new panels installed on my 87 Comanche and I think they were worse than yours.

[89 MJ]

I’d remove the supports, weld in new keyparts floor pans, then put the supports back in, after they were sandblasted and primed with a weld through primer. 

[Boilermaker]

If you're planning on doing some welding anyway and the parts aren't cost prohibitive, I suggest using the Key Parts floor pans and supports. The Key Parts panels i've used have been good and the time saved over piecing together patches can be spent on other fixes. There is likely more rust you can't see under the floor supports and factory seam sealer. You'll be able to get at more potential problem areas with the floors removed.

 

The welding doesn't have to be visually perfect since it should eventually be covered in seam sealer anyway (plus any sound deadening, carpet, etc.)

 

Good luck with the repairs and welcome to the forum.

[eaglescout526]

I used a dryer for it’s sheet metal to create a new floor pan in my XJ. Little bit thicker and already coated in anti rust stuff. But that’s just my broke self. 

[Billy Darson]

Got after it a bit more, finding and exposing where the rust line meets clean bare metal.

 

Appreciate the feedback Y'all!  I had a feeling full on replacement would be the way to go. Guess I needed the outside confirmation to give myself permission to go whole hog.

 

Jegs wants nearly 200 for 1 side and 125 for the other? EEks. I'm no metal worker, LOL. so with that said modding a Cherokee floor pan set seems like a lit of a bother, and I'm definitely not confident enough with my metal skill to attempt the dryer patch-@ Eaglescout. I appreciate you're resourcefulness! Need to hone my metal skills to be as resourceful. Save that money.  those with the skills, do what those without the skills, pay out the boot hole for. Hats off to you sir.

 

 I tried searching summit, no dice on the MJ panels. Jegs appears to be the only ones with them in stock. KeyParts doesn't sell directly?? am I mistaken on that??

I've been burnt on Ebay before, so id much prefer to go with a credible source than deal with that mess again. looking for a middle ground Between getting scammed and bent over a barrel.  Any suggestions there?

 

All of the supports look like they're seen better days 89 MJ. some eaten through metal on the drivers side center support. and all of them seemed to dent fairly easy when I was chiseling off the flake rust. But I suppose I won't know if the supports can be saved until I get them off. chances are though they'll need to get replaced. no telling how much Ill mangle them getting em off. Ill probably use my rotohammer in hammer function with a chisel tip and a prybar to get it all out. I don't have an air hammer, but figure its similarly effective... time will tell eh?

From the other people that have put in the new floor pans, what did you do about the seat studs? I have a feeling I should make a template of where things are before I go hacking and a prying.  

 

I feel like I've learned the broad strokes of the process from the community members that did us all a service by documenting their work in doing their floor pan(and other) repairs. for that, I salute you.

One of those gems that stuck was the weld through primer. shout out@ 89MJ. 

 

Anyone use Jegs seam sealer? I'm sort of stumbling through the dark here on this project. First time doing any project like this, usually stick to stuff that can be fixed with wrenches, grease, and duct tape. so yeah :)  

 

Thanks again!

Edited September 29 by Billy Darson
incomplete sentences

[Billy Darson]

1 hour ago, Boilermaker said:

If you're planning on doing some welding anyway and the parts aren't cost prohibitive, I suggest using the Key Parts floor pans and supports. The Key Parts panels i've used have been good and the time saved over piecing together patches can be spent on other fixes. There is likely more rust you can't see under the floor supports and factory seam sealer. You'll be able to get at more potential problem areas with the floors removed.

 

The welding doesn't have to be visually perfect since it should eventually be covered in seam sealer anyway (plus any sound deadening, carpet, etc.)

 

Good luck with the repairs and welcome to the forum.

Thanks Boilermaker.

you've voice what I have felt I needed to do. the more I can get at the better off Ill be later down the line.

[ThatJeepGuy]

Any approach/attempt to fix your floors that involves removing your unibody cap and also this side inner rocker cap is a better approach than Not.

 

I find it best to drill out all of the rosette welds and then pluck these 2 pieces out before I start making the decision on a full floor pan or repairing only sections.

 

The barbarians that simply plop the small cutouts of new floor On Top of these unibody caps are soo sadly mistaken of how they in fact did NOT fix their floor pans and more soo they just invited bigger problems later on once that original in-between layer rusts away, then turning the unibody into a debris and rust receptical.

 

Because the MJ specific floor pans are a rather recent offering, also based on my experience with the KeyPars XJ specific floor pans and their fitment - i would pony my bucks over for nothing other than the KeyParts MJ specific pans. The simplicity and ease of final fit and finish is worth the $$ in my opinion. Even if it comes down to an ebay purchase - thats what a credit card is for. Any issues or hangups and you let the CC company fight thrm to get their money back - not you fighting for yours.

Any of those pages portraying the XJ and MJ as universal or same fitting is wrong. The cheapy C2C generic pans are fine for something youd want to spruce up and re-sell quickly all-be it thats what the old appliance metal is for 😜. But if you plan on keeping this jeep a long time, do it right-er once.

[ratrapp]

definitly get the mj specific pans.i used the xj pans because at the time keyparts hadnt made the mj pans yet.there is alot of cutting hammering and cussing involved using the xj style.i ordered off of keyparts ebay store and didnt have any problems.

[Boilermaker]

My floors were in decent shape so I only had my floor supports replaced. The shop that did it drilled out all the spot welds to remove the supports. The OEM supports probably could have been reused. He cleaned up any surface rust under the supports and where the factory seam sealer was prior its removal. Then put down a layer of 2k epoxy primer, 3M 2k seam sealer in the factory locations and another coat or two of 2k epoxy primer.

 

It's a lot of steps, but since I don't have any welding skills it's something I didn't want to have to address again.

[Billy Darson]

I went and bought all new supports and drivers and passengers floorpans from Keyparts Via JEGS. glad I had a tiny wad-o-cash put aside for such an occasion.

Found some sexy high temp paint and some rattle can undercoating while I was getting fresh wire wheels and flap wheels from the local Tractor Supply Co. I couldn't resist the high temp paint, oooweee! LOL. 

I will commence the project when the parts arrive. Need to source me some weld through primer though.

 

@BoilermakerI'm not hip to the 2k. I've heard it mentioned on a few Tube channels, but overall ignorant about its benefits. I've got some more learnin' to do.

  

@ThatJeepGuy   I figure while I'm going this deep, might as well dig a bit deeper, get at as much as I possibly can.

 

@ratrapp Glad you got the XJ pans to work for you. I'm pretty sure Id be doing the same if Key parts hadn't made the MJ pans.

probably an extra helping of cussing, just to reassure the neighbors I'm having a good time elbow greasing the pans to fit.

 

 

thanks all for the support and suggestions