Hey guys just got the tub off to put a line x coating inside and on the undercarriage. I am trying to get everything back together by the end of next week but in the meantime what should I do while I have a bare frame. This is what I have thought of so far...
Clean and degrease with a heated power washer
POR-15
body/motor lift
eastwood internal frame coating
fluid film everything that I cant POR
no such thing as a stupid suggestion let them fly!
Add drain holes. Sounds like you've about got everything else covered. Only thing I could think of is any work that needs to be done on your driveline or axles as they're easy to work on now.
Its my work lot we have a sweet little garage with a lift im using. I had a bunch of the guys come out to help carry the tub outside. One of them asked why I didn't just take the wheels off outside he didn't realize its was only the body :lmao:
I am going to be adding rokman gas tank skid and tranny skid eventually but wasnt planning to do it until the spring. Is it worth getting them rushed here next week so I can do it with the tub off?
I agree with drain holes. I would also say that if you plan on keeping the Jeep for a long time, but not be a bad time to upgrade the fuel lines and brake lines..easy access. and I did my fuel pump and skid in about 2 hours total...
Is there a known problem with the fuel line? I am trying to get this thing back together by Friday so just want to know the thought behind it before I dump more time and money into it. Brake lines seem like a good idea since I already have to bleed everything.
Ok so progress is going well. got everything cleaned and degreesed yesterday. Turns out the Tub has quite a few "pockets" that collect sand and other debris. I will document later but am def going to be adding some drain holes in a few areas of concern. The frame is way better than I expected and has very minimal rust (texas car!). My question is should I POR15 over the good paint or should I just touch up the rust areas. I have heard POR wont adhere well to painted surfaces and is most effective on rust.
Replace the rear shocks. Maybe change the fuel pump assembly.
When you have full access to the areas, there's no read need for POR, just sand and paint is more than enough. POR is great however it's brittle so it will chip off.
Transfer case input seal, transmission output seal and main rear seal are great to get to with the tub off. Valve cover gasket may also need a change, plugs etc.
Those are low cost items but need some significant time to get to. May as well change them all.
Thanks for the suggestions NK-215. What type of paint do you suggest? self etch primer first? I am thinking about using SEM's self etch primer and ez-coat or just the ez coat.
Got the tub almost ready for line x just want to powerwash one more time now that I stripped out the heater core unit and found a few messy cavities (see next)
Drilled out two holes for drainage, the location is just prior to the rear wheelwell and was completely filled with sand. This was a lucky catch as it is just starting to rust.
Welded a bracket in the right rear corner to re-support the door after some abuse from the previous owner. door wouldn't shut without lifting in up and it was pulling the rear corner panel away. closes perfectly now and the panel looks way more better!
Pumped to see how the line x turns out I am trying to get it there tomorrow but likely I will want to let it dry overnight before bringing it over.
Tough to sleep with my baby ripped apart I cant wait to start putting it back together. original goal was Friday but I think I will need to put in another weekend. If anyone is thinking about doing this I would have said go for it but man is it allot of work, hopefully the juice is worth the squeeze :beerme:
Another thing to consider is replacing the axle end upper control arm bushings on the front. That is NOT a fun job with the body on.
POR-15 stands for "paint over rust", if you can remove the rust then no need for it. If you do use it, be careful because any paint you get on yourself will have to wear off, and do NOT spray it unless you have a very good respirator system.
I would do the etch primer first then paint if you can sand the rust out. If not, then use POR-15 metal prep then paint over. The petal prep converted the rust to a black coating which is very durable. I had a wire rack in my dish washer that was rusted thru at a few places (to the point that the entire wire is almost gone). I use the metal prep on it, the rust was converted to a a hard black coat. It has been 3+ years with 3x/week use and the black coat is still there, so sight of rust.
Don't forget you'll need to remove a few brackets and paint the contact surfaces between them and the frame. Do the same with the skid plate, it's a very common place for the rust to start.
Many people love the inner frame paint but I don't like them. They'll paint over the frame bolt threads which makes it so hard to remove the frame mounted brackets later on. Fluid film or mineral spirit + toilet wax + oil solution works wonder when sprayed inside the tube. In fact, the thread on my skid plate was coated with a thin wax layer from the spray. I was able to remove those bolts for the first time in almost 20 years w/o a need for impact gun (just a 24" extension is more than enough - no rust on the bolt threads).
So I have decided to make a few tweaks to my original plan. Initially I wanted to POR15 the frame but after close inspection I think epoxy primer and paint is my best option as the frame is super clean. I ordered a quart of the eastwoods extreme chasis black primer and a quart of the paint.
After my line-x appointment was cancelled for unknown reasons I decided to go with Hyannis line x on the cape. He told me line-x on the undercarriage is a huge no go for him and hes been doing these on jeeps for 17 years? 7 maybe? he himself owns 5 jeeps so I decided to listen to him as he clearly knows more than I do just reading forums. On top of the great advice he quoted me less than half of what the other two line x dealers were asking to do top and bottom. I'm booked for the 16th to line x my interior so I have a bit of extra time to prep/paint and do some maintenance work. He also suggested a fluid film type undercoating and even knocked of 20% as I am doing the line x. Cant recall the brand but he said hes been using it for years and it usually lasts 30-60k miles before having to reapply. I will probably do this once the jeeps back together and painted
I am trying to convince my brain a super ultimate old man emu kit is a good idea since I have the body off but im about $500 short so trying to figure that out. I may just do the springs/shocks/bl/mml for now and do the control arms latter but its just so accessible now I know I will regret not doing it. I might just do the lowers for now as Dirk suggested at DPG but still dont know what to do.
I am also considering using lizard skin or eastwoods comparable product on the firewall to reduce noise but am not super convinced its worth it. Any advice here would be appreciated as I do allot of highway driving going up north to ski and 3-4 trips a week to the cape from boston to commercial fish so the noise does get to me a bit.
I am still planning on doing the eastwoods internal frame paint as I have seen some very minor rust start to form and I think this will nip it in the but. I am going to cut a large access hole in the back of the frame behind the bumper. I have purchased a few different sized "chimney sweep" fittings and a large flexible bar I am going to attach to a drill. Using this I should be able to get any rust scale off and prep the surface decently. Once I try this method I will report back what I learned but heres a link to the sweeps if you're interested. https://www.mcmaster.com/#chimney-brushes/=15d97b3
I also got a few items from jeepsareus on order and have to say the customer service is great. I got a hard top wiring kit to convert my softop so I am excited about that. The rest is just odds and ends like the clutch pedal captive bushing I broke off and hardtop components I am missing.
Having my jeep torn apart is causing me a decent amount of stress, its not that im worried I cant put it together its just the fear of the unknown. That and I have wayyy too much money tied up in it so sleeping is tough some nights. I think by next Monday I will be feeling allot better and will hopefully have everything mostly back together. ullinghair:
This isnt something you should be losing sleep over,it should be fun.Just think how awesome it will be when your done and the feeling of accomplishment you will have. As far as the money you have spent,you cant take it with you.
Gotta say I gave myself a high five for this one. Mcmaster chimney sweep + drill = internal frame paint prep magic. :awesome:
Drilled two access holes in the rear of the frame behind the bumper.
Back out muffler hanger bolts on the right side or it will catch and twist up your sweep extension (ask me how I know)
Attach sweep to drill and let her rip!
Getting another extension so I can do the entire frame
My only concern is if it snaps or breaks loose there is little chance I will be able to get it back out so be very careful and don't put the drill in reverse or it will unscrew the sweep head from the extension. I am also going to get the next size up for sweeps because it didn't quite get every surface.
McMaster P/Ns
6413T43 72" sweep extension (get two or three) (10$ each)
6355T12 4" Brush ($14)
7232T23 3.5" Brush ($14)
7232T21 3" Brush (the one pictured)($14)
7215T25 T-Handle (backup if you cant pull out with the drill) ($11)
5239K11 10' long extension tube for east-woods internal frame paint ($13)
Gotta say I gave myself a high five for this one. Mcmaster chimney sweep + drill = internal frame paint prep magic. :awesome:
Drilled two access holes in the rear of the frame behind the bumper.
Back out muffler hanger bolts on the right side or it will catch and twist up your sweep extension (ask me how I know)
Attach sweep to drill and let her rip!
Getting another extension so I can do the entire frame
My only concern is if it snaps or breaks loose there is little chance I will be able to get it back out so be very careful and don't put the drill in reverse or it will unscrew the sweep head from the extension. I am also going to get the next size up for sweeps because it didn't quite get every surface.
McMaster P/Ns
6413T43 72" sweep extension (get two or three) (10$ each)
6355T12 4" Brush ($14)
7232T23 3.5" Brush ($14)
7232T21 3" Brush (the one pictured)($14)
7215T25 T-Handle (backup if you cant pull out with the drill) ($11)
5239K11 10' long extension tube for east-woods internal frame paint ($13)
Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead. I'm getting ready to tackle this project on my LJ before winter. Thanks so much for the part numbers!
What size holes did you drill in the rear crossmember? Also how did you remove everything you knocked loose with the brush? How many cans did you end up using?
While I'm waiting for the next business day for the mcmaster stuff to ship id say I got 90% of the frame prepped for paint. Used a grinder with a wire wheel + drill with wire brush attachments to get the smaller stuff. Anything I could easily rip off I sandblasted. Gave the tub another bath with the heated power washer now that I have added in the proper drain holes and removed the heater core and evap canister. Tubs getting line x on Thursday and I cant wait to get it back so I can start reassembly. if all goes well I should be driving her home from work in one week instead of taking the T! Also did some test painting with the eastwoods internal frame stuff. wasn't very happy with the spray fan from the nozzle so I added a few extra holes to get a more even spread. The other problem I am having is the stuff pooling in the bottom of the test piece. Its been a few days and I can still pick at the heavier piles of it with my finger nail. Will be waiting to see if it fully cures before filling my frame with it. Anyone have this problem? I am considering other options but really like how it came out on the side and top walls so maybe I can jack it up on one end and try and get most of it out of the bottom. Cheers
Well I went ahead and did the eastwood internal frame coating. Id say it came out OK but did have the issue of it pooling in the bottom which I assume is normal. I also did the rear cross member that holds the gas tank, it was very rusty from all the dirt and sand sitting up there. Dropped the tub today for a line x and will be picking it up on Sunday! Pumped to get going on reassembly. I am planning on using eastwoods extreme chasis black to coat the frame and the underside of the tub. Tub is also going to get lizard skin sound/ceramic on the firewall, tranny tunnel and above the exhaust. I ditched the old heat shield and plan to fab one up out of a 1/2 piece of aluminium that I am going to mount to the tub on standoffs. Hopefully all this together takes care of burnt feet in the summertime!
Man does it look awesome! I found a few mistakes but talked to Adam on the phone and he said I can take it back whenever to have him fix it. Looks like they missed the top corner of the tailgate prep and it peeled back. My heart sank when I saw it but I peeled it back and it ripped all the paint of the tailgate so it really was just that one spot so far. He said the reason is they usually dont get tubs as stripped as mine and its not a normal spot they spray. Another spot looks like it was put on too heavy and it kind of folded over on itself, hopefully I can grind this flat and have them put a top coat on. I missed one little ziptie for the center console wiring and they missed it too so its forever encapsulated unfortunately. Really close to perfect though and Adam at line-x of Hyannis is very helpful despite being absurdly busy (he did my tub on a Saturday and I picked it up Sunday). Very tough to get a hold of and no answering machine but he was worth the trouble for sure. Final cost was $500 compared to the other quotes of $1,200 and $750-$1000 for Woburn and central MA line-x. He also has had something like 7 TJs so he is a great guy to use.
I am prepping the internal cavities for eastwood paint which I will likely shoot in tonight. I took a few pics of me doing this so you can see how much the chimney sweep helps. Check out the rust pile on the wheelwell and the "rust smoke" in the air!
Heres a pic detailing the cavities I painted with eastwoods. I prepped as best as I could but some areas I was not able to get my wire brush in. Between the frame and the body cavities I used 5.5 cans of eastwoods. If you are going to go heavy with it you will need more. I went with light coatings because I do not like how it pools into a large puddles, it seems like it may not cure fully or if it does it wont be for a long time.
Took a bit more than a quart to spray engine bay, wheel wells and undercarriage if anyone was wondering. going to put a second coat and then lizard skin combo followed by a top coat of some sort.
I'm jealous. I've been wanting to do this to mine for a while, but I have neither the facilities or an extra car to drive while the work is being done.
Good work. Be glad your torque boxes were in good shape, they're a pita to replace.
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