Rattling driving me nuts... And yes another question

Ok my front brakes were done recently and now when driving on dirt roads i hear rattling coming from the front, if i apply the brakes the rattle stops. There is no rust anywhere on the surroundings or plates behind the rotors, is it the anti rattle springs/clips? I need a part number and idea on what way they go in. Also the brakes will click when you first apply them it sounds kinda like a relay going off is this related? I'm kinda paranoid about brake noises and I'm hoping these are minor things, i have a 95 4.0 auto.

Also i have an unrelated issue, my jeep if about 98% rust free but when i was inspecting for the rattle initially before i tracked it to the front end i found a hole right above the exhaust i pushed it and i can see one of the front seat brackets(passenger side) i believe, its not under carpet, Is this a common area due to the heat? What can i use to repair it that can deal with the heat and how do i access it due to the fact its under the seat bracket, i was thinking removing the rust and painting with por15 and then fiberglass? Kinda upset since there are no rust holes in the thing other than there. I plan on trying to rust proof the rest of the jeep before winter with some kinda DIY bed liner, but have to deal with the hole at the same time.

My 97 does the same thing. The pad mounting rails are grooved. I think you can get pad kits with clips that go over the grooves. It'll drive you nuts, huh?

One thing I can suggest is to not ignore the hole. One of our friends had a '94 that caught fire as a result of this. Fortunately, she (a middle-aged housewife) was near home and the fire was mostly smoldering carpet and pad with dense smoke which the fire department quickly extinguished. She and my wife nicknamed the POJ "The Firewagon" which her husband did not appreciate in the least--long back-story not pertinent to this thread.

My '93 has the rotten spot and will no doubt soon have a hole if I don't bother myself to get out and fix it. There have been threads on this subject. Some suggest putting a shield between the pipe and the floor. I'm thinking perhaps a heavy double walled aluminum perforated cooking sheet--don't know what its called but my wife has one. I know others will know how to patch the hole, perhaps a piece of sheet metal pop riveted in place if there is room and fiberglassed with epoxy on the inside. Standard epoxy doesn't like too much heat but should be okay with the shield.

Of course, if your area is under the seat bracket, a slightly different technique will probably apply.

Just a couple of thought to get you started. I assume someone else will chime in.

Im hoping fiberglass and por15 and then bed liner works. but i have no idea on the amount of heat fiberglass can take. Its in a hard but not impossible place to repair, being that it seems i may have to work from the outside it being under the seat rail, the hole is about pinky sized and once rust is removed and sanded im sure it'll be a little bigger, i need to fix it to also prevent water from getting in.

Now that i look at it very closely it seems to be about a 3x3in area that's infected right in front of the cat with about a pinky sized hole, its mostly a flat area, and there is no other areas along the the rest of the exhaust.

Best thing to do is cut the bad area back to good metal and weld in new metal. In Va you will fail inspection for a hole in the floor . The heat/cold
cycle damaged the metal in the area,think what it will do to plastic !

While you have a welder out,pull the pads off the front and weld up the holes in the sliders/anchors,grind smooth and be rattle free.

Wayne

my jeep had swiss cheese floors i just ripped out the front carpet and grinded the area out welded in new sheet metal, its an afternoon job and wont take you long, after coat the area with a rocker guard spray and the weather will stay out. Oh and put up a spark guard when you start grinding lol i have a speckled windshield now because i didnt (oh yeah molten metal flecks have melted into my windshield lol). i wouldnt go for fiberglass without a shield my friends mustang caught fire because of a badly placed patch lol

as far as the breaks go if youve put new pads on and they still rattle/squeek id go with wayne's solution

Pelican said:

My '93 has the rotten spot and will no doubt soon have a hole if I don't bother myself to get out and fix it. There have been threads on this subject. Some suggest putting a shield between the pipe and the floor. I'm thinking perhaps a heavy double walled aluminum perforated cooking sheet--don't know what its called but my wife has one. I know others will know how to patch the hole, perhaps a piece of sheet metal pop riveted in place if there is room and fiberglassed with epoxy on the inside.

Click to expand...

I believe you're thinking of something like an Air Bake cookie sheet, or similar thing. We have one, and maybe it works better in a convection oven, but it sucks as a baking sheet in a normal oven-soggy Christmas cookies are not the best. But, because of its insulating properties, it may be perfect as a heat shield.
Are the heat shields still on your cat? It doesn't seem like much help, but rather acts as a heat sink, helping dissipate the heat. And, please, no fiberglass. The resin may not like being so close to heat. In patching the floors of our XJs, we've used a combination of patches affixed with welding, Liquid Nails (use an external type), and Silicone Caulk (nearer the heat; it seems to be more resilient to higher temps), and then a good ondercoating. Duplicolor makes a spray-on bedliner that stiffens up nice.

Air Bake sounds right. We seem to have lost ours--probably tossed for the reason you mentioned. I'm sure there are purpose-designed products or perhaps just a piece of aluminum sheet that would shield just as well or better, but for some reason, I've always envisioned the baking sheet as the ideal solution for this particular problem.

silicone of the right type is very heat resistant, up to soldering temperatures at least. I would weld in new metal (no fiberglass!!) and put a heat shield on it. Make sure to pull the carpet when you're welding... and have a fire extinguisher on hand in case some body sealer or something catches fire.