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rust holes under carpet

rocklandxjer

NAXJA Forum User
so i recently discovered that my baby has entered the family of jeep rustbuckets. i pulled my carpet in the trunk and saw that the only rust i got is centered in the trunk. uhhhg...

so i have a few rust spots that can be sanded and painted, but there are some full holes....

what did you guys do about this, they are not around any bolts or nuts or anything so should i just cut em out and put some metal plate on top???

man this blows.
 
My usual practice is to cut them out to sound metal and apply a plate on the top using self-drilling hex head screws. These will zip right in and screw the plate down tight. I use roofing tar as an undercoat, and it seems to hold up well, but actual undercoating also works if you have some. You can even put a little tar on the edges of the hole before you screw down the plate and it seals it pretty well. I tried silicone once but it actually made the rust worse after a while.
 
OOH, DON'T ever use silicone sealant on your XJ! (It's a corrosive!)
Unless you use the electronic grade silicone, that sealant will eat your body metal apart.
Here's a trick I tryed in to seal gaps that has held up perfectly for the past year and a half. Liquid nails as a caulk between sheetmetal. It may take up to a week to get solid, but it dries hard and flexible.
 
i used silicone as a sealent when repairing my floor. it's been on there for a year and hasn't had any negative effects. what was your expeience with it?
 
I used some silicone sealant to seal some spots on my old '74 Bronco, and it started to rust rather quickly around the sealant. I had sanded and primed prior to the sealant, so I started asking around. My neighbor (an autobody man) tells me that most silicone sealants release a corrosive during cure. I go on the net, and pull up data sheets. Sure enough, he is correct. Working in the electronics industry myself, I start asking the engineers at work, they concur, Only electronic / Non corrosive silicone selant is safe for your metals.
I'm not saying you, or any one else has a problem, just trying to give fair warning to anyone up front. Early Bronco metal was hard to come by.
 
The problem I had with silicone sealant was basically the same reason it is useful as a gasket material: it does not really adhere to the metal. If there's even a little surface rust on the metal, the silicone doesn't bond well enough to keep the rust from creeping in under the bead, and once there, it's made worse by the silicone. Roofing tar and true automotive undercoating are kind of greasy, and stick well enough even to rusty metal that they will stop, or at least slow down, the corrosion. I never tried Liquid Nails, but it sounds like an interesting alternative if you have gotten down to clean metal.

In really difficult areas on a couple of cars, where it isn't easy to get a drill, I have actually found it possible to cut small patches and use roofing tar to glue them down, without any screws at all. They held for years that way.

Avoid aluminum pop rivets, which will corrode off in a hurry.
 
Removing all the carpet in my XJ was the best thing i've done - although the floor gets very hot - the rust has seriously slowed down.

that carpet holds moisture just sitting on top of the rust - perfect conditions to eat away your floor. RIP IT UP!!!
 
SwissArmyJeep said:
I used some silicone sealant to seal some spots on my old '74 Bronco, and it started to rust rather quickly around the sealant. I had sanded and primed prior to the sealant, so I started asking around. My neighbor (an autobody man) tells me that most silicone sealants release a corrosive during cure. I go on the net, and pull up data sheets. Sure enough, he is correct. Working in the electronics industry myself, I start asking the engineers at work, they concur, Only electronic / Non corrosive silicone selant is safe for your metals.
I'm not saying you, or any one else has a problem, just trying to give fair warning to anyone up front. Early Bronco metal was hard to come by.

i wasn't trying to argue with ya. i just thought i'd ask for your experience. so i can keep an eye on it.thanks for replying.
 
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