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No cut+fold corners for me

jeepingben

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Maine
I've been meaning to address the rusty quarter panel that I noticed shortly after I bought my XJ 3 years ago. I finally got into it as part of my rocker replacement. Here is what I found under the plastic trim:
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I've got a cardboard template and some metal for a replacement panel. More pics to follow. Way too many pics of rocker replacement and more quarter panel carnage here: http://www.jeepingben.net/index.php?level=album&id=38

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Definitely watching this! I've had to replace my front driver's side floor panel due to a hole, and recently found out that I have a fist sized rust hole in the cut and fold section, plus another hole in the rear of the front seat mounts.

Looking forward to see how you fix the area behind the rear wheels, perhaps a cut and weld instead of fold?
 
There are tons of ways to skin that cat.

When I did a trim on a 4dr 98' I had, I just cut off the outer below the fold line, the inner below the fold line, and the fender liner below the fold line. I folded them all over, and trimmed a piece of sheet metal to fit. A few rivets, a bit of body caulk, and Viola, a trimmed 1/4 panel. The Toughest thing about the cut and fold is the rusty hose skid on the drivers side.

-Ron
 
Edit: WB9YZU beat me too it.

I ran into this problem of not having any material there. I cut about an inch below the body line and folded, then welded in a new piece of flat sheet metal. Then modified the rear bumper to protect the area. I post pics up later.
 
Mine wasn't rusty..it doesn't look like you are lucky for it to not be rusty :(.. I didn't want to taco the metal up under itself when hopping off a rock so I just cut mine off, bent the inside skin piece up and welded it together like so:

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I ended up cutting all of the rusted material out.
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I had to rebuild the corner near the wheel well, no pictures but I end up using 1/4 rod and welding it in.
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after the bumper mods for the cut and fold. I still have to modify the tire carrier a little.
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still have to mount the flares also
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the ideas. My plan is to use rivets and calk to install a box folded from 16ga steel. I know my limitations with a welder (especially my buzzbox stick welder). I've made a first draft template in cardboard. I plan to copy that template to cardboard using a straight edge and including various corrections I had to make. I will then transfer the second cardboard template to metal, fold it to shape, weld on a bracket that will drop down to support the plastic trim, and rivet it in.
 
I made some progress on my new quarter panels tonight. I ended up making 2 more cardboard templates before transferring the pattern to metal.
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All I had was corrugated cardboard. I think paperboard would have been easier to work with.
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It will probably need a little fine tuning to fit, but it is after 2100 and I doubt the neighbors want me in the driveway shaping metal with a BFH
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The rest of the jeep isn't very rusty. I POR15'ed the rest of it as soon as I bought it, but left this corner since it was so bad. I thought I was being so smart by saving myself the trouble of cleaning off paint.
 
The replacement is finished and installed. I separated the quarter panel pics from the rocker pics. Quarter panel pics are now here: http://www.jeepingben.net/index.php?level=album&id=39

I had to take off the fuel fill and vent hoses and use a right angle drill to reach some of the rivet holes. I drove a couple hundred miles in the rain this weekend, so I will open up the inside trim and see how much moisture is getting in to the new panel.

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