Rusted Quarters=Clearance Options

So on my son's 97 XJ, while getting it ready for the day he gets his license, the kid found son rust behind the plastic bumper extensions. We looked it over and talked about replacing the lower quarters. Then decided since the road salt started removing metal for clearance, why not finish it. Look at how other have done it, with cutting and folding. With not enough material we cut and made our own panels.

Cutting out the rust and cleaning up.

Fabbing up the new panels

Fitting and attaching. May change to Nutserts and bolts instead of the screws. Need to final fit and seal.

Those are awesome!!!

You should look at making more of those and posting them up for sale. I did the cut and fold method and it was way more of a pain in the ass than these would have ever been. If I were to do it again and these were available, I would of picked these up.

the_midwesterner said:

Those are awesome!!!

You should look at making more of those and posting them up for sale. I did the cut and fold method and it was way more of a pain in the ass than these would have ever been. If I were to do it again and these were available, I would of picked these up.

Click to expand...

Just go to Home Depot and grab a sheet of aluminum. Cut it to fit and bam. You're all done.

Not to be the difficult one, but those look to me like a way to accelerate the rust process. Anytime you get enough moisture to run down the quarter panels, even just sitting outside at night, that tray is going to catch it and hold it.

A slightly reduced footprint and a fit inside the quarter panel void would be a worthwhile improvement. Add some seam sealer, paint and rubberized undercoating and you would be looking at a much more durable product.

Given that the OP is dealing with a Jeep that is already well rusted this may be more effort than the vehicle itself justifies, but for the audience at large it may be worth considering taking some extra steps to keep the tin worm at bay. Rust seems to be the real limiting longevity factor for our rides.

Not trying to bash the OP. Just a point for consideration.

Anak said:

Not to be the difficult one, but those look to me like a way to accelerate the rust process.

Click to expand...

You just said exactly what I was thinking...

I'm glad you posted this. I have a rear 1/4 that looks like it come down on something and got crushed. This will be an easy way to fix it.

I plan to go behind the outer metal though and coat everything with a sealer then bedliner.

Almost done, the factory fuel fill hose guard actually worked out good. As for possibility of this causing more of a rust issue, I feel the panels will out last the Heep. Each panel was treated and sealed, then painted. Having them out of the body panel should cause no more of a additional rust risk as a piece of trim or part added. The corners of the panels where each lip was folder are not sealed for drainage. Where the lip screws to the body I will use either 3M molding tape or RTV to keep crap out. The only area I see a highlighted risk is where the quarters were cut. So just need to seal and paint them good. With out enough material to fold all I could come up with was this or new lower quarters at a cost of about $100 for the material alone. Plus I can unbolt it when I like and keep a eye on it. Here in NJ a almost 20 year old Jeep usually pretty eaten up.