Whos had to replace there cargo area ?

:repair:

I noticed my carpet was getting a bit damp so I pulled it up and about 1/2 of my cargo area is gone (rust) .... mostly what is left is just the center parts. I was thinking of making a whole new area and putting Line X on it. What have you guys done ?

...bummer...

This is what I found:


...and this is what I ended up doing (POR-15 trunk kit (which contains this cloth dealie) plus some more paint). For the reccord, the primer did NOTHING to the rust. I ended up grinding off all the rust/paint before applying the POR-15



POR-15 is "the bomb!"

My cargo area looked similar to TheNerd's on my 96, especially around the filler neck. I cut out the bad area back to good metal (which ended up being a lot more than first appeared), made some patch panels out of 18 gauge sheet metal and had a friend weld them in for me. The applied POR-15 to both sides of the patch panels. Not the prettiest repair but it is solid.

Depending on how badly it is rusted, I found an entire replacement floor on oemdodgeparts.com for $185. Shipping would probably be a killer but you could probably get it from the dealer also for the $244 price.

thats nothing you should have seen what sidriptide's last xj looked like. THere was nothing. I think he has pictures somewhere. you could pull the side of the jeep in and out by hand.

Think I'm just going to get some 14g metal and make a new floor its only 65 a sheet

My cargo area was good but the driver's floor was toast. I welded in new floor then POR15 the whole floor front to back and then went over the POR15 with Hippo Liner(Roll on box liner). Worked great although the interior noise is greatly increased as the carpet and liner did not go back in.

*Sigh* I'm dreading removing my rear carpet. I already know I've got a rust hole where the interior spare tire "rest" was bolted to the floor. I can see it when I'm underneath the Jeep. Plus I recently discovered water seeping into a corroded area at the end of the rain gutter on the driver's side near the windshield which is causing my headliner to droop. Anyway, in reference to the cargo area, is it safe to weld that close to the filler neck area? Last think I want to do is end up a story on Weird News of the week.

The primer probably added to the problem. Primer acts like a sponge as far as moisture. POR-15 or Zero Rust(my pref.) inside and out, then bedliner inside and out....NO !!! carpet ever again (lol). Will be replacing my entire floor pan, wheel wells and prob. rocker panels(again) this spring, along with all four doors(got a deal on them)......son says buy a new vehicle....he doesn't understand....ITS A JEEP THING,

XJFREK said:

*Sigh* I'm dreading removing my rear carpet. I already know I've got a rust hole where the interior spare tire "rest" was bolted to the floor. I can see it when I'm underneath the Jeep. Plus I recently discovered water seeping into a corroded area at the end of the rain gutter on the driver's side near the windshield which is causing my headliner to droop. Anyway, in reference to the cargo area, is it safe to weld that close to the filler neck area? Last think I want to do is end up a story on Weird News of the week.

Click to expand...

theres a bunch of rubber type sealer you will have to remove or it will just catch on fire... I welded mine with just little stich welds I didn't run any beads longer than 1" cause like you I didn't want to end up on the evening news lol

I replaced mine, I used 18g. 14g is going to be tough to work with, do you have alot of metal working tools?

I have a few, I was going to make a template and plasma out what I wanted ....


Looks like you did a really good job ... how long did it take you ? I figured on about 8-9 hrs

Thank you for the compliment, If I had it to do over I would have build it in three smaller peices. The problem with mine is that there are no beads rolled into it so it is not very strong. It is thicker then stock which helps. If it was smaller I would have brought it to a metal fabricator and put some beads in it to stiffen it up. Also because I made one sheet it had to fit exact unlike if it was in two or three peices.

That took me a long time, I am not sure how long. But I was using some pretty weak tools and did it by myself. What you cannot see in the pircture are all of the flanges on the left and right sides. These bends took forever b/c I do not have a press. I used an piece of 1/2" sheet that was cut but a plasma cutter or laser (found in dumpster) some c-clamps, a propane torch and a hammer.

Since you have a plasma cutter I would say no more then 5-6 hours. I would have gone with the 16g if I had the tools.

Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free.
Katarn

NICE WORK! I got a bead roller from Harbor Freight Tools that works great. It was about 60 bucks and it came with a bunch of bead rolling dies and shearing dies.

katarn444 said:

I replaced mine, I used 18g. 14g is going to be tough to work with, do you have alot of metal working tools?

Click to expand...