clunk
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- West Kootenays, BC (canada)
This afternoon I decided to tackle the carpet. My XJ had a water leak when I bought it, and even though I fixed the leak and the carpet dried out, the underlay "jute" stuff was still sopping wet and squished every time I stepped on the floor. If you have a water leak, or ever had a water leak this crap will be SOAKED even once your carpet is dry. The only way to take care of the problem is to pull the carpet and either let it air out or just put new underlay altogether. Since it's the middle of winter I chose the latter.
This project took me about 4 hours of sipping beer and working at a leisurely pace. If you need to repair your floor or what have you, obviously add more time...lots more time.
I could have just removed the sogging underlay, dried the factory carpet off then put it down on the floor without anything underneath, but I still wanted some soundproofing since my muffler has a big hole in it and this is my DD so I wanted it to be semi quiet. Down the road if I ever turn it into just a trail rig I'll just pull the carpet and rhino line it, but at least I'll know what kinda shape the floor is in.
Materials:
-6' by 5' section of carpet underlay(from your local carpet store
-basic hand tools to remove seats/console
-tuck tape or duct tape
-rubber gloves and lysol
-beer
-knife and scissors
The carpet underlay cost me around $20 CAD. They had some fancy stuff there for around double the price that has way better soundproofing but like I said I'll probably pull the carpet down the road when it goes trail only so theres no point spending money if I don't need to.
I started by removing the seats and console(that white powder is baking soda to absorb smell):
After reading alot of posts about rusty floors on here, I was really nervous as to what I'd find. Luckily, things were in good shape. I scrubbed everything down with lysol to try and kill any smell or bacteria:
I did find that a few of the drain plugs behind the seats had started to dry-rot and were probably letting water in. I carefully pried the plugs out, dried them then put them back in with generous amounts of silicone to keep everything waterproof. Why jeep put such flimsy drain plugs into a vehicle with carpet is beyond me. There was a little bit of rust around one of the drain holes which I sanded down and hit with some "rust mort" and primer before applying the silicone:
Here is a shot of the soggy old underlay and stuf that I pulled out. The white things remind me of some kind of medical waste. Seriously, they smelled horrible and every time I looked at them I thought of gross old gauze pads and my stomach would start to flip:
I drank a few more beers and waited for things to dry out, then started laying out the new underlay. I used a few layers where the muffler would be to keep heat/ noise down. If I find it gets too hot and starts to melt or smell I'll pull it up and put some kind of thermal insulation there below the carpet:
Made some cuts and patched everything back up with tuck-tape:
Around this time I realised I put the underlay in upside down. Guess I shoulda slowed down on the beers. Oh well, it should stay bone dry under there and if it got wet, I don't think it would matter what side was facing up.
I didn't take any pictures after this because it was getting dark and I just wanted to finish up. Pretty much just put it back togethre and call it done.
I had to scrape all the crap off the rubber side of the factory carpet to be sure that I'd eliminate all the odor I could. I found that using hitting it with carb cleaner and letting it sit for a while worked best, then I scrubbed it off with a wire brush. I didn't bother getting it all off, it was getting dark and I was tired and half cut with a pretty good buzz going on from the carb cleaner fumes too. I just sprayed the remainder down with lysol again to kill any odors or bacteria, let it dry then fitted it back into the jeep.
As long as I actually have gotten all the water leaks covered on the jeep, it should stay dry and this should stop the stench from coming once it starts to get warm, and should keep the floors nice and dry, keeping any rust at bay.
I'll probably tackle the rear cargo area next week, but only if I pull the carpet back and find that everything is soaked. I don't want to go through the hassle unless I have to.
This project took me about 4 hours of sipping beer and working at a leisurely pace. If you need to repair your floor or what have you, obviously add more time...lots more time.
I could have just removed the sogging underlay, dried the factory carpet off then put it down on the floor without anything underneath, but I still wanted some soundproofing since my muffler has a big hole in it and this is my DD so I wanted it to be semi quiet. Down the road if I ever turn it into just a trail rig I'll just pull the carpet and rhino line it, but at least I'll know what kinda shape the floor is in.
Materials:
-6' by 5' section of carpet underlay(from your local carpet store
-basic hand tools to remove seats/console
-tuck tape or duct tape
-rubber gloves and lysol
-beer
-knife and scissors
The carpet underlay cost me around $20 CAD. They had some fancy stuff there for around double the price that has way better soundproofing but like I said I'll probably pull the carpet down the road when it goes trail only so theres no point spending money if I don't need to.
I started by removing the seats and console(that white powder is baking soda to absorb smell):
After reading alot of posts about rusty floors on here, I was really nervous as to what I'd find. Luckily, things were in good shape. I scrubbed everything down with lysol to try and kill any smell or bacteria:
I did find that a few of the drain plugs behind the seats had started to dry-rot and were probably letting water in. I carefully pried the plugs out, dried them then put them back in with generous amounts of silicone to keep everything waterproof. Why jeep put such flimsy drain plugs into a vehicle with carpet is beyond me. There was a little bit of rust around one of the drain holes which I sanded down and hit with some "rust mort" and primer before applying the silicone:
Here is a shot of the soggy old underlay and stuf that I pulled out. The white things remind me of some kind of medical waste. Seriously, they smelled horrible and every time I looked at them I thought of gross old gauze pads and my stomach would start to flip:
I drank a few more beers and waited for things to dry out, then started laying out the new underlay. I used a few layers where the muffler would be to keep heat/ noise down. If I find it gets too hot and starts to melt or smell I'll pull it up and put some kind of thermal insulation there below the carpet:
Made some cuts and patched everything back up with tuck-tape:
Around this time I realised I put the underlay in upside down. Guess I shoulda slowed down on the beers. Oh well, it should stay bone dry under there and if it got wet, I don't think it would matter what side was facing up.
I didn't take any pictures after this because it was getting dark and I just wanted to finish up. Pretty much just put it back togethre and call it done.
I had to scrape all the crap off the rubber side of the factory carpet to be sure that I'd eliminate all the odor I could. I found that using hitting it with carb cleaner and letting it sit for a while worked best, then I scrubbed it off with a wire brush. I didn't bother getting it all off, it was getting dark and I was tired and half cut with a pretty good buzz going on from the carb cleaner fumes too. I just sprayed the remainder down with lysol again to kill any odors or bacteria, let it dry then fitted it back into the jeep.
As long as I actually have gotten all the water leaks covered on the jeep, it should stay dry and this should stop the stench from coming once it starts to get warm, and should keep the floors nice and dry, keeping any rust at bay.
I'll probably tackle the rear cargo area next week, but only if I pull the carpet back and find that everything is soaked. I don't want to go through the hassle unless I have to.