What condition is your frame in..??

[davenay67]

I'm actually pretty impressed by the condition of the frame on the wife's TB. It's an '02 and has lived in the rust belt it's entire life. Other than a few areas of fairly minor corrosion it looks like it could be just a couple of years old.

I paid extra attention to the frame ont he TB because the frame on my Jeep TJ is a total mess. The Chevy guys did a 10 times better job than the Chrysler job when desingning and building the frames..!!

Off-roading obviously provides a lot more duress for the frame in terms of being dumped in water and mud, but at least the Chevy engineers designed drain holes on the bottom of the frame. The muppets at Chrysler did not, so water and mud can sit inthe frame in it's own little festering pool.

I am in the process on cleaning and coating my Jeep frame internals and was considering whether to do the TB at the same time seeing as I already have the tools and materials. But the condition is so good that I wondering if it's even worth the time and effort. Good job Chevy.

 

[Sparky]

I have some crusty spots on the outside of mine, but nothing bad. I got worried at first because of some thick scale on one part, until I took it off. 1/32" thickness of frame steel when rusted turns into 1/2" thick of scale, so any scaling you do see looks much worse than it really is.

When I reach my finger up into the frame I can feel some crusty scaling inside. That's one downside to box frames, you can't get inside them to clean them properly Part of me wishes they just used a beefy C channel so that it could be cleaned on all sides.

 

[leehype]

The Jeep frames have a larger disadvantage, the tires spray everything on the road at it. So, on top of have tons of nooks and crannies to get salted, but a steady supply on anything that is driven on a regular basis. I had a few of the holes welded shut by a buddie that knows what he is doing on my Jeep for that reason. But there are still areas of concern, the upper rear coil buckets to name one, that trully concern me. I don't live in the salt belt, but my Jeep spent 4 years of it's life there. The good news for me, I'm removing the rear half of my frame doing a lift, so that solves my concern.

My Envoy (for reference, both my Jeep and Envoy are both 2002's) spent longer in the salt belt, but is holding up well, mimicking your statement. I'm sure the fact that it sits lower, and has less of the frame getting pelted by the tires wile driving, and has more plastic coverings in some good places also helps.

 

[Voymom]

I have some surface rust but nothing to bad.

 

[Jkust]

Both my sig trucks are almost the exact same age each with an in service date in 2008. Rainier has 52,000 miles on it from MN, the 9-7x now has 63,000 on it from Ohio. The Rainier frame and all of it's parts from callipers to AWD parts looks great with almost no surface rust and everything is nice and nearly new looking which says a lot given it takes one winter here to age a frame. The 9-7x frame on the other hand just generally has more surfact rust on it and has the undercariage look of a generally older car. My guess is the last owner being the first owner didn't wash it enough in the winter.

 

[Boricua SS]

well being that the beaSSt has the b ody off of her now, i got to look at the frame.. and with the exception of the actual welds having surface rust.. the frame is as black as the day i bought her...

i was going to undercoat the frame and under body while everytthing was taken apart, but my brother said it would be a wasts since rust has already started on the welds.. no point in covering it up... so when he gets his garagee built, the frame will come off again and then we'll do everything right...

 

[Sparky]

Just take a cordless drill with you with a wire brush, burn off the surface rust real quick, and coat it.

 

[leehype]

Just take a cordless drill with you with a wire brush, burn off the surface rust real quick, and coat it.

That works on what you can see, but getting inside the frame rails would be tough...

 

[davenay67]

That works on what you can see, but getting inside the frame rails would be tough...

Not with my new toy.

I am going to add more detail to this thread when I get home....

 

[GMDUDE2003]

Surface rust, but structurally sound. Gotta wash it during winter or at least spray it off.

 

[davenay67]

This is fairly typical of the condition of the frame

And this is about as bad as it gets

Compared to my poor old Jeep

But my new toy is all about spraying the good stuff inside the box section frame of the Jeep. May do the TB afterwards....

 

[leehype]

What are you planning on injecting inside the frame? POR15?

You posted pic's of the very spots I have concerns about. My frame is in better shape than yours, and my solution is more extreme...

 

[davenay67]

No to POR-15. Aside from the fact that it would cost as much for the material as the Jeep is probably worth to do the job properly, it's not really designed to spray and there are better products for frame internals.

I already own Waxoyl and that is what I will be using. It starts very runny, so it sprays well and creeps into all crevices, then sets to a waxy barrier....perfect for the Jeep frame innards.

POR-15 would be a good candidate for the frame exterior, but I will still use the Waxoyl. Not ideal I know, but being a Jeep that sees a fair amount of time off-road, I am prepared to keep touching up the Waxoyl finish.

I might be misunderstanding you, but the rear section of the Jeep frame (the section that arches over the rear axles) is usually in the best condition because it has excellent water drainage....the problem area is the section immediately in front of that arch. Water and mud accumulates and gets trapped because there are no bottom drain holes in the frame from the rear wheels forward..!! I drilled a 1/2" inch hole in the bottom of the frame just in front off the rear lower control arm brackets to add drainage capability in the future.

The exterior of my Jeep frame actually looks worse than it really is. Most of it will clean fairly well with just a drill and wire brush attachment, and the remaining stubborn areas will come clean when attacked with a needle scaler. My Jeep frame is one of my (MANY) Summer projects this year.

Dave.

 

[Boricua SS]

yea, my frame looks no where near as bad as the one showed in the pic... it actually has a coating over the paint or whatever is on it from the factory... like i could wipe it clean and it would look black like the outside window trim pieces... so im not sure if its coated for a reason, or a factory coating that came on it.. but it is definetly smooth to the touch and doesnt look/feel like a normal frame if that makes sense...

 

[leehype]

I already own Waxoyl and that is what I will be using. It starts very runny, so it sprays well and creeps into all crevices, then sets to a waxy barrier....perfect for the Jeep frame innards.

I have never heard of this product. I know of many corrosion treatments (corrosion control is %50 of my job) I can think of a few other treatments that should do well, alodine comes to mind. Could go so far as to take the front and rear bumpers offf and blow sand inside the frame, might help knock some of that stuff out.

POR-15 would be a good candidate for the frame exterior, but I will still use the Waxoyl. Not ideal I know, but being a Jeep that sees a fair amount of time off-road, I am prepared to keep touching up the Waxoyl finish.

See, I was thinking POR-15 would be a better candidate for the inside of the frame, just set in there and leave it alone. Perhaps I am getting my facts mixed up, but I believe the use of POR-15 is that you spray it on over the rust, and it takes care of the rest. This is what leads me to believe it would be much better inside the frame. Don't get me wrong, your frame is in great shape. It looks better than some of the frames that never see the salt belt, but I must point out that you will not have access to a great deal of the inside of the frame. You could tape over the holes on the sides, take the bumpers off, and fill the frame full of what ever you want and get most of it, but I would bet money that would miss a few spots.

I might be misunderstanding you, but the rear section of the Jeep frame (the section that arches over the rear axles) is usually in the best condition because it has excellent water drainage....the problem area is the section immediately in front of that arch. Water and mud accumulates and gets trapped because there are no bottom drain holes in the frame from the rear wheels forward..!! I drilled a 1/2" inch hole in the bottom of the frame just in front off the rear lower control arm brackets to add drainage capability in the future.

The spot under the framerail just over the spring perch, that area does nothing but collect dirt and grime. So, no matter how good it drains, you've always got a contaminant there to beat away at it. To the extent that this is my only solution to it...

http://www.terratraction.com/gallery/d/145719-1/IMG_9762.JPG

The exterior of my Jeep frame actually looks worse than it really is. Most of it will clean fairly well with just a drill and wire brush attachment, and the remaining stubborn areas will come clean when attacked with a needle scaler. My Jeep frame is one of my (MANY) Summer projects this year.

Dave.

I don't think your frame looks bad at all. The fact your fixing it now will simply make it cheaper and faster as a project. I have seen a few jeeps where the xfercase skid plate completely rusted through and dropped out an inch, leaving the xfercase supported by the transmission.

And sorry for my long response, I Love my Jeep, and got quite a bit of sweat and blood in mine... And I think I even got some of that old thing in my blood... (Using a broken pilot bearing as a weding band...)