The frame!
As you know it was a freaking nightmare when I started. Honestly, I may not have ever bought this jeep had I known back then what I know now. I still would have bought some jeep, but definitely not this particular CJ7.....and I might have even bought a YJ. Please don't judge me.
So here is a picture to remind you what this frame used to look like. Actually, it kinda looks okay in the picture. You can't really see the terrible body mount fixes that last owner made, or the rotten rear frame rails. You can't see the thinned out wall above the rear spring hanger, or the holes under the bump stops. Come'on... this frame would have tricked you too.
In one of my previous posts I went through how I properly fixed the body mounts and the rear frame rails. So lets get started on how I fixed the rest of it!
Hole under the driver side bump stop:
In hind site I should have just lap welded this hole. But it turned out decent so I'm not worried.
Hole Under Passenger Side Bump Stop:
Pretty simple. Just removed the old bolts and lap welded a piece of steel down.
Hole Above the Passenger Side Bump Stop:
When I bought this jeep I thought this was the worst rust hole. I am not a smart man.
Random Hole:
Another hole. Patched it with a piece of angle that I lap welded. Someone forgot to take an after photo but you can see it in the photo of frame reinforcement outlined in red.
Drive Side Shock Mount:
The factory weld broke on the front driver side shock mount. This was a pretty common occurrence from what I've read. I used a pipe clamp to bend it back into place and then welded it down.
Reinforcing Frame Rails:
I made a template out of cardboard and had a shop plasma cut it out for me. Then I just welded it onto the frame rail. The metal was pretty pitted on the passenger side here.
Rear Passenger Side Spring Hanger:
This was the worst. I almost threw the frame out. I had the frame sandblasted and the frame walls were so thin in this area that holes blew in them. This part of the frame especially needs to be strong since the leaf spring mounts here. I was lucky that Auto Rust makes product that can be welded on.
Rear Driver Side Spring Hanger:
Since the spring hanger on the passenger side was so thin I decided to reinforce the driver side too, I wish I hadn't drilled that hole in the reinforcement. I thought it'd be nice to keep the hole there so I could use it to clean the frame. The metal around the hole was so thin that I just blew holes in it welding. And since there was rust inside the frame I ended up with some porosity in the weld. Luckily that weld isn't really structural. Plus I didn't have much choice but to leave it, I don't have a grinding tool small enough to get in there.
In short, it was a lot of welding. I had a friend who used to be a professional welder help me out a couple times. Inspect welds, show me ropes, etc. I very much appreciate the help.
POR15:
So the next step of course is to paint it! I decided to paint it with POR15. POR15 is a rust encapsulater, and the POR in it stands for Paint Over Rust. This stuff gets crazy hard, and is almost impossible to get off your frame. BUT! You have to follow the instructions to the letter. Otherwise it'll peal and flake right off. It will actually stick to rusted metal better than clean metal so some preparation has to be done.
Before of the frame:
Step 1 - Soak the frame with POR15's cleaner/degreaser.
I walked around the frame with a spray bottle for 20 minutes making sure this thing stayed covered in the cleaner. Never letting it dry. Then I rinsed it off with my garden hose.
Step 2 - Soak the frame in POR15's metal prep.
I once again had a spray bottle and spent 30 minutes keeping the frame soaked with the metal prep. Then I rinsed it off with my garden hose. The metal prep etches the metal and leaves behind a white zinc coating. This really helps the POR15 grab clean metal.
Step 3 - Brush on 2 coats of POR15.
POR15 is self leveling (mostly) so you can brush it on. A lot of people shoot it on but apparently it'll ruin your paint gun so I decided not to go that route.
So there it is all coating in POR15. The stuff does needs to be top coated so make sure you do that since it is UV sensitive. You can either top coat is while the POR15 is still tacky, or you can run out of time like me. Let the POR15 dry and then lightly sand it with some 320 grind stand paper. Then apply POR15's special brand of top coat. I'd show you a picture of it top coated, but it looks exactly the same. If I were to do this again I'd use POR15's sliver color for my rust encapsulater layer. Simply because it's hard to see where you still need to paint when painting black paint over black paint.
Thanks for reading!
