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Nuts & Bolts: Rust and Broke Nuts on TJ
As Posted in How To: Tech Qa on August 2, 2017
Tin Worm TJ
I need some help with a few things on my 1998 Jeep Wrangler TJ. I have rust on the rear of the frame right where it turns and goes up and over the axle. Also, the nuts where the skidplate bolts up are broken inside the frame and just spin. What should I do? Any information helps, as I want to finish this Jeep so I can finally take it out.
Casey S.
Via facebook.com/4wheeloffroad
It’s pretty surprising how badly a TJ can rust despite supposedly modern coatings and rust preventatives applied at the factory. For the frame, it depends on how bad the rust is. If it is heavy surface rust but the frame still feels solid when you strike it with a hammer, then grinding off the surface rust and applying one of any number of rust encapsulating and rust prevention products, such as POR15 (por15.com), will stop the rust and prevent future damage.
If the rust is thick and scaly and has already started eating through the frame in places, the only proper thing to do is cut out the bad sections and replace them. This requires extensive fabrication and welding skills, and it’s not something that the average shadetree mechanic can do easily. It’s possible to replace portions or even entire sections of the frame, but no matter what, it’s a big job. A very nice repair kit for Jeep (and other vehicles) is called the Safe-T-Cap frame sleeve repair kit. The kit fixes these commonly rusted-out areas and is sold by Auto Rust Technicians (autorust.com/safe-t-cap-kits). You can weld the Safe-T-Cap repair yourself at home or, if you are near the company’s Cranston, Rhode Island, facility you can have them install for you.
As for the captured nuts in the frame that are spinning, the only option is to cut an access window into the side or bottom of the frame and weld in a new nut, then weld up the window. We prefer cutting a square in the bottom of the frame around the spun nut and replacing it with new steel that has a nut already welded in place. Depending on the overall condition of the frame, the rest of the Jeep, and your skill level, it might make sense to source a new frame and swap everything over. Though a huge job, it’s a bolt-on procedure compared to repairing the frame that you have. TJ frames can still be sourced affordably if you look outside of the Rust Belt.
Providence Journal – Cranston’s Jerry Carlson Builds Career Inventing Auto Accessories
CRANSTON — It all started in Detroit, where Jerry Carlson passed the time with his engineer father Irvin taking pieces of machinery apart to see how they worked.
“We used to buy stuff at the Army Navy Surplus Store, take it home and take it apart,” he said, noting his father was an engineer who, for a while, was engaged in classified work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “For a kid it was great to play with,” he said, citing a periscope from a Sherman tank that cost just 20 cents. “He’d show me the components. He was a genius.”
Their shared interest in tinkering led to Carlson’s career as an inventor of auto accessories, notably of Safe-T-Caps repair kits for the frames of a number of vehicles, notably Jeeps, many of which . . . Continue reading on the Providence Journal.
Four Wheeler – Repair Your Rusting Frame
Corrosion is something you live with on a day-to-day basis in the Northeast, and it’s not just limited to vehicles, it affects everything made of metal. The road salt, the humidity-laden air, soft absorptive soils, acid rain, and road chemicals all work in a harmonic quintet to do their damage to the metals on your 4×4, and they do it damn well too. Factory precautions from manufacturers do help, but over time, this retardant is usually overwhelmed by the environment (natural or man-made), and things can go from bad to worse in just a few months if left unregulated. . . Continue reading on fourwheeler.com
Four Wheeling – Beating Jeep Frame Rot
Rust is that four letter word that strikes fear into the heart of any vehicle owner. Just the thought of that scaly cancer forming on the flanks of your favorite ride is enough to send most owners into a self-induced cardiac arrest. And for years, many have sought out ways to protect their favorite vehicle from the onslaught of this parasite, often spending insane amounts of cash on coatings and other products just to fend off the beginnings of something that will eventually catch up with most daily-driven vehicles. . . Continue reading on fourwheeler.com
Providence Journal – Blues Brothers Would Love These Wheels
Click here to read about the Blues Mobile in the Providence Journal
Read more about the Blues Mobile and how we can visit your parade
