Rust Issues?

[blue_kjR417]

Hey guys its been a long time since I've been on here since I lost my KJ back in February of 2012 to a senior citizen ignoring a red light! Anyway before mine was totaled my girlfriend had also bought a KJ 07, Latitude edition 4X4. We're still dating and I noticed when she bought the rig about 3 years ago that it seemed to have significant amounts of rush underneath on pretty much everything. Turns out it came from somewhere up north and have been exposed to rough winters with lost of ice snow and salt. As of now there are no issues with the rig still its about to roll over 95k miles and we've been thinking about getting her something else to drive and my plans are to keep the rig and mod it much like I did my Renegade a few years ago. I don't have any pics right now but will take some the next time I'm changing the oil and post them so you guys can see what I'm talking about. My question is do you guys thing rust issues of this nature will be detrimental to lifting and doing mods to the rig? I'm just trying to decide if I should invest the money in it or swap it for a rust free rig to work with. The primary benefits to keeping it is for one its extremely low miles for its age, its been in my care basically for 3 years already and never had a hiccup one, and we already have it haha any opinions on what to do?

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[yellocoyote]

Depending on the significance of the rust, it may just mean more PB Blaster and elbow grease to get the suspension apart. It also may mean replacing some bolts. We've helped a fair amount of folks with their KJ's and other Jeeps from this area... and they varied in the amount of rust (based on how well they were cared for). I've yet to see one that I would simply say 'scrap it and start over.'

Welcome back! (Cheers)

 

[cplchris]

wow dude, it has been forever. I got my jeep in October of 2009, it is a 2006 and it has been here in upstate ny through every winter since it was sold brand new.

the biggest areas to worry about for rust causing an issue would be the brakes, the rockers, uniframe rails (unlikely), the third brake light, and the bottom edge of the doors. for cleaning heavy rust I would suggest a wire wheel and if you need to blast it use either soda or walnut as both are easy to get rid of after paint.

soaking the hardware in pb blaster and cleaning the threads with a wire brush will make future removal easier.

now for preventing rust in the future: if you are painting bare metal you can get POR-15 brand chasis black coat in spray cans (it is not the original por-15 rust converting product, it is a great paint though), sem self etching primer, sem undercoat, and as a maintenance product look into fluid-film and for seams that may hold water/crud: cavity wax.

welcome back Wes.

how is the truck life treating you?

 

[tommudd]

If you're doing suspension work I would suggest having some bolts ready. I've never broke any but came so close we replaced the bolts to be safe.
Use Aerokroil if wanting to loosen any bolts, way better than anything else out there almost. Used to use PB but ..........
As far as body panels if any of those are rusted out then you have to figure in cost to replace -vs- replacement

 

[profdlp]

If (and it's a significant "if") I had to put money in anything, I would rather put it into a vehicle where I knew the history. You might buy a rust-free Jeep that had enough major problems elsewhere to make you regret it.