Third Time's the Charm LJ

That's too bad Shaun,, if it's not something it's something else,, WHEW! Maybe someone backed into something and hit the spare at some point in time?

Most likely that is what happened. I'm not all that bothered by it. I don't mind little projects here and there. I will pull the tailgate off and fix the paint. The bent sheet metal doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't rust.

The Torx bolts that hold the tail gate on are usually frozen in place. I just replaced the tail gate on Carol's tj and had to drill the heads off the bolts that hold the gate to the body.
I tried an impact driver and it did not budge the bolts, and broke a few bits trying.
If this happens to you {and it probably will},start with a 1/4 in drill bit and drill the center of the bolts that hold it on the body and gradually work up to approximately 3/8 inch.

The bolt heads will pop right off, do the inward bolts with gate open, but be sure to keep gate closed while you do the outward bolts, otherwise it will fall off.
There are 2 plates that have threads in them.
One is inside the jeep ,and one is under, just pull down the plastic flap at the under side of the corner of the tub and the lower one is right there,, easy to do..
Obviously you will need new bolts.
As far as the bolts that hold the hinges to the gate, i would not drill them, leave them on!
Good luck!

Better yet I will mask everything off and do it on the a Jeep. I'm not dealing with broken bolts.

Just wanted to let you know what's up with the removal of the tail gate, I've been there already.

Thanks Mark. I appreciate the heads up for sure.

The rock rails are preliminarily fit.



When I have some time I will pull them back off and:
-Install the 2 nutserts
-Paint all of the drilled holes
-Touch up any other painted areas that could rust
-Touch up the spots on the rock rails that were nicked during install

All in all the install was very straightforward. By the time I got to the second one I knew exactly what to do.

Great job! they look awesome.

Metalcloaks look good on an LJ

Thanks guys. It was nice having somewhere to put my foot today while cruising on the highway.

Shaun,,Do they attach under the body mounts or do you have to drill and bolt them to the floor?

They do not mount to the floor at all. They attach soley to the rocker panels.

Yesterday's Jeeping:

I decided to get a little work done while I could. I masked up the tailgate to hit it with some Rustoleum automotive enamel. I wasn't going for a show quality finish. I was just looking to protect the body from rust this winter.





Not a perfect match but better than rust IMHO.



I also took the rock rails off and painted the body for protection and installed the nutserts. Two things to note.

Don't bother painting this area unless you are going to give it at least 24 hours to cure and then use some sort of body gasket.

Secondly, don't be a pansie about nutserts. Make sure they are nice and tight. I was nervous on the first one and it wound up spinning during reinstallation. It was not fun having to drill out the bad nutsert and reinstall another. Lesson learned.

The only good that came of that was knowing the aforementioned lesson on painting. I ordered a set of tough stuff body gaskets and will take everything back apart before winter. I will repaint and allow a full cure. Then I will install the gaskets and rock rails.

Real close match!

Especially after a month or two and it gets a little dirt on it, I'll be you'll have to be closer than 3 feet to tell the difference.

You coming to MaBell or OFR?

I wish. I want to do both, but have prior engagements.

Doing things right this time.  Everything has been touched up and will have 2 full days to cure before I put it back together with the gaskets. I refuse to let my rockers rust out!

Done


And done

Nice! Definitely need to do rocker guards myself at some point..

Thank. Rock rails are a mandatory mod on LJs.

It's looking the ba!!s, good work.  

dongalonga wrote: Rock rails are a mandatory mod on LJs.

 

So aren't big tires,lockers,lift,and all the other stuff that make a great trail rig, It's just a matter of time as it happens to all of us sooner or later, lol, ( IT'S AN EPIDEMIC!!)

Thanks man. You know me, I don't waste any time building a rig. Front locker and winch on on the build list for next year.

Today's Jeeping:

Engine Oil/Filter Change
Front/Rear Differential Fluid Change
TCase Fluid Change
Power Steering Fluid Change (it was milky)
Poor Man's Brake/Clutch Fluid Change
Topped Off Washer Fluid
Re-Aimed Headlights

All ready for OBX.

Solid day! I'm off to change the rear brakes on the 8.8 today... It's getting down to bare metal!

Yikes. Hopefully they come off easier this time.