Anybody Replace Rear Quarter?

[ChillyB]

Jeep was hit at some point. Rear quarter is full of filler. $135 gets a fellow a new rear quarter that reaches to within a couple inches of quarter glass. Every search comes up with people folding and cutting, never actually fixing.

Only one post in entire innerwebz offers a warning that with unibody the whole Jeep will turn inside-out like a touch-me-not flower if it's not tied down to a frame machine. That seems like a lot of baloney but I'm willing to ask for other opinions.

 

[Tim_MN]

I bought a 1998 that was crashed. I replaced the right front inner fender support, fender, hood, grille, and also discovered that Bubba had fixed the left rear previously with a few tack welds and lots of Bondo. $600 for the XJ and $800 for junkyard repair parts and a Maaco paint job.

It was fine, I drove it for almost 5 years and 100,000 miles before the motor finally blew at 297,000 miles.

Just make sure to support it level side to side, and front to rear.

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[WGxj]

I'm just getting ready to do a rear quarter panel rust repair (doglegs, wheel arches, and redo the cut-n-fold)
see pics. The plan right now is to grind/sand/remove all rust down to bare metal. The cut-n-fold was the way to go considering how rusty that area was. But I used thin sheet metal to box it in, and adhesive to fasten it in place. But apparently I didn't apply enough layers of rust proofing as it is starting to rust out again. (a DD, in MN rust belt)
We cleaned and rustrproofed the underbody last year. You can just make out the rust through just above the leaf spring on the right side of the underbody photo which we fiberglassed until we do the quarter panel which we are just starting.
The plan is to cut a repair panel from the new Quarter Panel across its full length just above the arches. We will have to angle the cut so it passes underneath the Fuel Door. Ive never used a panel separator before but that's what we plan to use to seperate all the pinch welds where the panel wraps around the rear door frame, where it attaches to the wheelhouse, and where it wraps around the back just behind the rear signal lights. And then grind, prep, and spot weld it in. We are still debating if we will do a butt weld along the QP length or just fit it under the old QP. Once finished we will install rear QP side Armor.

 

[Tim_MN]

I forgot to mention that when I replaced the rusty floor pans I used Unibody adhesive instead of welding them. The adhesive is actually strogner than welding and it seals the seam completely.

A spot weld cutting attachment for your drill will save time and effort. I would also buy a panel crimper/flange tool for the repair seams.


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