Carpet or No

AX(J)15_tudor

AX(J)15_tudor

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Location
Harrisburg
I've been lifting an older but originally stock xj over the last year. As result of it being older and seemingly from northern VA it's got some floor board rust issues. I'm lining up to resolve that the right wat but my question is about carpet. I know the pads under the carpet are the devil and that's definately going. My question is should I cut the carpet out and never look back or take it out carefully and possibly reinstall but without padding? I know many run bare floor pans and I'm not opposed to that but I have kids that crawl around in it and I occassionally DD it around town. My floor board repairs will likely not be the prettiest as I'm not doing all new pans so while I'm not looking for show room I'd like to keep the interior from being totally hacked. Open to input from anyone that's kept some portion of their carpet and reinstalled and any other ideas that have served better.
 
my vote's for a couple coats of roll-on bedliner, with or without carpet, it will help cover your repairs, make it a little quieter, keep rust away and easy to clean out
 
I did no carpet , Have 12g sheet metal dash still being built. Carpet is nice if you dont 4 wheel with it. Iv been there and had that and ended up ripping it out after if was wet .
 
see
 

Attachments

  • 2013-02-17_16-55-39_576.jpg
    2013-02-17_16-55-39_576.jpg
    103.6 KB · Views: 218
My XJ is my dd and when I was sixteen I buried it in a mud hole and the whole carpet got soaked. My dad convinced me not to tear it out and I thank him for not letting me. Granted I don't have any rust issues but I dont even want to imagine the heat and noise with out carpet and insulation. Get a nice set of rubber mats to keep mud off the carpet under the pedals and reinstall the carpet after you fix rust is my vote.
 
oleblue said:
My XJ is my dd and when I was sixteen I buried it in a mud hole and the whole carpet got soaked. My dad convinced me not to tear it out and I thank him for not letting me. Granted I don't have any rust issues but I dont even want to imagine the heat and noise with out carpet and insulation. Get a nice set of rubber mats to keep mud off the carpet under the pedals and reinstall the carpet after you fix rust is my vote.
Click to expand...
I've seen guys before trying to buy carpet after a while of running none. I think what I'll do is remove mine somewhat carefully rather than butcher it then do the roll on truck liner. I have nice mats so I'll try that for a while and if I want it later I'll still have the carpet. I had visions of segmenting the carpet and using something like industrial Velcro to make it removable. Idk if I'll go that far.
 
Anyone got any advice on removing that crappy undercoating aside from a face shield and a wire wheel. That seems to be part of the issue is that stuff developing cracks them holding water and debris.
 
AX(J)15_tudor said:
Anyone got any advice on removing that crappy undercoating aside from a face shield and a wire wheel. That seems to be part of the issue is that stuff developing cracks them holding water and debris.
Click to expand...

When installing weld-on frame rail stiffeners, I used a propane torch (from Lowes, etc) and putty knife to remove the undercoating. Just heat it up til it starts to smoke, scrape off easily with putty knife in the other hand.

I vote try to keep the carpet if you can. It is pretty loud w/o carpet, tunes sound like crap while sitting in a sheet metal box. I had a leak in my DD, pulled the carpet to airdry, didn't get around to reinstalling for a month. When I put it back in, it was like a nice "free" upgrade.
 
I havent run any carpet in a long time, but mine is a TJ so the noise from the floor is the least of my hearing problems. I don't use mats or bedliner either, both can cause rust to form from holding moisture. If my paint on the tub wears off enough that some surface rust starts showing I'll just sand it down a little and add some cheap spray bomb. wash, rinse, repeat.
 
AX(J)15_tudor said:
What about the roll on kits they make for truck beds? Is the spray better?
Click to expand...
I rolled on the bedliner in my TJ. It's been several years and I'm still really happy with the results. It's all in the prep. If you take the time to prep well, you'll have good results
 
RenegadeT said:
When installing weld-on frame rail stiffeners, I used a propane torch (from Lowes, etc) and putty knife to remove the undercoating. Just heat it up til it starts to smoke, scrape off easily with putty knife in the other hand.

I vote try to keep the carpet if you can. It is pretty loud w/o carpet, tunes sound like crap while sitting in a sheet metal box. I had a leak in my DD, pulled the carpet to airdry, didn't get around to reinstalling for a month. When I put it back in, it was like a nice "free" upgrade.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking. I'm definitely leaning towards doing my best to keep it intact in the passenger area. I am leaning towards cutting the rear section carpet out though since I use the xj kind of like a farm/hunt truck sometimes. also that section is pretty beat down anyway since I think it had a hatch leak previously hence the rust in that area being worse.
 
RenegadeT said:
When installing weld-on frame rail stiffeners, I used a propane torch (from Lowes, etc) and putty knife to remove the undercoating. Just heat it up til it starts to smoke, scrape off easily with putty knife in the other hand.

.
Click to expand...
Did you do this trick even on the drivers side with the gas lines? If you did did you pull the tank and drain the lines? I'm assuming you just used a blue bottle and not a yellow map (? i think) gas bottle?
 
AX(J)15_tudor said:
Did you do this trick even on the drivers side with the gas lines? If you did did you pull the tank and drain the lines? I'm assuming you just used a blue bottle and not a yellow map (? i think) gas bottle?
Click to expand...
I can't remember if I disconnected the fuel filler line or not, dont think so. The rear frame stiffeners I used had a cutout for that area, I think I opened up the hole to the top edge so I wouldnt have to remove the filler line. I did not drop the tank. Maybe I didnt do the best job removing the undercoating around the filler neck area, just crossed my fingers that nothing would blow up.
I used a standard blue bottle BernzOmatic.
 
I'm working on a buddies jeep right now, I wish I had pics but the majority of it is done and pics wouldn't explain it. We bought rubber matting from tractor supply (It's actually for horse stalls) on the floor (covering the entire floor including trans hump etc.) and then sealed it with the sealant that was also recommended by the installers of this rubber horse stall matting. We then bought a a new fitted carpet (I'm not sure where he got it but I think JC whitney) we then cut it to fit around the seats (a front section and a rear section) at the seams we used steel wire weaved as a seam around the carpet ends and attached a metal strip with holes in it (from lowes) he then decided to attach them with climbing grade D-rings (local rock climbing place).

It makes the carpet super easy to pull out when going through the swamps we have here, but also provides insulation from heat and some noise (lets be honest its a jeep on 35's it's never gonna sneak up on anyone).

I know this explanation sounds stupid but it turned out really well and I wish I had pics to show you.
 
No I understand what you are saying and that sounds pretty cool. It's maybe more than I will do but I'm definately keeping my carpet now based on some feedback.
 
Back
Top