Tailgate rust...how much to fix?

[Jakeepoo3]

OEM part is going to be the sheet metal only. Not complete lift gate.

That's what I'm going to do eventually. Actually all the panels on mine. They have all received lots of love from the forest over the years. An insurance company would call my baby girl totaled. I call it fun with my girl. I'll buy a pro quality paint machine and everything else for less than that shop quote to paint the tailgate. Start up a side business.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

How hard is it to open up the hatch and check the internal condition bearing in mind I have no access from inside as the back is boarded out for tools

The panel is spot welded on.

 

[W.E.G.]

I'll buy a pro quality paint machine and everything else for less than that shop quote to paint the tailgate. Start up a side business.

Sounds like a plan.

I already have two other "well-loved" vehicles (victims?) that I "work on." And they show it.

I'm old. Physical limitations, time, work-space. All that. I'll splurge on this one to get it closer to "right" than I likely would get it.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

Sounds like a plan.

I already have two other "well-loved" vehicles (victims?) that I "work on." And they show it.

I'm old. Physical limitations, time, work-space. All that. I'll splurge on this one to get it closer to "right" than I likely would get it.

Do you sir! You should see my dirt jeep she's been rolled, flipped, even flown. Yet runs like just came out the factory. Priceless

 

[SurferUK]

The panel is spot welded on.

Sorry I meant removing the internal plastic trim panel to have a look inside and check it out. I would have to do it 'overhead' with the hatch open if that's possible.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

Sorry I meant removing the internal plastic trim panel to have a look inside and check it out. I would have to do it 'overhead' with the hatch open if that's possible.

Oh yeah that's easy. It's mostly clipped in. There may be a few screws.

 

[W.E.G.]

Do you sir! You should see my dirt jeep she's been rolled, flipped, even flown. Yet runs like just came out the factory. Priceless

Not to take the thread off-topic.

But this is one of my victims - bought for $700 (but shown here before/after) with a $1600 paint job because my wife hated that it was in black primer when I bought it.

Using the surburban driveway as a work area, I managed to put an exhaust system in it (cheap), and seat belts (kind of expensive). Also belts and coolant tank under the hood. And brake-light wiring repair (kid who was the PO managed to cut the brake lights when he sawzalled the otherwise perfectly-good muffler and tailpipe off). The sawzalled bits were bouncing around in the truck-bed when I bought it. I splurged and replaced with new.

I think of it as a motorized wheelbarrow. Starts reliably, and passes state annual inspection 5 years now.

Hauling rifle targets for repair.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

Not to take the thread off-topic.

But this is one of my victims - bought for $700 (but shown here before/after) with a $1600 paint job because my wife hated that it was in black primer when I bought it.

Using the surburban driveway as a work area, I managed to put an exhaust system in it (cheap), and seat belts (kind of expensive). Also belts and coolant tank under the hood. And brake-light wiring repair (kid who was the PO managed to cut the brake lights when he sawzalled the otherwise perfectly-good muffler and tailpipe off). The sawzalled bits were bouncing around in the truck-bed when I bought it. I splurged and replaced with new.

I think of it as a motorized wheelbarrow. Starts reliably, and passes state annual inspection 5 years now.

Hauling rifle targets for repair.

Haha you're a country man too! That's pretty cool. I got this for 350$ recently. They thought the tranny was bad ready to see what it's AWD can do. Not even a scratch on it.

 

[Bluesky 07]

[MENTION=651606]SurferUK[/MENTION] - Once the panel is off, it’s just a matter of peeling the sheet plastic liner back until you can see inside. But as noted in a previous post, the rust is typically invisible under the sound deadener until you scrape some of it away.

Do you have rust bubbles on the outside? If not, I would let sleeping dogs lie.

BTW, I realized reading my earlier posts that it’s been 3 years since I did my damage control on the rusty inside of the hatch. Happy to report that the exterior condition remains unchanged whereas it had been gradually deteriorating before.

 

[W.E.G.]

Estimate numbers in case anyone cares

 

[Jakeepoo3]

Estimate numbers in case anyone cares

Haha make an insurance claim it's totaled! �� Maybe get rear ended somehow clever!

 

[SurferUK]

[MENTION=651606]SurferUK[/MENTION] - Once the panel is off, it’s just a matter of peeling the sheet plastic liner back until you can see inside. But as noted in a previous post, the rust is typically invisible under the sound deadener until you scrape some of it away.

Do you have rust bubbles on the outside? If not, I would let sleeping dogs lie.

BTW, I realized reading my earlier posts that it’s been 3 years since I did my damage control on the rusty inside of the hatch. Happy to report that the exterior condition remains unchanged whereas it had been gradually deteriorating before.

Thanks, the outside looks fine and it came from Japan where they don't use road salt although of course there's a lot of coastal areas with sea salt. I might just give it all a squirt of ACF-50 to kill any existing rust and leave it at that.

 

[Napalm]

Rust experts - while I know this isn’t on the tailgate, should I pursue trying to fix it asap?

Hasn’t changed much in the past six months.. at least from what I can see. It’s on the roof line right above the windshield

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[Syr4RinNC]

Rust experts - while I know this isn’t on the tailgate, should I pursue trying to fix it asap?

Hasn’t changed much in the past six months.. at least from what I can see. It’s on the roof line right above the windshield

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I wonder if it is sitting under where the roof panel attaches to the rest of the body. Might be worthwhile to take it to a body shop to get an estimate of how extensive and how much to fix.


Otherwise, I would sand it down to clean metal. Consider using some body filler to even it out if theres more than you expect. Use a coat of a rust converter as a primer, then a few coats of silver paint, clear coat and try to wet sand/ polish to blend best you can

 

[W.E.G.]

Rust experts - while I know this isn’t on the tailgate, should I pursue trying to fix it asap?

Hasn’t changed much in the past six months.. at least from what I can see. It’s on the roof line right above the windshield

What do you think caused the damage?

Condensate from inside the vehicle eating it from the inside out?

Sun-Roof leak channeling water to that area? Do you regularly park the vehicle facing downhill such that intruded-water would puddle there?

Was the spot damaged by some sort of trauma (rock or some other object striking that area)?

If you have a water-intrusion issue, you should solve that. Otherwise, any repair made there will be jeopardized by further exposure to water from the backside.

Otherwise, I would dislodge any loose rust there, and rebuild the area with some sort of epoxy. Literally JB-Weld. Smooth the epoxy, and touch up with matching paint.

The alternative of doing a "proper" metal repair is going to be very expensive. For a basic 2007 vehicle, the investment for a full-on cut-out-the-rust, and weld-in-new-metal, and repaint, would seem an unwarranted expense.