Stripping your Jeep of Paint.

I suspected my old CJ had some body filler applied by the previous owner, so in the spots I had suspicions, I hit those areas with flap wheel and I discovered it was actually lead body filler, and only used in a select spots where it appears body panel meet. As far as paint and body go, all my experience came from the airline industry back in the mid 90's. We rarely used body fillers because of the weight, so most damaged spots were just replaced with new panels. We also chemically stripped all aircraft which is also the method I'm most comfortable with, due to ease and what you end up with as a final product. However, chemical stripping is expensive and the Jeep isn't all that big, so I'm considering other options. My compressor doesn't have enough juice for a DA, and block sanding . . . well call me lazy but yeah . . . I guess I am. I've considered gingerly using my flap wheel to take 90% of it down and then blocking off the rest.

Any words for the wise? Body work on anything that isn't an aircraft is new territory for me. My Jeep has three layers, original paint underneath one layer of combination spray on primer/body filler, with what appears to be a single stage coat on top of that. The spray on primer/ body filler is a real head scratcher because the sheet metal underneath is almost perfect.

 

if you don't have enough air for a D/A, this might work?
http://www.harborfreight.com/power-...ual-action-variable-speed-polisher-69924.html

be very careful around lead. it gets everywhere and people with kids go crazy if its anywhere near them.

 

I use a 7" angle grinder with a fine steel wire brush wheel. It works fantastic, but it can be intimidating. The first time I tried it was on an old Renault Fuego about 25 years ago, and I have always used it since. It will strip the paint and leave the base metal smooth as a babies butt.

I'll post a picture later of my setup.

 

It all depends on the end result you want... You might be able to get by with fixing the problem areas and scuffing up the good paint. Then spraying it. What is your goal for paint?

 

I've been using this sander at work lately, and have been very happy with the results. The sanding discs are reasonable at the local lumberyard and come in coarse to fine grits:
http://www.toolbarn.com/bosch-3727devs.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwrPqnBRD56dGe1o_WlZsBEiQAb5ugt1fra8pZnWtLNRWCtcZh1mTLrGN7WNhpjOcA4ULkSTgaAog68P8HAQ


If I were to start over on the paint prep for my jeep, I would've put down the money for this sander versus my DA. My compressor had a hard time keeping up (21 Gal), and I had a lot of waiting/sanding/waiting/sanding going on

 

I use a 4 1/2 grinder with 80 grit sandpaper to remove or a wire wheel. I only use my D/A to featherege or prep for paint. The lead you found is something that you should ask about proper removal of. I have no good answer for that.

 

I start with Jasco Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover. No dust. Works on Bondo too.

 

I have a local guy who does soda blasting. I had him do my pickup when I restored it. Can't beat it. He's going to do my tub when ready

 

Here it is. Just wanted to show what kind of brushes I use that work the best. Don't buy the cheapo brushes because they fling bristles everywhere.

These are about a medium coarse, I usually use finer bristles for cars.

 

Plastic media blasting.
Leaves your sheet metal looking smooth and brand new!

 

I may have jumped the gun today, like I stated before, patience is no my strong suit. Found two areas with bondo, but not very much. I only got half of it
done.






If anyone can tell me about the four holes in the area where the spare tire is suppose to be, I'd be grateful. They don't seem to line up with the holes on the wheel, so I guessing maybe a bracket goes there?

 

http://www.quadratec.com/products/52449_0151.htm

 

Yeah but those bolt holes are evenly spaced, mine are wider toward the rear than and narrower toward the front?

Thanks for the link BTW.

 

Do some looking at pics of early Jeeps. The spare tire bracket mounts on four body holes that are evenly spaced in a diamond pattern. All CJ's had the same holes.

No telling what your four holes are for, but I'd say the front two are original spare bracket holes, and the other two were filled in or covered up. The two towards the rear, who knows.....

 

Two of the holes look like they are in the right place, the rearward ones are probably from a tire carrier, there might be 2 smaller holes further foreward on the fender where the "vibration dampener" was attached, a high tech block of wood.

 

The holes you have there may fit a military type tire carrier. I would check around to see if you can ID what was there before you weld up the holes.

There should be a support bracket behind the quarter panel. If your replace the carrier with the currently avail unit shown in the post above, make sure it lines up with the bracket. On most old Jeeps the tire carrier area is hosed, modified, mangled or otherwise bad.

I removed the side mounted tire carrier and will fab a swing-away rear carrier for my Willys.

 

Looks like the tub is in pretty good shape