For The Body Shop Guys: Galvanizing

I'm understanding YJ amd later Jeeps had galvanized body panels. How does one safely stitch on repair panels to newer vehicles?

 

LOTS of ventilation!! You can mitigate the fumes a little bit by grinding back where you are going to weld but that won't eliminate them entirely. I usually move things like that outside if I have to weld them. The down side there is any wind will blow your shielding gas away.

Oh, and wear a mask or a respirator if you have one.

 

Ditto. Respirator mandatory. Old timers say to drink milk first. Dunno what that's about.

 

Then why is my YJ rusting?

 

Same reason the galvanized hood and rood of my F250 rusted, I guess.

I dont know if all panels were galvanized, or just certain ones, or none. Just what I read on the interweb.

 

IMO galvanized metal is a joke, on autos, pipes, bolts, nuts, metal corrugated siding. It will ALL rust... never have understood why it is even still sold much less the theory behind it. It will rust. Thank you for letting me vent/ share.

 

grind it really good while wearing protection , and ventilation. the milk does nothing just an old dead welders tale

 

Well, it actually works. For a while. Its purpose is to stave off galvanic corrosion. In galvanic corrosion some metals act as an anode, others as a cathode. Which metal takes which role depends on number of free electrodes on each metal atom. The anode is the metal that ends up corroding. Zinc has a LOT of free electrons so when in contact with other metals it always ends up being the one that corrodes. On ar panels the zinc begins to corrode upon contact with air (paint chips, where fasteners are screwed in, etc). Unfortunately in performing its job the zinc is itself consumed by galvanic corrosion, making the ultimate sacrifice to buy time for the steel. Once consumed the steel is nezt in line to corrode.

Many boat motors have a zinc bar attached to the lower unit to protect the cast aluminum. Make sure it does, and that its in decent shape if you store your boat in the water. Ships have zinc bars the size of bricks bolted here and there to the inside of the hull.
So zinc plating works but we have to do our part in covering it once exposed if it is to last, and most importantly: MAINTAIN YOUR GROUNDING STRAPS AND STRAP CONNECTIONS.

 

I fight this issue on the glass tubbed rigs we have, the battery posts seem to take it hard. I have run dedicated grounds to everything and poor grounds still rear their ugly heads.

 

Biggest problem with zinc plating/galvanizing body panels is the thickness of the coating that can be applied. It will maybe do some protection but, it is so thin that it does not have much to give of itself. To me galvanized body panels are a marketing gimmick.Now, hot dipped frames are a different subject, especially if they are also top coated. It's a relatively ugly coating but, has some real meat to it!

 

Except for currents running through your body.

 

From what I use to know and prob forgot... the coating on YJ parts was more electrolysis coating rather than Hot dip galvy...

Hot dip works...

 

That would be every day all winter, on the roads here in New Hampshire.

 

...and Minnesnowta…..

 

And Maine hence the attractiveness of some sort of oily coating to seal out the salty wetness.