Hello everyone, I have a 1997 Ford Explorer Sport with a very rusty frame. Now don’t get me wrong, the entire frame is rusty but is still very solid with no holes or anything like that, but I can tell if I wait much longer it will be beyond repair. How much would it cost approximately to have the frame cleaned and repainted? This is an old suv that I’m wanting to restore and I would hate if it were too far gone considering there aren’t too many 2 door Explorers from that era left lol. Thanks for any help you can give me.
It's difficult to say without seeing the rust. Professionally, meaning paying a shop to do it, your Explorer will never be valuable enough to make the investment worth the cost. They aren't collector's items. My 1999 Ranger had the start of frame rot in the frame rails at the rear shock mounts. It needed cleaned up, and some quarter inch plate welded over the C-Channel to patch the small areas that had rotted. A shop was going to charge me starting at $400 to do one side of the frame. I paid a former coworker who welds for a living $200, and he did both sides in a couple hours. I periodically check the frame for other potential problems and have been slowly cleaning the frame up with a grinder and painting it myself. This kind of thing you want to do yourself if you want it to be cost effective. Grind or sand blast rust off, prime and paint it, doing it section by section.
