Rust!!!!

General talk about the Subaru Baja.

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ericoid
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Rust!!!!

Post by ericoid »

So, I have a 2005 Baja turbo mt. It's rusted to hell and back! Lol. I'm doing all the repairs myself because no shops around here want to touch it. Gonna be lots and lots of welding! I'll try to get some pics up as soon as I can. The unibody frame is rusted out where the subframe bolts up. The wheel wells, rear bumper, the pinch welds along the rockers, etc. Lots and lots of it! Here's my problem at the moment though, where do I put my stands? I need to remove the whole rear end (wheels, diff, subframe, etc). I'm probably gonna make some cribbing blocks as they seem a bit more trustworthy, but where do I put them? I don't want to cause any more damage. There seems to be some rails that run along the rockers closer to the middle of the cruck but one looks a bit dented in already. Any suggestions?
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Guacamole
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Re: Rust!!!!

Post by Guacamole »

Hey there, those thin rails under the rockers are where the baja is supposed to be lifted from. How bad are the dents and are they at one end of the rail? If there's two small dents at one end of the rail, these are jack points and are there to indicate where you're supposed to place the jack. Using the rail is the optimal jack point though. You could probably crib the four corners of the rail and be safe. There are jack blocks you can buy to go around the rail, but they're around $45 each and a hockey puck with a cutout will do the same job for far less money.
Alternatively there's always this:
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kamesama980
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Re: Rust!!!!

Post by kamesama980 »

When the jack points have rusted you just gotta get creative and make sure you don't spend much time underneath. Remember to spread the load.

Rust is like an iceberg, what you can see is just the tip.

If it's as bad as it sounds, you'll be better off in the long run to just replace the car. Luckily there are more than a few still out there FS, many with a blown engine you could swap your drivetrain into that will last many years longer than shadetree rust repairs.
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
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