New weapon in the war on wood

[Kurtuleas]

Well, I gotta remove the woodgrain. The woodgrain on my 83 wagoneer is shot, and since my plans are to we-wrap the entire rig, I gotta take the old stuff off.

I did my research before I began. There are tons of ideas on this board.. using a heatgun, the spray 3m sticker remover, (I bought another brand...didnt do jack) the 3m rubber wheel thing (That I am to impatient to order and wait for)... someone even suggested soaking the woodgrain in oven cleaner. (Don't try that method. Especially if you are drinking beers while inhaling the fumes. Your FSJ will suddenly start talking to you.)

Now if I was SMART, (I'm not) I would wait for a real hot day where my waggy is all heated up and the stuff is easier to take off, but the magazine is taking the rig next month for the build and I got 2 weeks off right now, so I figured I would knock the wood grain out along with a few other things to get it ready.

Well, I started with the heat gun...


and It took me 6 hours to finish the driver's side quarter panel.

The parts that were really sun-baked were the hardest parts to get off....that little ridgeline that runs down the side of the waggy was the WORST. At the rate I was going, I was looking at a total of 108 hours to remove it all..

My fingers and hands were hurting, I melted 3 plastic scrapper things. Removing the woodgrain brought the suck. If this job was a dinosaur, it would be a Suck-a-Suarus.

Well, the wheels in my head started spinning. What could i use to remove the woodgrain? What would be a perfect woodgrain removal tool?

Well ladies and gentlemen,. I have the answer to all your waggy, woodgrain woes! I have THE WWD! (Weapon of Woodgrain Destruction)

I broke out my Coleman tent heater. I actually have two types, but I used the one with the speaker-style heat grill, not the super-hot old school one.

In all seriousness, my tent heater made ALL the difference. I set it up on both a cooler and a garbage can to reach different levels, let it bake the woodgrain for a minute or too, and the stuff peeled right off. In sheets. No damage to the paint underneath.

The side pic below of the passenger side of the rig was just about a total of 1 hour of work.



And for reference, here's the type of tent heater I used:



and a before shot:




So, if you need to remove woodgrain, I suggest using a coleman tent heater.

[Chevelleguy]

Take it to the car wash and hit it with the high pressure sprayer up close to get the remaining pieces off.

[Logans Run]

I just did this yesterday (front fender) in about 30 minutes with a razor blade scrapper ... the grey is the factory primer ... I will be happy if the rest of the rig goes that easy.

[710 Burner]

The heat method usually fails because the adhesive is dried out and no longer pliable. I have heard you can use a home pressure washer with a fine point tip and blast it off, but I have not been able to try that out.

[Kurtuleas]

Originally Posted by 710 Burner

The heat method usually fails because the adhesive is dried out and no longer pliable. I have heard you can use a home pressure washer with a fine point tip and blast it off, but I have not been able to try that out.

The parts that were really sun-baked, like on that little ridge I talked about had that problem.. but most of it came off pretty quick with the Coleman.

I still need to tackle the woodgrain on the tailgate, which is REALLY faded. I'll report back on how that goes.

[talntar]

so for the most part you used,wait for it,a heat gun.if your normal heat gun didnt do the job you need a better heat gun.did minein an afternoon with a heat gun

[twmattox]

I am looking for a shortcut. My heat gun works very well (I have burnt my fingers numerous times pulling the hot vinyl). But, the sun faded areas comes off in quarter-inch squares. It is incredibly annoying...

[81cherokee laredo]

Good tip on wood grain removal. So which Mag is taking your jeep and what does the build entail?

Ah just read your sig, any hints on modifications

[SD_RED]

My '81 just baked in a pasture in central Texas for something like 10 years, -had no wood grain left on it by the time I got my hands on it... or very much paint, for that matter. Sort of a pinkish primer color... "with some, uh, rust accents."

[Tad]

Bigger is better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqbYa...5&feature=plcp

[Blake]

I used a 4500psi power wash.

Took it right off, but left some residual glue, which was removed with adhesive remover.

[Tin Medic]

Blake, that looks pretty cool with just the outline trim.

[Ofeargall]

This is a little off topic.. But, how hard is it to remove the stainless trim pieces without bending them? We're going to replace our woodgrain with argyle to go with one of our travel trailers. This was supposed to be done a long time ago but I'm nervous about screwing up the trim.

Anybody have any tips for that? I see it's got rivets holding it on in places...

[Clay Balke]

Is that Bill Gates in a GW?

[ferox]

Originally Posted by Ofeargall

This is a little off topic.. But, how hard is it to remove the stainless trim pieces without bending them?

Anybody have any tips for that? I see it's got rivets holding it on in places...

I have only removed the trim from the front fender so far, but the only rivet was the one under the hood. The rest of the trim was held on by body plugs. I think if you want to remove the trim without bending it you will want to come at it from the interior and push the plastic mounts out. I have been meaning to do this on my rig for quite some time, but I am not keeping it (the trim) so if you bend anything you are welcome to mine. I am not sure if I still have the passenger side fender trim though. I may have thrown it away.

[Ofeargall]

Thanks ferox, I'll let you know if I mess it up and need to spares.

[Kurtuleas]

Originally Posted by 81cherokee laredo

Ah just read your sig, any hints on modifications

I am not sure really. They are going to surprise me i think, and they are still planning stuff out.

I told my EIC that I wanted to run 37's (35's at the least) and that the rig needs to be able to walk the Rubicon.. I do know they are putting in a full cage, but we are going to leave it as "waggy" looking as possible...not gunna cut it all up.

When built, it will be used on trail work parties, to run pit support for my race team, and it's gotta be able to take me and my family into trails like the Rubicon on camping trips... They are keeping all of that in mind during the build.