drip rails are they just covered with plastic ?

[candymancan]

after seeing a cherokee chief today for first time i noticed its drip rails were shiny stainless.

my gw is yellow and plastic.. But when i look on the edges it looks like its just wrapped in plastic.. Can you just cut the plastic off to get to the stainless ? or is that not a good idea ?

[jsinajeep]

It was in the 80s when they went to the plastic trim. You can take the plastic trim off
and it will be the painted rail not SS.

[candymancan]

So should I just leave it alone then ?

[HeavyMetalThunder_81]

I get what you're saying and trying to do. I have heard this question before but don't remember the result. The trim on the '80s Grand Wags is coated in a plastic that over time has cracked and turned yellow. The idea is to chip off the plastic coating to get to the trim underneath.
I say go for it and see what happens. Can't be any uglier than the cracked peeling yellow plastic coating.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[PaulD]

after seeing a cherokee chief today for first time i noticed its drip rails were shiny stainless.

my gw is yellow and plastic.. But when i look on the edges it looks like its just wrapped in plastic.. Can you just cut the plastic off to get to the stainless ? or is that not a good idea ?

How was it attached on the Cherokee?

[candymancan]

Cherokee chief had nothing on it. Literally was just steel, no molding covering it. Thats why im wondering why the hell they put this molding on the Grand Wagoneers over the steel drip rail.. Makes no sense to me ?

[SJTD]

For the same reason they put shelf paper on the sides and all the beading and stitching on the door liners.

[dodgerammit]

It was shiny. 30 years ago. No different than chrome plated plastics or painted plastics today. Looks good now. Not so much in 30 years. Car manufacturers don't care what people will think in 30 years. They just need to sell the car now. FWIW, there is a company that makes polished aluminum trim for them. I have it on my Waggy. Looks great. http://wagoneerswest.simdif.com/new-used-parts.html

[candymancan]

So its actual aluminum right and not that cheap painted plastic that will fall apart in a year ? Because i bought the rear glass one from teamgrandwagoneer its peeling got water in it and looks like crap after less than a year

[candymancan]

okay i see how it is, the molding wraps around an ugly painted rail like you said.. Yea ima keep my plastic on for now.

Im going back to maryland to that cherokee chief and im going to see if i can remove the metal rail on the cherokee. I guess i didnt look hard enough to see how it was mounted. Youre right the cherokee chief has a metal cover on the rails. One should be able to remove this and use it right ?

It should slide or pry off gently im holping right ? and fit on the gw ?

[SJTD]

Might slide off the back if you'[re lucky. Probably not and you'll have to carefully pry the bottom edge up.

I welded in filler into the gaps between the front and top gutters.

[candymancan]

yea im going tomorrow with a friend to get them. They want only 20$ for the rails.. My worry are the t2o main long ones dont want em to bend in half when moving them around

[dodgerammit]

So its actual aluminum right and not that cheap painted plastic that will fall apart in a year ? Because i bought the rear glass one from teamgrandwagoneer its peeling got water in it and looks like crap after less than a year

Actual CNC machined aluminum. New, shiney. With end caps that add a nice, finished look. This is the drip rail stuff.

The one that goes around the rear window is still gonna basically be door edge molding. You're just out of luck for aluminum pieces here. I'd just buy the stuff from the local auto store. 1/2" or 5/8" will do. You will need 9'.

[dodgerammit]

See my thread pics: http://www.fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtop ... 7&start=20

[candymancan]

It looks good, but im going back up to MD today with a friend. Going to try and remove the Stainless ones from the 79 cherokee chief. Hopefully i dont mess them up taking them off. They want only $20 for the rails that a really good deal lol

I think this cherokee has been in the Junkyard for like decades it has computers in the back area from the 80s in it lol

[candymancan]

Well just got back from maryland went back to the 79 cherokee chief. I brought an old fashioned bottle opener. I watched some videos on how to remove the trim on other vehicles. I put some duct tape on it and started on the ends.. Wow was super easy to pop off. barely had to use any force.


Got all 4 trim pieces and the 2 corner elbows for $10 LOL , Just ripped off my ugly plastic and popped the new stainless rails on with my palm. Polished them with Mags aluminum polish. They were really cloudy but super shiny now. the computers and floppy disks in it are labled from 1998, and the stickers on it are from 96.. So that cherokee has been in that Junkyard for over 20 years lol




Before





After

[candymancan]

Couple more up close pics, I noticed the stainless rails are smaller, the plastic ones are thicker/wider. I couldnt use my old elbow clips because they are much bigger and wouldnt fit at all. So im glad i took the 79's elbows

[jsinajeep]

Yes they do look a lot better and shinny. Looks good

[HeavyMetalThunder_81]

Looks great! Every time I find a Chief in the yard I try to nab that trim because it's getting hard to find. Now we just need to find a company that'll duplicate them!

[candymancan]

Funny th8ng is that chief has been advertised on craigalist for like 7 months and i had no idea they had metal trim to replace the plastic stuff.

learn somethin new every day. They actually offered to sell me the whole thing for 200$ But its got no trans and transfercase. just a 360 and a lot of rusted floors. Door panels looled good though and it still had a headliner