THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

I was cleaning the Pinz today (as the Houston area continues to be more or less shut down due to Hurricane Ike) so I thought this was the time to finally remove those aluminum floor plates to clean the area below them.

If you've not removed them recently to clean that area out, you better find a suitable straight blade screwdriver, a bunch of old rags and some Simple Green and get to it chop chop.

I found leaves, coins, candy wrappers, mud etc etc etc. There is a drain hole but the accumulation of junk certainly dwarfed it. I'm sure this is a great place for rust to develop.

You desert dwellers probably never mess with this but for everyone else, it warrants attention.

I pull the floor plates every time I wash the vehicle (after any major trip) and it's surprising how much "stuff" gets down there.
I usually find some small change, lolly wrappers etc each time.

One thing to watch for is rust in the re-inforcing ribs that run externally under the footwells .... these are drained via those same holes that drain under the floor plates (the holes go straight through the re-inforcing ribs), so when you clean out the holes make sure that the mud etc is also clear to the front and back direction of those channels.

I guess I'm only a semi desert dweller, but mine fill up with all sorts of crud anyway. I usually end up having milo seeds, corn kernels, and protein pellets that fall in their. Dust settles on the plate and when it does rain wet boots turn it into mud along with the mud that's on your boots.

Leaves, sticks, spilled dipping tobacco, nuts, bolts, screws, expended pistol and rifle cartridges, live rounds, you name it, the list goes on.

That's just the 710, I haven't even tried to pull the panels on the 712 yet but I suspect it will look horrendous.

I pull my plates several times a year and clean it out. When done I spray a coat of WD-40 in that area before re-installing the plates.

Here on the east coast, Jimmy Hoffa

I use the space to store a couple of MRE's and some water.

Morris

I think they messed on those drain holes. The upper ones are larger than the lower ones. I get rocks falling down in there that are too big to go through the lower hole. I think they should have been made the other way around.

Spraying some WD-40 in that area sounds like a good idea. It sounds like I was the only guy who wasn't keeping this area cleaned regularly!

I get the rock/pebble problem which can be a real pain at times when they block the drainage.

I have actually waxoyled my footwells up to the level of the checker plate.

"waxoyled"????

todds112 wrote:I think they messed on those drain holes. The upper ones are larger than the lower ones. I get rocks falling down in there that are too big to go through the lower hole. I think they should have been made the other way around.

Todd
you're missing the rubber grommets that are slitted to let water out, and keep the cold wind from blowing up your pant leg.

Bryn
SDP designed the footwells to take care of themselves. Waxoyl will only cause new areas for water to collect and rot the metal from the inside ( there is wax pumped into platform cavities from the factory).
Looking at all the 710/12s, that is one of the few areas that haven't rusted through on Pinzes, unless something created a dam to trap water. Another reason the grommets are so important, to stop foreign debris from getting wedged into drainage passages.

If this was a problem point, SDP would have changed it when they made the TDs.... in fact, the only real change was that SDP put the vacuum tanks under the passenger's floorboard.

Dave Dunn

I'm missing the grommets as well. Wonder how hard they are to find.

Hi Dave

Can you run the waxoyl thing past me again. It just coats the surface and doesn't stop the water running away so I don't follow the corrosion point?

Erik712m wrote:I'm missing the grommets as well. Wonder how hard they are to find.

I was going to see if those little screen strainers that go on a faucet would fit in the hole.

I clean them out a couple times a year. Need to take the shop vac to see if it will suck those rocks out of there.

Erik712m wrote:I'm missing the grommets as well. Wonder how hard they are to find.

Not hard at all.
http://www.pinzgauer.com/showdetails.ph ... 111611381/
Even any automotive body grommet , just slice the center to let it drain.

Bryn, I've seen waxoyl applied to the point that it can trap moisture, and block the natural drainage the engineer intended.
Not in your climate, but in the sw US, applying any oil will eventually run, and dry out. If there was a rusty area under the plates, I'd clean them up and use a rattle can to seal it.