My moms 99 caravan has big holes in shock towers. I found out about the repair kits but I was put off by how pop rivets where used to install it; do those hold up? Is there anyway I could bolt it in? I ask because I dont have access to a power riveter. TIA

 

Welcome to DF
I think when mopar put the TSB for the repair kit, They whated the owners to go to a repair shop to do this repair. Its really not something you can do at home unless you have access to a repair shop.

 

I think I may call my friend whos a mechanic with extensive welding experience and see what he cant do; thanks for the heads up though

 

You can buy the repair kit from Advance Auto et al for under $30. The structural adhesive, however, will set you back about $70 bucks, assuming you have the two-plunger gun to dispense it ($40 on Ebay/Amazon)

After that, it's a matter of removing the rust and grinding the bonding areas down to bare shiny metal. The rivets, while steel, don't provide the structural integrity-the adhesive does. You'll need a rivet gun capable of pulling 1/4 " rivets. The long handle type will work, but you may have to remove a few items to get clearance enough to use that type.

Good luck.

 

Removing the rust and paint is an awful horrible nasty job. I've done this repair and it's an all day affair. If I had it to do over again, I'd pay a shop.

Here's the link to my Voyager

http://www.ricksfreeautorepairadvice...r-town-country

 

No doubt about it. I did only the drivers side-lot of chiseling and grinding, then more grinding. A canister type riveter would've come in handy for clearance, too.

 

When I did mine, I found that the easiest way to remove the corrosion was to drop the struts, completely cover all vital engine components that cannot be moved out of the way with .060 roofing rubber membrane, canvas painter dropcloths will work as well. I then sandblasted the strut towers using a Ingersoll rand 185 deisel air compressor and a 150 lb media pot. I own these, but used to rent both from the locaL rental yard, for about $150.00/ day. Took 1 50 lb bag of coal slag media and about 20 minutes of blasting. Cleaned it up quite nicely. Did both sides in under 6 hours. Let the repair cure for another 24 before I drove the van at all. Cost about $460.00 in materials. Be sure to wear a respirator if you use any blasting media with quartz/ silica in it-it can cause lung cancer without protection. I get coal slag media from Menards. Where I couldn't get any access for rivets, I used #14x1" self tapping hex head sheet metal screws. Sprayed everything down with Rustoleum primer, and Blue magic pure rubber undercoating when I was done. I have 1 unopened tube of Lord fusor adhesive left with about 6 mos shelf life left- $20+ship