I decided to replace the jack plate and tube and once I got into it I noticed it is much deeper than I had thought . I removed the outer shell because it was starting to rust through. Once I removed and the tube, I noticed it is recessed deeper in the longs than I expected. My question is how deep? Is it all the way where the tube attaches to the long? I am afraid to go much without more knowledge. My longs have no holes through them and I would prefer to keep them that way. Thanks in advance.

All the way to the long - pretty sure it's tack welded to the long.

So it is basically the rectangular shape recessed about a 1/4 inch? And if I peel away the rusty tube plate it should reveal the long?

Search for a repair thread here and maybe look at the replacement pieces available. I think i remember putting the outer cover on is impossible to reweld the top without removing the door threshold piece.

Post a couple pics a little further away - something doesn't look right. You may want to compare the other side jack tube as well.

You should poke around the area with an ice pick also to check for any other rust.

May want to look at this thread

Targatoy jack post repair

And this one (posts 54 thru 64)

Spoke's Thread

Thanks Scott for the link. Very Helpful.
I checked it and it was still very solid. This is not your typical midwest car. It has never seen snow and salt and always slept inside a garage unlike most of the other midwest cars and the first 12 years it lived in SoCal.
I was surprised once I got the old plate off the hole behind the jack tube. I did notice a little surface rust that I will now treat. I am waiting for the replacement parts.
I do see how it will be difficult to weld the top section without the threshold removal but once the parts get here I will tackle that then.

No problem - pet peeve of mine when people give "do a search" type comments. For some reason I never find searching this site easy (can't find any threads when you search "MPS" or "AAR", etc??).

I search with Google by entering the words I want to search for and add "site:914world.com" without the quotes.