Re: Rat repair.
 

Yet again, 3 posts and no email notification!

Well the POR-15 is long worn off with daily showers LOL! Yes i have been working, today marks 2 weeks back on the mill, shoulder is still a bit sore but making ground, next week is my last PT sessions (2) I'll kinda be glad to stop going as it cuts into my truck time.

Not much done since the last pic, as i have only had a couple hours to spare this week to work on the truck, just slowly trimming the floor panel out, i have a tendancy to accidentally cut too much so slow and steady... I almost called in sick cause it was a barn burner of a day today, i have plenty of time to use as i just passed my 28 year date with this company, plenty of sick leave and vacation time under the belt, but i always have a tendency to use it too much in the fall and winter, then scrape the barrel in the spring and fall, gotta stop doing that..

Re: Rat repair.
 

Nice progress on the rust repair.

Re: Rat repair.
 

From my last post until today not a lot done just the final trimming hole prep and some weldable primer on some edges, one thing I have come to the conclusion I will NEVER buy SEM weldable primer again, this stuff spits and sputters and I think even promoted blow outs in the welds, I had some copper looking stuff before and it worked great, don't recall what it was.....

It rained, rained and dumped some more most all day (and the better part of the last 1.5 weeks) so I ran the 220V extension cord out the garage window into the car cover then covered the exposed 2' with a tarp to keep the water off of it. Standing on a kinda not too dry sheet of plywood while welding.. Worked on her from about 10am till 6:30pm.

I will admit I averted a disaster today, while cleaning up I coiled the live extension cord and balanced it on the pickup bed while getting ready to feed it back thru the car cover wall and into the garage window, when I opened the window from the outside the coiled part of the cord fell into a puddle of water below, the corner of female plug end box was in the puddle about 1/2" deep, but thankfully no sparks as I walked off to flip the breaker, did I mention I was also standing in the puddle???? I think in the future I best pull my head out and flip the breaker off when I setup from now on..:hh:

Here's todays carnage:

First 2 pic's are about 3/4 welded, the last is done less grinding and searching for spots I missed, the inner kick is tacked in about 5 places

Re: Rat repair.
 

Looks good, Mike. Grinding... my least favorite part, but the end result is worth it! I've never used welding primer, just the spray on spatter inhibitor. Seems like from what you've experienced, the downside outweighs the upside. Keep those pictures coming. Progress is great despite the rain. Rick's getting soaked up in Seabeck also. Just that time of year in the great Northwest. ;)

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Progress lookin' real good!

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Looks great, Mike! Gotta be careful out there. You might want to see if you can change your circuit breaker for the 220v line to a GFCI breaker if you are going to keep on working in the rain.

Re: Rat repair.
 

Splatter inhibitor?? Never heard of it!! Now I have to try all my grinder options again to find the best.

So I didn't sleep well last night, back in the chair at about 530am, wake again at 8 and the sun is burning bright!:lol:

Re: Rat repair.
 

Thanks!

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Humm, do these dinosaurs have a GFCI built in??

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Heres the working end of the cord that found the puddle, it was face down but just like this but there were about 4 more coils which held the one end up at an angle... Still wondering how the water never made contact with the plug ends, guessing friction.

Re: Rat repair.
 

Water's actually not a very good electrical conductor when it's fresh (as in rainwater). Add a little salt, however, and the properties change dramatically. That said, it's still not a good idea to drop a toaster in the bathwater. ;)

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Spent today with grinder and dotco in hand, then searched around for places I missed, and had to fill in some holes from the splatter problem I had, from 10am to 6pm, took forever! I didn't get the pic's of the results, and I still have to finish up the kicker and firewall flanges before I move on to the outer rocker.

So about dark and I was close to wrapping up, heard a faint meow, I made the mistake of answering the call not knowing where it came from, next thing I know I finished a spot weld and there was a cat trying to climb in my lap, there were 2 of them actually, one super friendly the other I little more cautious, hopefully the trusting one will learn to not be so trusting with strangers as there are some folks or dogs that would have a problem with there presence.

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Got a question for everyone, when your welding and grinding are you using a paper air filter? I know Vic has a resperator, i know better than to breath the fumes and hold my breath a lot when welding but what about grinding? Definitely coughing up some black crap.

Re: Rat repair.
 

whenever I knew I was going to be welding or grinding for a while, I used the paper masks. If you don't, once you blow your nose you will know that you should have:lol: BTW, the floor repairs look like they are turning out real well.

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Before I was forced to go to a full face respirator due to the eye thingy, these are what I used. (My wife also likes to use them when chopping up jalapeno's.) ;)
They seal around your face a lot better than the cheap ones, plus they have a one way valve that directs the air out of a dedicated passage rather than thru the entire mask surface. I buy them by the box off eBay.

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:agree: With both Rick & Vic your repairs are looking great Mike. I've been getting the same 3M N95 ones from HD.

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Good progress Mike!

I've been slacking on mine since deer and elk season was in full swing. But now back at it before Steelhead season kicks in! ;)

Gary

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Where do ya Steelhead at?? Up north like the Sky?

Oh Thanks for the comps everyone!

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Skykomish and the Skagit/Sauk. Also make 2 to 3 trips a year over to the OP to fish the Coastal rivers. :)

Gary

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Cool, I used to fish the Cowletz, Puyallup, frequently for steelhead, and all over the place for salmon but kinda burned out on it a while back.

Hate to admit I have taken a few days off from the truck and it's been really nice out..... 🙄

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I grew up fishing the Puyallup and the Cow. Haven't fished either of those rivers in over 25 years. :lol:

Now we mainly fish for salmon in the salt out of a boat with downriggers.

I got some more done on my rig this week and it feels awesome.

Gary

Re: Rat repair.
 

After taking a week off I got back on it today, I started with replacing part of my shop floor LOL! getting a bit muddy in my work shop.. :)

I finished welding in the floor, firewall pinch weld and inner kick panel, also went under the truck and welded more on the inner rocker, then I had to cover the inside floor of the cab with a tarp and brought out a small heater to bring temps up enough to spray some primer on the welds, once dry I applied seam sealer, did this to both inside, outside and underneath.

Re: Rat repair.
 

OK, This outer rocker is a POS! way worse than the last one! beginning to wonder if a trip to Olympia is in order again for a better one, the biggest problem is the body line under the door, I also had to slice the front part of the rocker and bend it out of the way just to get the front close to fitting into place, in the front pictures the rocker is still about 3/8" out from the lower A pillar...

Re: Rat repair.
 

I feel your pain on the rockers brother.

I had to cut the entire front off of mine and fabricate my own "front". Also the rear was a b!tch to line up as well.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...2&d=1470959492

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...5&d=1470959535

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...6&d=1470959559

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...8&d=1471183120

Gary

Re: Rat repair.
 

Before I cut the passenger side apart I made references to where the lower edge of the outer rocker was in relation to the rear cab corner and also took a measurement from the bottom of the lower door hinge to the same edge in an attempt to make it easy to maintain the lower door body gap.

I have mounted the outer rocker, it needs to be sliced and pie cut yet but it looks like there is quite a gap between the top of the inner rocker and the sill plate where all the spot welds join the two together. I know of course that the door will need to be remounted to finalize fitment.

My question is would it be absolutely imperative that the inner rocker and outer rocker be touching and spot welded in this area along the bottom of the door? I know if its not welded its going to flex if someone stands on it while getting in and out of the truck ect. (Did I just answer my own question??)

NOTE: On the driver side the outer rocker nested to the inner rocker in the sill area before I even pie sliced it for the final weather strip flanges to fit.

Re: Rat repair.
 

Humm, trying to determine if I should do a pie slice at the weatherstrip or if it would be better to do one along the outer edge of the A pillar ( just to the right of the screw)

Driver side was done at the weather strip, but as the outer rocker sits right now the gap at the floor is wider at the front by at least 1/8"

Re: Rat repair.
 

Rocker is clamped on the bottom, front fender is in a little which tells me the front of the rocker has to go in a little, that would make the gap in my last post showing the inner rocker/floor to the outer rocker closer.

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How about a little bit of both... :). still a little difference in tha spacing between the inner floor and outer rocker but I can live with it, I'll need to use a washer on the fender.

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One in the back too..

Re: Rat repair.
 

That's looking pretty good to me Mike. Way to make those roughed-in pieces work for you!

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Thanks again!

Went out to test Fit the door and discovered a crack by the upper hinge, guess I'll test Fit tomorrow. I thought it would weld right up but two spot weld attempts in the center reviled that it was too thin, most likely from the hydro press stretching the shell too thin, had to cut/grind back to better metal and fab a patch, glad I have a stud puller to weld on a handle!

Re: Rat repair.
 

Making good progress, looks good!

Re: Rat repair.
 

ON the driver side when I installed the outer rocker I just pulled the bottom in and spot welded it in place doing so pulled the rocker surface inward and I had to fill with bondo.

Looking at this side I think a better solution will be to do some "adjustment" to the flange at the rear, a little stretch about 1" from the door line, then a pie cut and re weld down lower to get the outer rocker contour closer to the stock cab corner.

1st pic not pulled in, 2nd pic pulled in, 3rd pic not pulled in.

If you had to do an adjustment in this area this can you enlighten me on what you did?

In the hustle for the holiday, may not be getting a whole lot done for the next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

.

Re: Rat repair.
 

Your last photo highlights the problem the best. It appears the rocker isn't formed with the angle needed to match the pinch flange. At this point, I'd try to insert something thin and sturdy at the bend as a stop. Then see if you can gently move the flange that's hanging down, upward and in by using a 1x4 block on a floor jack. With the rocker already welded in place elsewhere, your options are limited.

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There is always the option to go buy a different outer rocker, at least this time i can inspect before i buy it. especially as this one is only screwed in place thus far.. I'll fiddle with it a bit and see what i can come up with.

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My C10 project had a similar issue, ours got a pie cut to make it fit.

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That's a big slice of pie! I'm hoping I'll be able to do a couple small relief cuts in that rear flange and carefully bend a conture into the lower part to match the cab corner, then bend the flange to align with the inner rocker. Who knows, I may have to do the same after I'm done! We'll see, but first massive house cleaning before Thanks Giving because I'm such a slob LOL!

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Well true to word I haven't touched the Rat this holiday, but I did clean the house for company on Thanksgiving, took care of 90% of the shopping and cooking for T day.

Yesterday I installed a 2" front lift, today the 1" rear blocks on my daily driver 2005 Dakota, then drove it down to get a new set or tires because my current set of Geolanders are almost slicks. They were sold out of my first 2 choices Goodyear Duratrack and BFGK02, ended up pre paying and ordering a set of Goodyear Duratracks In the next size larger than stock, should have them installed around next weekend. Wanted to try something different than Yokohama Geolander and BFG. I have spent a couple weeks researching tires, they required to be an all terrain with the snow 3 mountain peak symbol because my geolander tires were good in fresh snow but not on compact wet snow

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Mike, what seam sealer are you using on the cab floor and on the rockers?

Gary

Re: Rat repair.
 

Mike,

Just finished reading the entire build thread so much great information you're putting together. Quick question, is your radiator overflow tank an OEM replacement or just a generic kit?

Thanks,
Shawn