Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I'm impressed!

Back on post 752 where you sliced out the bad part and mocked up the repair, the entire repair made from the old panel correct? do you know if there is replacement patches available of the area is rusted out? Did you buy the smaller support pieces in post 766? or bend then yourself? Thanks!

In my case, I used a cutoff saw to remove the area I needed from the old bedside. That piece was in great condition, so it was perfect for the patch. I've don't recall seeing a patch panel for that area in any catalog. You're welcome to the one I took out for just the cost of shipping. I think it will work on either side. There's nothing wrong with it. It was just in the wrong location on the new bedside. As a patch, you could locate it where you need and then mark your cut lines. Just a thought.

I made the small support pieces by putting a 1/2", 90 degree bend in a piece of 1.5" wide sheetmetal. Then spotwelded the strips with the break facing down to the underside of the inner panel, leaving about 1/2" hung out past the edge to back up the patch panel.

[mcbassin]

Awesome work on the bedsides Vic! You are making it look way too easy. I really like the brace idea behind the seam. You will have that sucker done in no time.

[jlsanborn]

More sweet metal work! And thanks for the great pictures and the time spent writing it all up.

[bguild]

Vic- the bedside looks great.. I am back in town if you need a extra hand. I should be around all weekend. I know those bedsides can be a pain to get all bolted up by yourself.

Also did you make any plans for those interior panels that go behind the seat?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by bguild

Vic- the bedside looks great.. I am back in town if you need a extra hand. I should be around all weekend. I know those bedsides can be a pain to get all bolted up by yourself.

Also did you make any plans for those interior panels that go behind the seat?

Thanks, Brian. I'm tacking and welding the seams today, so it won't be long before I need to disassemble it all for access to the difficult areas. I've been running hot and cold over the panels. I keep thinking it would be lots easier to order them from Porterbuilt, but then a wave of tightwad washes over me and I get inclined to make them myself. Either way, they're going in.

[Vic1947]

This morning I added a length of 1/4" wall angle iron to the top bed rail in an attempt to remove some of the bow. It did a fair job and at least, the sectioned side now looks about the same as the new side. Tacked the seams every 3/8" or so and removed the bedside from the floor so I'd have a better shot at the inner panel. So far there's been very little warping, knock on wood. I'm in the process of removing the butt clamps one by one and welding ticky tacks under where they sat. Slow process, but too fast and I end up regretting it.

[Elliot949]

AWESOME work!!!!

[swamp rat]

Would you please come over here and fix my truck! LOL!! Yer puttin me to shame there guy! Nice work!

I have a couple pic's I'd like to post for you to look at regarding that piece of scrap you offered me, i think i can use it, is it ok if i post a couple pic's here for you to look at? Or i can just post them in my build thread and have you follow a link? Thanks!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

AWESOME work!!!!

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Would you please come over here and fix my truck! LOL!! Yer puttin me to shame there guy! Nice work!

I have a couple pic's I'd like to post for you to look at regarding that piece of scrap you offered me, i think i can use it, is it ok if i post a couple pic's here for you to look at? Or i can just post them in my build thread and have you follow a link? Thanks!

Thanks, guys.

Feel free to post up your pics or a link, either would be fine. If you decide you can use the patch, just PM me your info.

[swamp rat]

Hers a link, I don't have the wells out yet but you can see the rust brewing, i have been trying to figure out if there are repair strips available..

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=215

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Hers a link, I don't have the wells out yet but you can see the rust brewing, i have been trying to figure out if there are repair strips available.

LMC offers that area as a patch panel. You can go to their website and see it on page 27. There may be other places that offer it as well, but at least it's available from them.

The most cost effective approach is to remove the wheel tubs and see if it's possible to patch the worst areas with some scrap sheetmetal. My experience with rust is that it's like an iceberg ...you only see about 10% of what's there. Removing the wheel tubs will tell you whether you can get by with a small repair or if a larger patch will be needed.

[sduckworth13]

Quote "My experience with rust is that it's like an iceberg ...you only see about 10% of what's there"

Lol, Vic that is so true. I didn't know that when I bought my cab that had " very little rust".

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Quote "My experience with rust is that it's like an iceberg ...you only see about 10% of what's there"

Lol, Vic that is so true. I didn't know that when I bought my cab that had " very little rust".

I know what you're saying. Someone (who would doubtless be a great guy to know) once said, "When a truck is advertised as being "rust free" what they really mean is, the rust is free ...no extra charge".

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

LMC offers that area as a patch panel. You can go to their website and see it on page 27. There may be other places that offer it as well, but at least it's available from them.

The most cost effective approach is to remove the wheel tubs and see if it's possible to patch the worst areas with some scrap sheetmetal. My experience with rust is that it's like an iceberg ...you only see about 10% of what's there. Removing the wheel tubs will tell you whether you can get by with a small repair or if a larger patch will be needed.

Hey thanks for the information! I didn't know that section had a patch panel available.. I thought I'd have to hand fabricate, bend and punch holes ect..

Cant help but wonder now if the repair panels will have the same hole pattern problem you had with the fender? LOL!

Did you buy replacement hardware from a vendor or did you go the Home Depot route?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Hey thanks for the information! I didn't know that section had a patch panel available.. I thought I'd have to hand fabricate, bend and punch holes ect..

Cant help but wonder now if the repair panels will have the same hole pattern problem you had with the fender? LOL!

Did you buy replacement hardware from a vendor or did you go the Home Depot route?

The problem with the bedside I purchased was the inner wheel arch was displaced about 5/8". So when I bolted on the wheel tub, its holes didn't match those in the floor. The real reason I used the panel from the old bed was to simplify the repair. The "new" piece I removed would work fine as a patch. Just position it over the rusted area, mark your cut lines, remove the rusted area and weld the patch in. I know the holes are in the right place because my tub bolted right up to it.

Most of my hardware has been re-plated, however, the stovebolts out of the bed have not. I plan to soak them in muriatic acid to remove the surface rust, neutralize them with water/baking soda, dry them good, coat them well with LPS3 and then reinstall them without re-plating them. Since I'll have bed liner on top of them and undercoat below, they'll be encapsulated and shouldn't be a problem down the road. I'll replace the damaged/missing ones from a local hardware store.

[Vic1947]

While welding the inner bed panel today, I had a section that was starting to cave in because the seam was tighter there than the gaps on either side. Continuing to weld would only make it sink more, so I opted to raise it up to help minimize the effect. Welded a stud to a low point and pulled it up gently. After welding and grinding, the panel is flat enough that only a thin skim of filler will be needed. Both inner panel seams are welded (and mostly ground) except where I have square tubing holding the bed rail straight. Flipped the bedside back over and will continue welding on the jelly side on Monday. Gotta go to my Pops 90th B-day party tomorrow.

[jeh]

Vic, you deserve a break, enjoy the day with your family tommorow.

[Low Elco]

I was gonna try to sneak over there Sat, wound up running late. Me sad. Looks great, let the bodywork and primer tutorials...begin!

[mcbassin]

Very clean work on the bed. Looks like the seams are falling right into place. Keep up the good work.

[swamp rat]

Where did you get the adapter for the pop rivet gun? And i gotta admit, i'm still at a loss as to how you shaped the bottom of the rear section to match the center section (or vis-versa) of the bed.

[swamp rat]

I found the dent puller, its a Shoot Suit 5800 Dent Puller right.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I found the dent puller, its a Shoot Suit 5800 Dent Puller right.

Yes, it's available from several sources including eBay. I was never able to find just the business end, so I had to pop for the whole thing.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

And i gotta admit, i'm still at a loss as to how you shaped the bottom of the rear section to match the center section (or vis-versa) of the bed.

After cutting the 8" rear section out, when I butted the two sections together, I made sure I was lined up at the top of the bedrail. As luck would have it, the lower body line matched up very closely. I used square tubing to fixture the bed rail, then began inserting butt clamps, making sure the lower body line stayed true. As I worked downward from the body line, the butt clamps pulled the two sections together nice and smooth. You can see from the close ups that there's extra material offset between the two sections, but I'll trim it off after I finish grinding the welds. It was really much easier than I'd imagined.

[Vic1947]

As I was welding away this morning, I felt my buns starting to get a bit toasty. Turned around and saw there was a small fire brewing on the covers I'd thrown over the chassis/engine. Quickly smothered it and opened the garage door to air the place out. Fortunately, today was beautiful ...should've had the door open all along. No harm, no foul.

The outer skin is now welded up except for the small section where the tubing and angle iron are clamped. I'll remove the braces after I grind the welds and bolt the bedside back to the floor.

[swamp rat]

I hear bounce fabric softener sheets can help accelerate fires....

I found one of the dent puller guns on Amazon and ordered it, i like how it isolates the pull to a small area. I seen one of the guns before some years back but forgot about them.