Removing rocker/torsion box end plates?

[ls1nova71]

So they look like they just bolt on with about a dozen or so bolts. Has anybody taken theirs off? I'm thinking if they unbolt, I can clean anything inside them out and put a good coat of POR15 on the inside. Anyone done this?
Posted via Mobile Device

[BlazinC5]

You will find that getting them end plates off is a pain in the butt. Soaking with some WD-40 will help. As far as getting inside there sure you can hose it out to get any garbage out. But there just isn't quite the room that it looks like in there. It's long and thin. So doing the POR15 would be pretty hard to accomplish. Best thing I can recomend is to take the end plates off and if you want to coat them with something,, Take the rocker boxes off at that point. You can look over my build thread and see how I did it. I haven't worked on it much for quite some time so I haven't put it back together yet.

[72ironmike]

Could you put POR 15 in a bug sprayer and get inside the small area ?

[ls1nova71]

I have an undercoating gun that I have a 3 foot wand I can put on it. The Blazer is almost completely rust free so I can't take the torsion boxes off. I'll take the ends off and take a look at it.
Posted via Mobile Device

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

I have an undercoating gun that I have a 3 foot wand I can put on it. The Blazer is almost completely rust free so I can't take the torsion boxes off. I'll take the ends off and take a look at it.
Posted via Mobile Device

Give it a shot, gotta be better then doing nothing. Might need a tip that has a tight ninty degree though, to get top and bottom

Do you have a build thread?

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

Give it a shot, gotta be better then doing nothing. Might need a tip that has a tight ninty degree though, to get top and bottom

Do you have a build thread?

The wand is made for spraying rust inhibitor in places you cant reach. It has several holes in the end and sprays a fan pattern. You just put it in and pull the trigger and slowly remove it. Makes a big mess, but better than having potential rust problems later. No build thread just yet, haven't done much to it, but probably will in the near future.

[JJH Jimmy]

Depending on how big your wand is for the undercoat wand you can access the front of the torsion box by the area where the bottom front fender mount is located. There is a floor support in that same area that is also prone to rust issues that will be tough to coat from the back side. Eastwood has some internal frame coating that comes with hose and a nozzle. I bought some for the inside of the windshield frame on mine. Is it 2WD or 4WD? Any idea what ls motor you are going to put in it? Looking forward to a build thread!

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by JJH Jimmy

Depending on how big your wand is for the undercoat wand you can access the front of the torsion box by the area where the bottom front fender mount is located. There is a floor support in that same area that is also prone to rust issues that will be tough to coat from the back side. Eastwood has some internal frame coating that comes with hose and a nozzle. I bought some for the inside of the windshield frame on mine. Is it 2WD or 4WD? Any idea what ls motor you are going to put in it? Looking forward to a build thread!

I think I'll be able to coat the inside of the rocker box, and can do inside the rockers themselves by going through the plug in the front of the rocker. Probably won't be able to get into the inside of the front floor support, but in all honesty probably really don't need to. It's not like it's ever going to be a daily driver and will rarely see rain let alone any kind of snow and salt so I think I'll be alright.

Its a 4wd but I'm converting it to 2wd..Looking for a 6.0/4l80e for it, but haven't found one yet.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Big J]

I tried taking mine off a long time ago. It didn't work out. Even after soaking with PB I broke a bolt or two. If anything I don't see it being a big deal if you opened up the drain hole big enough to get your sprayer wand into. You could probably use high pressure water and air to clean it that way too. Might be able to shove a water hose over the top of the end cap and under the floor support. With the right sprayer it would get it mostly clean.

[rads42]

I did exactly what you are trying to do. My torsion boxes were in great shape and I wanted to keep them that way so I applied a product called Rust-bullet to the interior and exterior of the boxes. It creates a chemical reaction that converts the rust to a solid paintable surface. I was very impressed. I took both end-caps off with no trouble at all and painted two coats inside and out with a brush. I did what I could reaching in by hand and then I attached the brush to a small pole and got in to the other end and did the best I could. I definitely didn't get every nook and cranny and it was a messy job but I figured it was better than nothing. Then I painted the outside flat black. I' heard there are undercoating nozzles that are long and spray 180 degrees but I didn't know about that until after I did mine. That would have made it easier, less messy and probably done a better job. The Eastwood company might carry something like that. Anyway good luck! I think its a worthwhile endeavor no matter how you go about it.

[ls1nova71]

Thanks for the tips guys. My main reason for asking is, I didn't want to go through all the trouble of unbolting them only to find out they were spot welded too. A long time ago I tried to unbolt a dash, and well, you know how that went....

Anyway, I got them off and cleaned the insides out. A little PB Blaster and they all came right out. There's A LOT to be said for starting with a rust free Arizona truck!!! Going to wait until the bodywork stage to coat them and put the end caps back on.