Rat repair.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Nice progress on the cab repair. You doing a some killer work. Keep it up!

Thank you Mike!

[swamp rat]

Ok so i don't mind saying the lower A Pillar is fighting me a little, i noticed when i tightened everything up with the 4 bolts that it pushed the inner kick panel in about 1/4" (picture) So that and the fact that i could see a little gap at the outer flange when held together without the A pillar told me my outer flanges needed to be massaged out a little with a hammer and dolly, I did that and got everything realigned without the A pillar real nice when holding everything together with bolts.

But now when i bolt up the A pillar it still pushes the Inner kick panel in about 1/8" maybe a little less, I don't want stress on that weld because it could start to crack after the repair is done.

The original A pillar has a bit of a joggle in it to account for the thickness of the inner kick panel, so far try as i might i have not been able to get the A pillar close enough...... Yet... This is the Tabco A Pillar so its a bit thicker than the black one..

Debating if i should just add a couple body washers into the mix to see if i can fudge the alignment...

I have the floor section flanged so with the exception of a few places i cant flange that will be butt welded, Have to do the final massage on the flanges to get everything straightened out and flat,

[swamp rat]

Had to step away for a couple days, just too much on my plate..

Back at it a little before work again..

I got the A pillar massaged about as good as i can get it, first two pictures are unbolted, looks great without the A pillar. 3rd pic, bolted up pulls the inner kick panel out of alignment. 4th pic, bolted up after some more fitting and adjusting its hopefully close enough.

[swamp rat]

I just hope i have the length of the A pillar close enough, DD1 has this pic on his build thread with the 7.5 dim, I'm within 1/8" but also a little concerned about making sure its in proper alignment.

[7dee2]

I would agree with that measurement Mike here is another.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

I would agree with that measurement Mike here is another.

Thanks for the pic, would you say the large hole is suppose to be split in half by the leading (front) edge of the A pillar then? If that's the case i may be off a bit? I'll have to check.

[7dee2]

I took this shot right before we started to cut out the rot as a reference. You have some wiggle room in this area as it is behind the fender and there is enough material to adjust the hole if required for panel fitment.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

I took this shot right before we started to cut out the rot as a reference. You have some wiggle room in this area as it is behind the fender and there is enough material to adjust the hole if required for panel fitment.

I'm probably a little more concerned about how the outer rocker is going to lay on the A pillar section I replaced.

[swamp rat]

Am i correct in assuming that the lower A pillar needs to be trimmed up so it does not interfere with where the bottom of the inner and outer rocker get spot welded together?

The bottom of the fender is going to need to be spaced outward about 3/16" from the hole to match the outer rocker.

[swamp rat]

Got a lot done today, Its beginning to look like a truck again, for a little while anyway.

Got everything fitted into place and secured with the exception of sheet metal screws along the top of the rocker. I need to verify that the outer rocker is in fact resting flat on the inner rocker along the length but ran out of daylight.

Have the door aligned as good as its gonna get, the back edge is consistent at about 3/16" like it was before tear down.

Front fender is aligned well with the front of the door, gap is a little wider than was there before, thats a good thing, still a touch less than at the rear..

Body lines look real good.

The only place I'm not happy with right now is the gap along the lower edge of the door, its wider at the front than in the back, and no wiggle room with the door to make it up. I tried to unscrew the back and lower it but the back is resting on the inner rocker, not sure about the front.

The front of the rocker will need some pie cuts to lay into the A pillar correctly, or i just fill it with seam sealer. (LOL)

I'm thinking 3 possible scenarios:

1) I may have to trim more off the Lower A pillar and raise the whole floor a little in the front.
2) Possibly just raise the outer rocker but this may create too much gap between the inner and outer rocker.
3) weld in some filler rod along the the bottom of the door.


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[ryanroo]

looks good! i had to cut and tweak the drivers side rocker for mine too. the passenger seemed to lay in better

[7dee2]

Looking good!

[swamp rat]

Another couple days with too much on my plate, and a late start today.

I did a little investigating and fine tuning, then i crawled in the cab and with the door shut i took some rough measurements From the bottom of the door to the outer rocker (strike plate area) the front has around .050 to .075 more of a gap than in the rear, the rear of the door is as parallel to the cab as i can get it, i cant go any higher up or i'll hit the top of the cab, Plus the top of the window rail has an arch in it that i need to figure out how to flatten later, i cant go any lower because that will close the rocker gap at the rear of the door too much.

The inner and outer rockers are nested together with no gap between them along the strike plate area.

The hole on the A pillar is almost perfect so i don't want to shorten the A pillar.

I have the New Ft cab support clamped flat against the other body support rail

Tomorrow about the only thing i can try is to unbolt the A pillar from the floor and see if i can carefully jack the floor up about .050 and then recheck that gap at the bottom of the door. Hopefully this will be it.
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[swamp rat]

Did a little investigating, unbolted the A pillar and raised the floor up a bit, got the front of the outer rocker to come up enough to where I'll be happy with the gap at the bottom of the door, rechecked the clearance in the door jamb, looks good. I had to plug the holes on the A pillar so i can re drill, wish I had a plug coin punch to save some time. Of course this means i have to do an a couple adjustments to the inner rocker, kick panel and floor but now I'm happy and I'm going to run with it.

[rgunlock]

Sounds like persistence is paying off - glad its working out!

[swamp rat]

Not real happy with the little gap between the cab corner and rear of the rocker, not real sure if there is an easy solution or just fill it with seam sealer after all is said and done, the front of the rocker matches the front of the door pretty well.

Everything is fitted less the pie cuts on the rocker, i figured i would do them last after i have the floor, A Pillar and support welded into place.

Parts and cab are ready to be prepped for some weld primer..

[swamp rat]

Got a break from the rain and that means get after it when ya got welding to do outside..

On the truck i sand blasted the flanges for weld primer, then set up a heater under the truck and closed it off as much as possible to trap the heat, then went in the garage and did the same for the panels, then i prep sanded all the panels while waiting for temps to rise, wiped the parts clean with wax and grease remover and then sprayed weld primer on the parts and truck once they felt warm, the instructions state 70 degrees, that includes the metal, pretty sure i achieved that. I don't think it got above 55 today.

Welded in the front floor brace and the top plate then sprayed a little more weld primer on it, I have to put a slice in the outer rocker to get the outer flange to pull over to the flange on the inner kick panel where it gets spotted together, did that then called it a night.
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[swamp rat]

Got the A pillar welded on, then welded on the two lower nuts on the outer side before i realized that the two forward nuts are suppose to be on the inside, the rear two are suppose to be on the outside, oh well, don't know if i'm going to change it or leave it yet. And yes the welds holding the nuts look like crap, i was in a hurry and my legs were complaining loudly.

When i welded in the brace last night (learn from your mistakes) i didn't have it positioned exactly like it was during fit up, i had to persuade it a little but it will be fine.

[sboris]

Hey Mike, doing a fine job fitting everything. Will for sure end up better than factory.
Don't know too many that don't end up with a little seam sealer between the rocker and cab corner..

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by sboris

Hey Mike, doing a fine job fitting everything. Will for sure end up better than factory.
Don't know too many that don't end up with a little seam sealer between the rocker and cab corner..

Thanks for the encouragement Shawn its much appreciated! I have been going thru a learning curve on this one, but knowing what i should do differently will make the other side better or faster at least.

I'm sure i'll be using seam sealer but this rocker has a lot to be desired on the inner flange where the door seal go's.

[swamp rat]

Today's pictures:

Not much time spent today, decided to take a little extra time and treat myself to a steak and baked potato lunch..

I sliced it open and pulled the lip over, then i had to work the curve via stretching the metal with a hammer and dolly to get the curve to match the rest of the door jamb (Note in picture 3 how the curled lip sitting too far forward of the A Pillar by 3/16" in pic 4 it lines up properly) then made a filler.

Will tack the filler into place tomorrow, then recheck the door one last time, then fit the cab corner and tack it in place before i stitch the slice up. I'm holding off on the floor weld up until the rocker and cab corner are done just in case i missed something.

[7dee2]

Nice work Mike!

[swamp rat]

All i did today was weld up the pie slice.. Busy tomorrow so hope to get after it this weekend.

[jaros44sr]

Nice work Mike, had to do the same thing with mine. Just keep plugging away

[swamp rat]

I didn't take any pictures today, worked from 10am until 6:15, past when i couldn't see anything in the dark.

Tested the door fit one last time, got the inner kick panel welded up, then welded in the cab corner and started spot welding in the floor, got the inner rocker splice welded up on the inside so the outer rocker can go on. I'm kinda afraid to check my wire spool for fear its almost gone LOL!

I did have some trouble with the cab corner, i am assuming it was some contamination on the inside that i missed, it was spitting and spattering, first i thought i had ran out of gas, nope.. I got a wire brush on my bantam motor and cleaned it up as good as i could, it helped but as hard as i tried to get a great fit i missed the mark a bit, I got a little shrinkage but not near as bad as what i had on my gas fill door.