Project: Tow-Rat (Lil' Blue)

[6DoF]

this weekend's distraction ... painting my FIL's truck. he's had the green capper on there for years, but i installed the blue bed last year when his rotted off. old work truck bed put back on an old work truck, so only a little touch-up of the minor stuff before paint. i'm less of a body/paint guy than a sheet metal guy (have i said i hate sheet metal before?) so this was a good "test bed" for me. pun intended. taping in the sun when it's 90 n humid SUCKED, so we got up at dawn the next day to paint. wife helped mix paint and clean up though.

anyways, the 4 coats of color turned out great and matches the inside of the door jams really well! but the truck is faded b/c red truck stored outside. i also should have taken more time to adjust my spray gun, after finishing i realized i needed a taller pattern with more paint to have done a better job. needing to lay down a wetter coats. zero runs though! but you can see where i induced some orange peal in dryer spray areas. it's 1000x better than before though, and my FIL will be excited, so game on.

[daddyjeep]

I see you had the boss out there supervising. Good thing you didn't screw it up.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I see you had the boss out there supervising. Good thing you didn't screw it up.

amen

[Gregski]

love the organic paint booth, must have not been windy

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by Gregski

love the organic paint booth, must have not been windy

that's why i did it at 7:30am, the wind wasn't awake yet either.

[6DoF]

No turning back now! and this, so far, is sucking less than anticipated

so i found a pdf online of a black and white photo set and description from a magazine that said to cut out the bulk and remove each section of spot welds individually. what a world of difference this one tip has made. a buddy then said to wire-wheel the area to see all the spot welds a lot easier, again, huge win. i still have the little bit around the cab mount structure to get out, but that shouldn't be too bad.

[Tempest67]

That is dirty work, but very rewarding.

keep it going and soon that new step will be in place.

[daddyjeep]

Looks like a good time right there. Are you going to make your way down to Butler this weekend?

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

Looks like a good time right there. Are you going to make your way down to Butler this weekend?

Probably going to just work on the truck

[6DoF]

so only finished up removing metal, cleaning, and rust prep last night. this rust stuff seams LEGIT now that i'm finally getting a handle on how to use it. AutoTech Rust Prep.

this stuff ... the gallon is cheaper than the 16oz spritz bottle, so i bought my own bottle. protect your floor, it will etch the cement. i also try and keep it off my chassis since i plan to clear coat it, it will also etch any bare steel it gets on.
https://smile.amazon.com/Auto-Tech-M...0ZAOI97M&psc=1

also finally found an application method i like. i have it in a spritz bottle and mist it on, but have a rag to wipe up the drips coming off the bottom. then once the rag gets kind of saturated i use the rag to dab everything down and make sure it's in all the little spaces. once it's about half dry and the white starts to show up, i re-coat the whole thing with extra rag dabbing to help clean off the start of the white residue. after it's totally dry you have to clean all the white off with water (just a wet rag) before paint.

these pictures are not wet, that's the hard finish it leaves. it does needs the rest of the white cleaned off too.

[6DoF]

Progress! Needs some clean up once i tip the cab up, but she's solid.

[6DoF]

And got this together again!

The tailgate is gritty with dust ...

[big_dan]

It's all coming together nicely. I've got one of the SWAG brakes as well; super handy. I used it a ton fabbing frame pieces for my C- notch. All looking good - keep it up

Dan

[6DoF]

:collapse: wow, i think i have more time into fixing this damn drivers floor than i do building the chassis. a few hours Friday night, a few more Saturday, and then ALL Sunday out there working on it. it's not even done! i have to weld from the back side to finish the over-lap fit.

once things were re-stabilized with the rocker mostly welded back in and everything wasn't going to fall as far out of alignment, i started cutting out more BS. also used the body mount holding the brace along the back of the step to weld it back in before cutting out the main mount structure. really helped me line up the new bits. then to keep more warpage to a minimum i filled the old brake hole before cutting out the bulk of the mess.

started by patching the door frame and getting it prepped, then moved on to fabbing up the next filler plate. the SWAG press making quick work of it. then started a crap-ton more prep work while i rust prepped everything and got the weld-thru primer on.

[6DoF]

so after a little more trim/eyeball/trim/eyeball/over-trim ... the filler plate went in. you can also see where i extended the floor cut towards the tunnel for more bad metal along the entire factory seam. then more prep involving dry time, so i filled the holes in the rear floor, that officially go crossed off the list! and back to toiling away getting the mount structure to actually line up with the mount location. notice the slot, it was way off.

the entire cab is assembled with overlap fits and i personally think they are stronger and line up the panels better, so i went with that. it's also worked really well for floor pans in a few jeeps before. and success! holds it's own weight, rocker is level with the ground still, and i won't be flintstoneing it any time soon!

[6DoF]

for anyone interested in a little more detail, here is how i got the stamped floor ribs to nest better in the over-lap joint.

1) slice along the outside of the "spooning" rib. close to it, but up in the flat of the panel.
2) with a flat dolly of some kind, use a ball peen to hammer the rib out wider.
3) now that the panels fit snug, tack weld the seam from both sides. more hammer might be needed to perfect the fit.
4) seam seal everything in.

[youngrodder]

It always feels great to get metal repair behind you...Looks like you made some great progress.


Marc

[57FleetsideC4]

Looks like it is getting there. I am going through the same on the 57 I am doing. It is nice to get that work behind you. Steve

[6DoF]

before i can drive it i only need to prep/paint the floor under/over so that it never needs to come off the chassis again. to do that i still need to fix one small spot on the passenger side and finish welding the drivers. some winter project later it will needs cab corners at all 4 corners, and a bit in the eyebrow if/when i pull the windshield. shoot, the entire inside lower edge of the drives door is gone, there's nothing to even put a seal on. that'll have to wait til after she's on the road too.

[lower50's]

Nice work !! and yes removing and fixing rot takes forever to do it right. I use a similar spray that is called rust converter very happy with it.

[Tempest67]

great metal work, and thanks for the tip.

[6DoF]

it's crazy, with ya'll getting work done and such why do i feel like i need to apologize for not carrying my weight like i missed uploading an episode or something! keep everyone motivated ya'll

so there might have been a mini vacation in there, a little boat trip. good lord was it hot in NC.

got the passenger floor all patched, so that's checked off the list. decided to not weld the underside of the drivers side til she's tipped up, so it was time to hit some other details. just because i needed a change of pace the first thing was final welding, grease, and assembly of the carrier bearing. one more part that now just needs paint and installation!

got the interior back in so i could finalize the alignment of the new shorter steering column and build the shaft down to the steering box. seat fit great with the tunnel, but also now realizing that i'll need a fwd jog in the shifter if i hope to ever open the drivers side seat bottom at all. i hope to take it to at least the steering wheel. but with the seat putting the driver closer to the door, and the tunnel pushing the pedals out some, i re-drilled my column mount and offset it in that same direction. my vision is now centered thru the wheel at the cluster, and is much more comfortable to one-hand.

next up are is the throttle pedal fitment and getting the steering shaft heim joint support in place.

[lower50's]

Nice!! I see you have the standard safety sandals on, I'm bad for trying to do a bit of welding with them on really hurts.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Nice!! I see you have the standard safety sandals on, I'm bad for trying to do a bit of welding with them on really hurts.

my steel toed sandals became a safety poster for work when a buddy and coworker pulled a picture of me off facebook welding stair railings while building the house

[6DoF]