Rust repair help needed...

[72gmcshorty]

Is there some way to fix this corner without tearing the whole side apart? Can someone tell me the order in which the sheet metal goes back together onto piece "E"? The pic is missing the inner rocker... that area on my truck is one solid piece of rust and can't tell what is what.

[1949gmc]

HEY! I recognize those crappy pictures!

'E' needs to be in place first. The inner rocker would go on next, but before welding it in solid, the pillar patch ('C') needs to be mocked up and bolted in place.

The B pillar (B) would be tough to get out without destroying the bedside, I think, because it is spot welded to the bedside. It's probably do-able, but mine was shot, so I just ripped it all apart. In the top picture, I have the pillar sheetmetal on the outside of the B pillar; this is not correct. That outer part of the patch where it has the couple of 90 degree bends actually goes under the front edge of the B pillar. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Sorry. Also, 'A' needs to be bolted in place first so as to properly attach 'B' (by both bolting B in place and by welding it). Clear as mud, right? Actually, if you buy all these pieces, you can pretty easily lay it all out like a puzzle and see how it all goes together. That and looking at everyone's pictures here helped me tremendously.

[72gmcshorty]

So, it would go inner rocker first, then "A", then "C" then "B", and then bedside over all of it... weird thing, my "B" is not bolted to "A". Not even any nuts welded to it...

[lks dcvn]

I agree with 1949gmc - on his analysis of the area.

The real key to this fixing this area is patience.

If you want to do it right and not want to beat the truck with a hammer - it will be a LOT easier if the area is opened up.

Having just gone down the road that 1949gmc has on his blazer - I will say there are a few key areas that you will need to have installed the right way or everything else will be 'off'

If I had this area opened up like the first pic - I would do the following [not sure how much rust repair experience you have - so I will go from the beginning]:

1. Before you take it apart - get plenty of 'when i get back to this area photos' and order the needed patch panels - if you need a source for one/all let us know - we can assist.
2. Bolt the top to the truck - to help body alignment
3. Replace the body mounts/bolts if they are shot - since they will dictate body sag as you do this
4. Brace the body if the rust is severe enough
5. Remove rust and remove as needed
5. Bolt/tack weld in the appropriate patches in the following order
a. Part A in your picture [this will align the torsion box and end cap [impossible to shift these parts if they are solid and present - so work off of them on a rusty truck]
b. Then I would loosely bolt Part B in based on the first picture and then using that....
c. You can build out area C which is actually the B pillar area.

When you have everything mocked up then you can take it all apart, perform rust prevention and then start welding things in place.

To answer your question about part E. It really depends on how rusty the underside of the truck is.

If the torsion box is intact - you will need to do it prior to the install of the inner rocker [as 1949gmc noted] as it will be difficult to get int there to bolt/weld it in once that is done. I did this in the passenger side of my build since the torsion box was in great shape.

If your torsion box is gone or will need replaced - I did it just before I reinstalled the torsion box - you will have a clear path to install it under the truck with that long box gone - so it really depends on what you are working with. I did this method on the driver side of my truck since the torsion box was pretty bad and I replaced it.

Give us some pix of what you are working with and we can provide more in depth assistance, if needed.

Good luck!

[72gmcshorty]

heres what i have, torsion box is solid, the "a" and "b" pieces have rusted at the bottom and my "e" piece is solid but has those bolts on the inside.

[lks dcvn]

That looks pretty solid actually.

To get to those bolts on part E you will need to remove the torsion box end cap and then use an air tool with a deep socket to get to those bolts from the rear of the torsion box.

Or (if you were going to rebuild that area anyway) you could just grind the bolts off that are on the inner rocker and then put new bolts/nuts back on when you get done. However, that piece [E] is also welded to the floor step up area so just taking those bolts out will not allow you to just remove piece E.

Here is a pic from www.gmcpauls.com site that shows these pieces as well. Note that in this pic the captive nuts are welded to the inside of the inner rocker/cab support piece [E] and not the stock way as noted in your pictures.

Note the spot welds holding it to the floor.

[72gmcshorty]

Is this the piece labeled "E"? If not, where does it go?

[lks dcvn]

that would be it [piece E].

[72gmcshorty]

All right, got the pieces out now have to buy/make a couple of patches...

[72gmcshorty]

one more

[1949gmc]

How does the rest of that inner rocker look? Is it going to be replaced, too? From the pics, it looks like a pretty straightforward repair... not too complicated. Are you going to treat the surface rust to some por 15 or rust bullet? I would strongly recommend it... keep that rust from getting any further out of hand. Like lks dcvn said, be patient here... and mock it up before you weld it all together. You'll be glad you did.

[lks dcvn]

That looks pretty clean! I wish mine looked that good.

If the rest of the metal on those spots are solid - I would just patch them and then move on.

I would however - get rid of all the surface rust that you can and treat the metal you can get to with POR15, Rust Bullet, etc. to slow down the rust damage like 1949gmc said.

These parts will all be hidden when the outer rocker/rear front quarter is installed, but keeping the rust at bay on these spots will make any future work that much easier.

[72gmcshorty]

i do plan on putting on some kind of rust paint. Not too sure how i'm going to get into the torsion box yet. The inner rocker is pretty solid so i think i'll leave it. Even though removing it would make it alot easy to paint the torsion box. What do you guys use to remove the scale/rust in all these hard to reach areas?

[1949gmc]

My tools of choice to remove that rust were a 36 grit flap disc on a 4 1/2 grinder and a variety of smaller discs on a right angle grinder. I used a blow gun to get all the dirt and dust out then a 3" paint roller to put the POR 15 in. You might be able to use a roller like that on a small pole thru the torsion box end cap hole. Just a a thought.

[1972 Banana]

Who is the better suplier of the parts? I am going to need B for sure but still need to cut out the back half to see!Can someone post a link to part B? I was planning on using my little sand blaster to clean out the rust in the rocker box, is this ok or should I sand/wire brush it?

Thanks