Accessing Inside of Rear Quarters

[argonaut]

How do I get access to the space between the inner and outer rear quarter sheet metal? Do the rear inner wheel wells come out? I haven't tried taking anything apart yet but I don't see any obvious method of access on the suburban.

[65chevysub]

I access mine through the 6x9 speaker holes in the rear panels, or the hard way to do it, is to remove the side windows and get to them through the opening below the glass. I have thinking of using the expanding foam in the panels to use as a sound deadener. Good Luck

[rossboss]

Removing the tail light and using a flashlight will give you a pretty good look inside but as far as accessing it, that's a different story.

[argonaut]

My concern is about built up dirt, crud, moisture at the bottom of those rear quarter panels. I know that this stuff likes to collect in the bottom of the front fenders, doors and rockers so thought it might have also snuck behind these rear panels and be rotting things away from the inside. Maybe I just have to bore access holes though the bottom of the inner panels in front and behind the rear wheel?

[Captainfab]

This is what I would do. The buildup of dirt and such between the inner and outer can and will lead to rust through

Originally Posted by argonaut

My concern is about built up dirt, crud, moisture at the bottom of those rear quarter panels. I know that this stuff likes to collect in the bottom of the front fenders, doors and rockers so thought it might have also snuck behind these rear panels and be rotting things away from the inside. Maybe I just have to bore access holes though the bottom of the inner panels in front and behind the rear wheel?

[gostranger]

I would drill holes on the inside bottom of the quarter under the floor and use undercoating plugs after you cleanout or spray some sort of rust stopper in there that will help a lot!!

[60-66]

Argonaut , I had the same concern and issue on my 66 Panel. I just removed the taillight assembly and pressure washed all the dirt out of the inside quarters . Little tough reaching the front but water eventually came out clean. Had to do this to the doors in front also. I do this to many of my trucks and it helps preserve them. I usually like to put some type of oil then inside to stop the rust . Where I live these vehicle seem to never stop rusting so drying them out is a must.

[65chevysub]

There are 2 n the rear quarter behind the wheel, on each side that should be able to drain any water out of it. They look like half moons. I'd take pictures, but I can't get anything to upload to the site.

[65chevysub]

Originally Posted by 65chevysub

There are 2 drain holes in the rear quarter behind the wheel, on each side that should be able to drain any water out of it. They look like half moons. I'd take pictures, but I can't get anything to upload to the site.

This was supposed to say 2 drain holes. My laptop doesn't like to put all the letters in sometimes

[padresag]

there are right in the rear corner; there are like a square section which brings the corner together. they need drain holes as I have taken a few apart; there appears to be none.
looking at the picture is is rounded on one corner where it follows the curve at the corner.



ron

[argonaut]

Thanks guys! I think I'll go ahead and remove the taillights first, as suggested and try to see what I'm dealing with. Then I'll probably try a power washer first. My sub isn't too terribly rusted but it does have some. if pressure washing doesn't work I'll be forced to neatly cut some additional holes.

[hemifalcon]

You'll be well served removing the tail light assemblies and getting a good light to illuminate the inner cavity between the inner wall and quarter panel. There WILL be plenty of dirt and debris inside there--
Also--there are drain holes in the bottom of the quarters/rockers from front to rear which will assuredly be clogged with dirt/rust/junk (mice). I cleared mine out having a long nozzle air gun extended through the tail light mount area to agitate and loose all the dust/dirt. I also used the compressed air to loosen up the dirt directly through the drain holes.. Have a skinny screw driver or metal rod (clothing hanger) to reach in and loosen up the junk. There are also plastic plugs behind the rear bumper at the very rear of the quarter panel that you'll want to remove to gain access as well--
You'll most certainly be making a mess during this process and will want to have a well-ventilated space (outside) to make said mess. Depending on how bad rust or the spot weld surfaces are secured tight or loosely fitting--more junk can be inside there.
I personally would not want to use the pressure washer as you're only introducing more moisture to initiate the corrosion process.
have fun!

[argonaut]

I did have a look through the taillight cavities last weekend. Some dirt buildup in the area rear of the wheelwell but not too bad. I couldn't see the area in front of the wheel well. How can I get at that area?? I see no way to do it.

Seems they should have made the rear wheel wells removeable, which would provide nice and easy access to maintaining and cleaning this space.

[Ratpin]

My drivers side rear quarters are really easy to get to the inside since they have rusted open on the outside. On the passenger side I used air while banging on the inside of the panel with a mallet. If you have some spare brake line laying around you can make nice custom shaped air wands that can be attached to a vacula style air gun with a piece of rubber fuel hose. These come in really handy when cleaning out rockers and hard to access areas on old cars.

I just ordered the patch panels for mu burbs quarters from banana this week. I'll take some pictures while I repair them.

The areas pictured above are worse on my burb than those in the picture. This looks like a pretty difficult area to repair while still on the truck. I may just cut out the bottoms. I really see no reason they need to be closed off. Since it will just collect cap again.

[3 On Da Tree]

See if you can rent or find a plumber who has one of these camera's.

Then you can see way down inside the cavity

[notsolo]

I made a long wand extension for my air hose and stuck it and a vacuum hose in thru tail lite hole and back up lite hole, cleaned the majority of crap out.