'65 Longbox repair
#16
11-26-2011, 08:55 PM
I would have got some more done last weekend but my buddy closed the shop to go deer hunting. He only closes a few days a year, so I let him off this time, heh. I did spend the day fixing my snowblower. Its old and rusty just like my truck! I think from the model and serial number on it, its an Ariens from circa 1977. Still works great, and makes the new ones look like toys, just not idiot proof like the new ones... I did get alot of work done this weekend though. Lots of decision making, and trying to figure out the best way to do this.
Getting back to this as I had to take this stuff off today. I hit them with some PB Blaster, which is some great stuff, this morning. The bolts and mounts on the lower tailgate hinge were screwed anyway, so we just broke them with a 3' breaker bar to get them apart. I have to fab a new plate anyway for these, so no real loss there. The upper bolts for the tailgate support came loose with no drama with the impact. The Phillips screws that hold the latch on were a pain the butt though. One came loose with the screwdriver, the other 3 required some heat. I just heated them up with a welding tip on the torch until they are just about to melt, let them slow cool, and then they came out like they were brand new. Both me and my buddy Rodger couldn't believe it. I figured it was going to be a drill the bolt out situation for sure.
Some pics... (thread is worthless without pics right?)
Started out here before my buddy Rodger showed up. Not in horrible shape and was an easy fix.
New piece in, welded, etc. Does need some grinder work, which I will hit when I have some spare time, and Im working solo.
This is the start of the roll pan/box corner area. I did cut the tailgate post down 2 1/2" to get into some good clean metal.
No turning back after cutting off the entire lower corner. I have my work cut out for me. Not difficult, but many steps to get it done correctly.
I added a 1x2x1/8 C channel to the underside of the roll panel. It also goes through the roll pan to attach to the tailgate pillars inside. This should make everything better than new. I was worried that the new pan by itself would not be strong enough. It is after all, a truck. I will haul stuff, and it will get abused at times.
This is roughly where the new roll pan will set. I need to add in some new 16g to the end of the tailgate pillars to flush them with the roll pan. I also need to 45 off the ends of the roll pan so they dont hit the new box corners. They are marked and ready to cut.
New body panels for the side of the box! I can bend pretty much anything that has a straight bend on it, as I bent the roll pan, and inside repair pieces. Gayel went all out on these for me. The profile is just about perfect, just a little under bent, so everything goes together with a little outward spring. Will be quite awhile before I put these on, as its the last step, but its good to know I have everything I need to finish the box now, or at least my wife hopes I do...
I skipped a bunch of pics. Link to those in order here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...91942935866306
Its going better than expected to be honest. Some snags, and issues, but nothing that wont work out. My biggest fear is that I will weld myself into a corner, need to fix something, and wont be able to get at it.
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One thing I noticed earlier in the pics...that the tailgate hinges and hardware are all still on...I would remove it all and lube the heck out of those threads...dont use WD40...it eventually rusts things together...I learned that the hard way on my tailgate hardware...of which I still havent removed the leftover bolt where the heads sheared off....use some anti seize stuff on the threads once everything is all cleaned up...
- cs65
- cs65
Some pics... (thread is worthless without pics right?)
Started out here before my buddy Rodger showed up. Not in horrible shape and was an easy fix.
New piece in, welded, etc. Does need some grinder work, which I will hit when I have some spare time, and Im working solo.
This is the start of the roll pan/box corner area. I did cut the tailgate post down 2 1/2" to get into some good clean metal.
No turning back after cutting off the entire lower corner. I have my work cut out for me. Not difficult, but many steps to get it done correctly.
I added a 1x2x1/8 C channel to the underside of the roll panel. It also goes through the roll pan to attach to the tailgate pillars inside. This should make everything better than new. I was worried that the new pan by itself would not be strong enough. It is after all, a truck. I will haul stuff, and it will get abused at times.
This is roughly where the new roll pan will set. I need to add in some new 16g to the end of the tailgate pillars to flush them with the roll pan. I also need to 45 off the ends of the roll pan so they dont hit the new box corners. They are marked and ready to cut.
New body panels for the side of the box! I can bend pretty much anything that has a straight bend on it, as I bent the roll pan, and inside repair pieces. Gayel went all out on these for me. The profile is just about perfect, just a little under bent, so everything goes together with a little outward spring. Will be quite awhile before I put these on, as its the last step, but its good to know I have everything I need to finish the box now, or at least my wife hopes I do...
I skipped a bunch of pics. Link to those in order here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...91942935866306
Its going better than expected to be honest. Some snags, and issues, but nothing that wont work out. My biggest fear is that I will weld myself into a corner, need to fix something, and wont be able to get at it.
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</td></tr></tbody></table>
#17
11-27-2011, 11:16 AM
#18
12-03-2011, 11:43 PM
Slow day at the office today. Spent alot of time looking for and welding in little pinholes throughout the box. I did finish up the front box corner that I started last weekend.
Just a quick cut and cleanup operation here. I welded in small patches from both the front and back.
All cleaned up and ready for a little filler, and paint.
Thats it for this weekend. Hopefully next weekend I will get into the rear roll pan a little more. Still need to fix a few more pin holes here and there as they pop up.
Just a quick cut and cleanup operation here. I welded in small patches from both the front and back.
All cleaned up and ready for a little filler, and paint.
Thats it for this weekend. Hopefully next weekend I will get into the rear roll pan a little more. Still need to fix a few more pin holes here and there as they pop up.
#20
12-18-2011, 04:29 PM
Heya gents!
Been a couple of weeks since I played show and tell. Was going to post some pics last week but my battery died, and the camera decided not to record my pics. I did get the roll pan welded in, and I will take some pics of that next weekend when I get to work.
I spent this weekend filling pinholes, or making little holes into bigger ones as I like to call it.
Holes in upper rail on bed on drivers side. This side was horrible. The passengers side was in good shape. I figure there was about 100 or so pinholes between the upper rail and inner panel. Anywhere its shiny and circled with a blue Sharpie, there were holes.
Snapshot of a few of the holes... I use my wire wheel to remove some of the metal around the holes to get a better idea of how big they are and how solid the metal is. Thats why some of them just look like they are pushed in. Takes a pinhole and makes it the size of a pencil eraser.
Welding shot by my son Caleb. I had to caution him about looking at the arc. You can see the bottle of Windex at hand which is actually just water. I use it for temp control while welding, and wetting my left hand glove down when it gets too hot.
A quick example of how I fixed all the little holes. The welds look really bad because of scale and rust bubbling through from the backside where its near impossible to cleanup with a wire wheel or grinder before hand.
Holes welded shut, and cleaned up. Took me about 5 hours to do this one rail. Still need to cleanup the welds on the inner panel. Thats a job for next weekend.
Thats it for this week. I absolutely have to get all the pin holes done before I can move on. Once I put the cross members in, and the lower replacement sections, it will get alot more difficult to fix this stuff. The only real pain in the butt thing I have left to fix is the wheel arches thankfully.
Been a couple of weeks since I played show and tell. Was going to post some pics last week but my battery died, and the camera decided not to record my pics. I did get the roll pan welded in, and I will take some pics of that next weekend when I get to work.
I spent this weekend filling pinholes, or making little holes into bigger ones as I like to call it.
Holes in upper rail on bed on drivers side. This side was horrible. The passengers side was in good shape. I figure there was about 100 or so pinholes between the upper rail and inner panel. Anywhere its shiny and circled with a blue Sharpie, there were holes.
Snapshot of a few of the holes... I use my wire wheel to remove some of the metal around the holes to get a better idea of how big they are and how solid the metal is. Thats why some of them just look like they are pushed in. Takes a pinhole and makes it the size of a pencil eraser.
Welding shot by my son Caleb. I had to caution him about looking at the arc. You can see the bottle of Windex at hand which is actually just water. I use it for temp control while welding, and wetting my left hand glove down when it gets too hot.
A quick example of how I fixed all the little holes. The welds look really bad because of scale and rust bubbling through from the backside where its near impossible to cleanup with a wire wheel or grinder before hand.
Holes welded shut, and cleaned up. Took me about 5 hours to do this one rail. Still need to cleanup the welds on the inner panel. Thats a job for next weekend.
Thats it for this week. I absolutely have to get all the pin holes done before I can move on. Once I put the cross members in, and the lower replacement sections, it will get alot more difficult to fix this stuff. The only real pain in the butt thing I have left to fix is the wheel arches thankfully.
#21
12-19-2011, 11:30 AM
I found the pics I was missing. I dumped the pics in the general pictures folder I have setup.
Roll pan clamped in and spread to hold it at a true 90 degrees before welding.
3 big spotwelds per side. I did end up adding 3 more down the front edge as well. I dont want this breaking loose on me.
Inner wall replacemen<wbr>t pieces. All ready to go in. You can see the crimp in the top edge to slide under the existing metal and make it easy to weld on.
I have a few more pics in the Web Album starting here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...90269168627282
Roll pan clamped in and spread to hold it at a true 90 degrees before welding.
3 big spotwelds per side. I did end up adding 3 more down the front edge as well. I dont want this breaking loose on me.
Inner wall replacemen<wbr>t pieces. All ready to go in. You can see the crimp in the top edge to slide under the existing metal and make it easy to weld on.
I have a few more pics in the Web Album starting here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...90269168627282
#22
01-09-2012, 08:26 AM
Been a couple of weeks since I got anything done. The holidays were killer this year and I had bronchitis for 3 weeks. Back to back 5 day weekends courtesy of my company and vacation days that had to be used up before the end of the year, but I got nothing done. I did get into the shop on Saturday though and finished a few things.
All holes on the lower rail welded shut and ground smooth. The others look about the same, but the profile was a bit harder to get right. Its inside the box and will get covered with spray bed liner, so its good enough for now.
Center stake pocket broke loose. Pretty easy fix. I thought about doing away with the stake pockets all together, but I think I will just look for some rubber covers for the holes after everything is painted.
Drivers side rear box corner. This shot shows how bad the alignment is. I havent quite figured out how to fix this yet, but I think welding a piece of angle iron to the top of the bed rail and clamping/p<wbr>ulling it back into alignment will be in order on this.
Front of box drivers side. This is all broken loose. It looks worse than it originally was because I cut/ground all the old weld out. Pretty simple fix. The drivers side needs some attention too, but is alot better.
Thats it for this week. I plan on hitting it hard next weekend. I have to fill all the trim holes on the outside of the box, but those will be simple. Otherwise, 95% of the little pinholes are welded shut on the box finally.
Once I have those done, then I can hopefully get the box corners and front solid again. The only really challenging thing I have left is the getting the rear bottom corners back together, which includes rebuilding the tailgate mount.
All holes on the lower rail welded shut and ground smooth. The others look about the same, but the profile was a bit harder to get right. Its inside the box and will get covered with spray bed liner, so its good enough for now.
Center stake pocket broke loose. Pretty easy fix. I thought about doing away with the stake pockets all together, but I think I will just look for some rubber covers for the holes after everything is painted.
Drivers side rear box corner. This shot shows how bad the alignment is. I havent quite figured out how to fix this yet, but I think welding a piece of angle iron to the top of the bed rail and clamping/p<wbr>ulling it back into alignment will be in order on this.
Front of box drivers side. This is all broken loose. It looks worse than it originally was because I cut/ground all the old weld out. Pretty simple fix. The drivers side needs some attention too, but is alot better.
Thats it for this week. I plan on hitting it hard next weekend. I have to fill all the trim holes on the outside of the box, but those will be simple. Otherwise, 95% of the little pinholes are welded shut on the box finally.
Once I have those done, then I can hopefully get the box corners and front solid again. The only really challenging thing I have left is the getting the rear bottom corners back together, which includes rebuilding the tailgate mount.
#23
01-09-2012, 08:50 AM
#24
01-15-2012, 12:53 PM
Another Saturday, a little more done.
Got a bunch of stuff done. Amazing what I can get done when I dont have my son in the shop with me all day.
Took a few pics, but was working fast, so I missed a few.
I used a pair of clamps to draw the back wall of the box back into place. Did pretty much the same thing on the passenger side. After this, it was just a quick weld/grind/finish thing.
This is how I got the rear drivers corner back in place. A piece of 3/8" on the outside with a clamp to get it flush. And a small C clamp on the inside to pull it back into place. You cant see the end of the C clamp, but I had to remove the little handle, and weld a 3/4" nut on so I could turn the clamp. There just was not enough room to turn the handle.
Got a bunch of stuff done. Amazing what I can get done when I dont have my son in the shop with me all day.
Took a few pics, but was working fast, so I missed a few.
I used a pair of clamps to draw the back wall of the box back into place. Did pretty much the same thing on the passenger side. After this, it was just a quick weld/grind/finish thing.
This is how I got the rear drivers corner back in place. A piece of 3/8" on the outside with a clamp to get it flush. And a small C clamp on the inside to pull it back into place. You cant see the end of the C clamp, but I had to remove the little handle, and weld a 3/4" nut on so I could turn the clamp. There just was not enough room to turn the handle.
#25
01-15-2012, 01:04 PM
And a few more...
After pulling everything back into place, a bunch of tack welds to hold everything in place before I weld the seam solid which will permanentl<wbr>y fix the issue.
On both sides I stayed away from where the lower box skin and the upper rail meet. Its just too much of a hassle to clean the welds up in that little corner. That can be addressed when I worry about the body work. I do not want the seams to show anyway, so welding then shut, and grinding them a touch hollow is a good start. I forgot to take a picture after grinding. Ill catch that next weekend.
A few cracks in the top of the drivers side bed post...
After welding... Didnt take any pics after grinding in this area either.
Example of the 50 or so holes drilled in the outside of the upper rail for trim mount bolts (small hole) and whatever the big holes were drilled for way back when.
Holes welded shut. The bigger holes were about 7/16" wide, so laying the beads with the welder was a bit of a challenge.
Drivers side all cleaned up. The holes were ground slightly hollow to allow for a light coat of filler. I still have to do I little touch up on the inside of the box where the holes are visable from inside. A quick run over with a die grinder with a small cutoff wheel and then with the die grinder with a sanding disk will finish that.
Also fixed all the stake pockets, which I didnt take any pics of, and pretty much figured out my replacement piece for the rear corners where the lower tail gate mounts are.
A few more pics starting here in my album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...62053721953442
I am hoping to have the box 95% ready by the end of January. At this point I just need to get the frame in the bottom of the box, weld in the side walls, and finish the rear corners.
After pulling everything back into place, a bunch of tack welds to hold everything in place before I weld the seam solid which will permanentl<wbr>y fix the issue.
On both sides I stayed away from where the lower box skin and the upper rail meet. Its just too much of a hassle to clean the welds up in that little corner. That can be addressed when I worry about the body work. I do not want the seams to show anyway, so welding then shut, and grinding them a touch hollow is a good start. I forgot to take a picture after grinding. Ill catch that next weekend.
A few cracks in the top of the drivers side bed post...
After welding... Didnt take any pics after grinding in this area either.
Example of the 50 or so holes drilled in the outside of the upper rail for trim mount bolts (small hole) and whatever the big holes were drilled for way back when.
Holes welded shut. The bigger holes were about 7/16" wide, so laying the beads with the welder was a bit of a challenge.
Drivers side all cleaned up. The holes were ground slightly hollow to allow for a light coat of filler. I still have to do I little touch up on the inside of the box where the holes are visable from inside. A quick run over with a die grinder with a small cutoff wheel and then with the die grinder with a sanding disk will finish that.
Also fixed all the stake pockets, which I didnt take any pics of, and pretty much figured out my replacement piece for the rear corners where the lower tail gate mounts are.
A few more pics starting here in my album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1081911...62053721953442
I am hoping to have the box 95% ready by the end of January. At this point I just need to get the frame in the bottom of the box, weld in the side walls, and finish the rear corners.
#27
01-15-2012, 08:06 PM
#29
01-16-2012, 11:14 AM
