well in my usual fashion i am "researching" things way ahead of time before getting to the point of actually doing it . i was wondering , since i have no experience with wire welders of any kind , and am completely horrid at body work , if any one has used any of the new "glue" bonding agents to put body patch panels on . i have to do the left front cab corner , both outer rear cab corners, two small holes in the inner rear , and the left inner rocker panel and from what i've seen and read these bonding agents are stronger than welding , and will last forever , and might just be the way to go for this cub bear with boxing gloves on . so does it work well , and easily ? all opinions are needed to help me form my path fella's and gals !! i can however see me gluing my hands or body parts permanently together or to the truck ........................

 

Hey Kev, once everything gets straightened out with my housing situation I,ll be happy to help ya. I have me a nice welder with gas, I'm sure that would be just as good as gluing it together lol...

 

I use them extensively and they do work very well. For regular panel bonding I prefer 3M 08115 Panel Bonding Adhesive. You will need to buy a special gun to use these cartridges, don't pay a fortune for one with "3M" on it if you don't have to...they are available on ebay for much less. There are a full range of adhesives and seam sealers available, none dry so fast that you need to worry about gluing your body parts together. Depending on the size of the panel, you will need to leave an overlapping flange around the edge to hold the adhesive...I use about a 1 inch flange on large panels. You may also want to invest in a flanging tool.

 

A picture is worth more than a paragraph so here's a pic of the bed that I am building this week. The truck frame is notched and so the bed floor must be raised a couple of inches so that the top of the differential does not hit the bed floor. The 2x2 box steel section at the front of the bed is bonded to the header panel with structural adhesive...you may be able to see a black line where the new steel meets the sheetmetal on the bed. This is a great application for structural adhesive because there is a lot of surface area on which to apply the adhesive and because the existing bed metal is so much lighter weight than the new 2x2 steel, it would have been a PITA to weld.

 

I never tried bonding material, but me thinks welding might last longer and withstand the road wear...

 

The only reservation I have is over the long term. The adhesives haven't been around long enough to know if they will last 10 or 20 years and still hold well. We assume they will, but like asbestosis, it was the greatest thing in the world until it was too late and then we found it not so good.

 

Larry, you will be surprised to know that structural adhesives have been used for decades, first in the aerospace industry and later the automotive industry. For instance, trucks built in Japan are painted as a whole but the bed is boxed up and shipped unassembled. When received at the port of entry, the bed panels are uncrated and the sides/floor/header panels are bonded together and the bed is then installed on the truck. This process has been in place since the 80's. I don't recall ever hearing about a Nissan or Toyota truck bed ever coming apart.

low54...how many times have you seen spot welds fail or over time rust through? Welding stresses and embrittles the metal. Just because we have done it for years doesn't mean that it is the best solution.

Don't take my word for it, do your own research. The 3M Panel Adhesive is certified by the OEMs...if Ford, GM, etc. stand by the product then you can rest assured that it does the job.

 

ed i may take you up on that so beware !!!!!!!!!! but the rest of you thanx for the opinions and info . charlie i think you have persuaded me to see how pricey it is and experiment on my 95 bird as it has a couple of spots that ed was gonna fix for me , but it might be the perfect guinea pig !!!!!!!!!!! i just need to find out what will act as a solvent / releasing agent as you guys have no idea how clumsy i can be , and i'm a walking zombie most of the time , so i could very well end "bonded to my bessie " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The retail price of the adhesive is around $45 but you can find it on ebay for about half that price. You should be able to find the "gun" for about $30. 3M 08115 sets up in 45 minutes...that should be more than enough time to get your fingers disentangled from any panel that you may be working on. Lacquer thinner or acetone makes short work of the uncured adhesive but once it sets nothing that I have found will touch it. You can sand it, grind it, paint it...what you can't do is get it to release once it's cured. Good luck...btw, Kevin Tetz (the guy who does the body/paint work on Trucks!) has some good videos out that demonstrate how to use structural adhesive. One I watched showed how he welded one side of a Mustang's rear quarters and bonded the other side...good to see the pros/cons of each technique when employed on the same car by the same person.