hey guys/girls
I am in the process of doing some body work on my 77 f150 ranger and i need to fix a couple of holes that have rusted through on the old bed. I was wondering how i would go about this. I am not a BONDO guy and never have been so a filler is out of the question. about the only filler i have ever used was lead on my old 54 belair 2door hard top. and it turned out great. (My father taught me how to lead it up and look good. I am thinking about cutting the section out and using a piece of steel to weld in there but i am not sure. The junk yard had a old bed that was t-boned on the oppisite side and i am thinking of going there and using a body saw to cut some of the fender out that. I will need and just welding it in there. would that be the prefered method since all the body contures would already be formed? if not can yall lead me to a good site that would explain in detail on how to do this its really buggin me and i need to get this done while i still have my sanity and hair. Also i need to fix the roof as the previous owner decided to put a sunroof in there and used aout 5 gallons of rtv to stop it from leaking it looks horrible and almost the entire top of the roof is covered with silicone. i am thinking of mabye toing a sliding rag top or just taking the cab off and doing a weld job there. the only welder i have is a mig and a arc no tig as it is off getting rewound. what would yall do? thanks for your help and i am looking forward to gettting this build finished.

 

buggin me and i need to get this done while i still have my sanity and hair. Also i need to fix the roof as the previous owner decided to put a sunroof in there and used aout 5 gallons of rtv to stop it from leaking it looks horrible and almost the entire top of the roof is covered with silicone. i am thinking of mabye toing a sliding rag top or just taking the cab off and doing a weld job there. the only welder i have is a mig and a arc no tig as it is off getting rewound. what would yall do? thanks for your help and i am looking forward to gettting this build finished.[/QUOTE]

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I remember back in 76 my friend bought a fairly new Ford with a bubble top on it. I think it looked so weird !!! If I were you, I'd go to the junk yard and cut the top off a cab and bring it home. It sounds to me that you know how to weld. And I like your idea of using lead. I'm an old plumber and I've used a ton of that stuff. I did see a bed floor repair patch in a parts book. Maybe that would be less work than cutting out a piece. My truck has the standard cancer around the rear wheel wells. Maybe I should do the same thing you are doing.

Hope this helps

LeRoy