I have an old 77 that’s had the snot beaten out of it, poorly restored and then beaten on some more before I got it. The floor pans are rusted out and the whole truck is just parts pretty much but I would enjoy driving it around town if I could. I don’t want to weld floor pans into a truck that is destined for parting out and the scrap yard so does anyone think it’s super unsafe to putter around with it like that. The previous owner laid steel in and used self tapping screws so it’s sorta fixed. I can sit in it and safely put my feet down but definitely wouldn’t want any passengers in it. Probably wouldn’t go more than a half mile per trip (small town, 500 people).

 

I have seen rusted floor pans repaired (overlaid) with aluminum road signs, which I believe are illegal to steal now days, like felony level. And also old license plates and even 1/2" or 3/4" ply wood, cut to fit... you have a frame rail run right under there. Bolt it to it.

I want to see pics of this truck "destined for parting out and the scrap yard".

 

On the drivers side it’s not as bad but on the passenger side once you get to the door there’s no good metal to weld to or rivet on. I’m gonna save the drive train and interior but aside from that it’s junk, even the hood is bad. The fuel door and glove compartment are the only nice pieces sadly

 

Go from the part closest to the door and all the way to the trans hump. Toe kick panel to under the seat. If it so bad why waste welding rod or rivets, just use ply wood or 3/4" thick OSB and overlay it.

 

It’s literally all gone, I have floor pans but I’m not even gonna both since there’s areas where if I lay them in it doesn’t touch any metal on the sides. Sad really, I’ve got a rust free 79 f150 so I don’t really want to throw money into this one. I just want to drive to the coop to get feed supplements which is about 3 blocks. Figured someone else had driven one this bad but figured I’d ask

 

Ok so you have to post a picture of this one for sure.


I have one right now that way, I can post pics once the sun comes up.

 

I’ll grab some later, it’s bad. I had a 79 in HS that I bought for the motor since it had 41k miles but was rusted from Iowa road salt. The whole bed floor was gone, not giant rust holes but literally gone. I have long legs and I could step over the bumper and step back on to the ground or on to the rear axle.

 

My old plow truck just had a couple 2x4 on both sides going across the hole in the floorpan to put your feet on, supported by the rocker and what was left of the trans hump.. drove it around town like that for a few years before the roof peeled open. You need to make sure the seat is supported. In my truck the floor rotted out around the seat support and the seat fell through the floor when i jumped in once. A couple more 2x4's supported it for it's last couple years. The cab mounts were also missing, so i ran 2 pcs of unistrut under the cab, welded them to the frame, then made some standoffs to support it at the rockers and welded the cab to it. That truck was the most fun to drive. Step on the clutch and the whole cab lifted up like 6" before I welded it down..lol

 

Well to put it in perspective its still safer than a motorcycle! And we still ride them. The rusted floor in the truck would not be a big concern to me from a safety standpoint. Compare a solid floor Dentside to modern vehicles with air bags and engineered crumple zones, there is no comparison at all in collision safety. So comparing a Dent with a rusted floor to one without there isn't much difference. Speculating of course.
I'm assuming your seatbelts are still functional.

 

In 2009 I offered to give a still great running Subaru GL hatchback 4 speed 4wd with hi-lo transfger case to a buddy because the body had so much rust underneath, he was commuting 100 miles each way on his days off as he waited for his transfer, he was using a bull nose F250 with 460, it was eating him up. I was afraid the little Subaru was gonna drop if the termites ever stopped holding hands. I knew if he had it, he'd be looking after subframe connectors, floors. He got his transfer, then he kept the car on the road as his wife loved it. After a couple years, he and his dad were hunting, and pulled out into a roadway, and the passenger floor dropped out loose on 3 sides with his dad's feet on it, it just skidded I guess. No hurt, but he did scrap the body and moved the engine and trans into a needy "Brat" body at a junk yard.

My '77 used to have carpet and the backing, it rusted, had some maybe 3 or 4 inch across holes near the centers in my floor, I pulled it all out and used some thicker than stock metal to put together formed plating. I hammered the edges to form curves where needed using anvil and hammer I overcoated that with paint, but later redid it with bed liner. My holes were not huge, but by the time I removed the paper thin remnants, they grew. I attached the formed pieces with many 3/16 rivets into sound flooring. Later I took some old aluminum sheet and fit /formed panels for under the whole floors to protect the holes and underside of my repairs which had been undercoated, then attached my industrial bonded fiber / rubber base carpet, used long 1/4-20 ss screws and lock nuts underneath to pull it all together. Very secure now. Stronger than stock was.

 

My worry with floors that are that bad is that the cab mounts are probably just as bad. The cab starts to collapse over the frame. The clutch starts to act up, or if automatic shifting acts up. Steering binds up, that's when things get bad. You're making a turn, cab collapses, steering binds, sending you into the path of an oncoming truck.

Scrap this thing before someone gets hurt.

 

I may just use it around the farm for fencing, can’t endanger anyone that way. I think I will use it for the summer and then pull the axles and engine for spares. I haven’t fallen through the floor in it yet but I’m sure a passenger could if they weren’t careful

 

Well, after looking over the cab mounts well, if they are sound ... understand many floors rust from effects of wet carpet insulation held against the floor, but cab mounts rust from road splash with salt, etc. Most floor rust is found in the flat bottom, under your feet. Once a hole or two is created by rust, road splash from the front tires will continue to soak the insulation from below.

Cab mounts support the cab up through the vertical firewall. If you can overlap a bit of steel up over the slanted portions, you're really only looking to weather tighten the floor and support passenger feet and leg weight, maybe the Wife's purse too.

You could cut the floor out from in front of the seat to the point it starts up towards the firewall and across from center hump to door sill, make a stop sign from it even, and the cab is still gonna be supported (as long as cab mounts are sound).

My cab mounts are fine. It was just where my feet rested, that flat area, where I found some rust and it only supported my feet. Even the seats are mounted above the floor on a "table" formed with load bearing features formed in it. Feet bring snow / rain / ice / slush / salty snow melt / etc in and a lot of folks pay little attention to good floor mats.

The slanted portion was not really needed, I just got carried away. The flat are marked in yellow is where my rust was. I attached the pieces to the center hump too. It ain't going no where.

 

I had bad floor pans in this ol truck and we Fred and Barney the floor pans a little to hard at the same time.