jwmyers23 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Lets see your fixes rust around a body mount Rusted drivers side Rusted pass side How do I fix this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Are pics loading or didnt you fix the rocker panel rust? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1994SEV6 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Are pics loading or didnt you fix the rocker panel rust? He asked how he should fix it. WOW!!! That's some amazing work. That frame is probably the worst I've ever seen and now it looks new again!! That's some magic right there. How did you do that? Some 3/8 sheet metal wrapped around the old frame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Missed that. You can cut it out and weld or fill the rocker with foam sealer then bondo over the hole. Both ways have been done by members. If you weld it, do not try too run a Bead- simply tack it then grind smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) Chop out the bad stuff, chop a new section out of a junker, weld it up? With a little grinding/putty you could get it looking right again. How's the spot under your rear seats? If it's holey too, might as well cut both patches at the same time. Your rust makes me feel much better about mine! Before/after (different sides, same deal): Left this alone until I can weld it myself: Rear floor (don't have a before pic, but I could put my fist through it): Edited December 2, 2011 by Slartibartfast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJSquirrel Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Completed the frame rust repair on the passenger side frame rail. Rusted out all the way from the front upper suspension mount to past the front door! I need to rebuild the 2nd passenger side body mount and prep it all for paint before I put it all back together, and rotate the whole mess around so I can work on the drivers side next. I need a new bottle of Argon! Ospho and Hammerite are my bestest buddies these days... As you all can see, the rail is completely trashed. It was literally full of rust as I started to open it up. I picked up this Hardbody to be my winter beater, but I didn't realize how beat it was when I got it. Thank goodness it hasn't started snowing here in Chicago yet. The passenger rail was completely rotted out from the upper suspension mount all the way to past the door. I had to cut out the rust on the side of the frame, and on the bottom where it had rusted out. The entire side and much of the bottom is new between the suspension mount and body mount. Beyond that, I cut out old frame rust until it was about even with the center of the holes on the sides of the rails. The last photos show it treated with Ospho so it won't rust until I can get more Argon and grinding wheels, and get back at it next weekend. I put 20+' of bead down. I bought a 4x4' sheet of 1/8" sheet. I had to recreate large portions of the frame. I'd say the repair is about 6' long from start to finish. I was able to cut out all the rust and get to solid steel, but every once in a while I'd hit a thin or weak spot and blow holes where only a 1/4" away things are solid. Chalk it up to bad technique, but even as I was getting the feel of everthing, I don't think it was all operator error. I could see up into the bottom of the rail to make sure I wasn't just welding into rust, so the corrosion/contamination is within the steel itself. It really does give credence to the assertions that frames on 95s are garbage metal. As you all can see, I'm not a master welder, not by a long shot. I got a lot better from the start of this project to the end. I compensated for my lack of welding skill with lots of time on the grinder, grinding the welds flush to anneal the metal, and to locate any areas with poor fusion, so they can be ground out and rewelded. All the patches are butt welding into place. Fitting the pieces into place was tedious to the point of being maddening. If any of you all attempt a project like this, all I can say is that tightly fitted and properly prepared (clean, and beveled) joints greatly increase your success in getting complete fusion. Thank goodness I have a 220V Mig welder, a plasma cutter, lots of clamps, lots of grinding wheels, an anvil and several BFHs. The work you see is about 7 full days of work time, mostly on patch fabrication, and weld grinding. There is still much work to do before its ready for paint. Added Photos: Before: After much cutting and welding and grinding: After much more grinding, and cutting out and rewelding areas with incomplete fusion. It needs more work on the bottom of the rail still, but I am out of Argon and grinding wheels... I wonder if Airgas has a cyber monday deal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwmyers23 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Chop out the bad stuff, chop a new section out of a junker, weld it up? With a little grinding/putty you could get it looking right again. How's the spot under your rear seats? If it's holey too, might as well cut both patches at the same time. Your rust makes me feel much better about mine! Before/after (different sides, same deal): Left this alone until I can weld it myself: Rear floor (don't have a before pic, but I could put my fist through it): Under the rear pass. seat and the floor board were both rusted out. I don't have any pics of the fix yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 wow dude. that frame is the worst I have seen. good job there with that. Really quite the transformation! Should get a few winters out of that beater now I would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 After looking at those pics all I can say is I'm damn glad I live in So Cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Rear seat area. Before: Truck floor by sewebster, on Flickr After: Floor welded by sewebster, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Nice rust! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejin4499 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 After looking at those pics all I can say is I'm damn glad I live in So Cal I live in Nor cal but Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reshma Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I live in Nor cal but I live in NY but...wait...damn.. :[ Sad news guys, she has just been diagnosed with a rare form of rear frame rust cancer that only seems to affect trucks in the salt belt states. I wonder why... Oh well, in other news, the frame is solid and she runs like a champ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwmyers23 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 WOW!!! That's some amazing work. That frame is probably the worst I've ever seen and now it looks new again!! That's some magic right there. How did you do that? Some 3/8 sheet metal wrapped around the old frame? I cut out the frame rail top to bottom and from the body mount by the rear doors all the way out the back. I used 10 gauge steel to make the patches and welded them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwmyers23 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 Here is the passenger side frame with the patches not welded in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RF600 Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I'm sure most of you know that frames don't like angles cut in them. That is why the holes in frames are round. Just be careful if you are just patching in a small section in the middle of the frame rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I'm sure most of you know that frames don't like angles cut in them. That is why the holes in frames are round. Just be careful if you are just patching in a small section in the middle of the frame rail. Because of stress concentration? Given the condition of some of these frames before repair... probably that is a small worry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RF600 Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Because of stress concentration? Given the condition of some of these frames before repair... probably that is a small worry! True. Better solid than rusted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmcgawain Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I have hope for the floor board repairs now! My rear seats have rust almost this bad. I can definately see the ground under them. Now I just need a welder and free time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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