JD Cruiser's 1981 BJ42 Body Repair & Restoration (2 Viewers)

[JDCruiser]

Hell all,
An update.... I decided, based on some good feedback on mud, to remove the quarter panels. The way the guy did the body work for the PO by just layering another panel over top of the quarters is just bad and is several years I will be just fighting the rot again that formed between the 2 panels. So I spent some time today cutting out the driver side quarter. Decided cut just below the flange seam to the top rail. Not sure yet how I will separate at the top as there are now 2 panels. I spent a good amount of time cutting out the rear corner which is the most complex. I still have a lot of work to do there. Took me a couple of hours to separate the quarter panel skin from the rear sill. The guy that did work for the PO hacked and slashed patching plates in there as well as smeared as much as a half of an inch of bondo. I made good use of my spot weld cutter, finding I burn through the tips pretty quick. Worked well for separating the sill from the quarter and the door opening uprights which is the current area that I am at right now. The sill and the uprights are salvageable but will need some good application of rust bullet to stop the cancer. I have a small section of the sill outer panel to repair, right where it joins the quarter panel. Will need to put in a small patch panel. Below are some pics of the progress.

 

[JDCruiser]

Hello all,
After removing the rest of the Driver quarter panel and starting on removing the Passenger side, I took a step back from my truck, cracked a couple of cold ones and starred at it for awhile thinking am I going down the right path. Especially now with the discovery that my mid channel body mounts now need to be replaced, the quarters are shot, and likely the front body mounts and their body side connections are rotten too, I am really wondering should I be doing a Frame off??? I started out trying to do this truck as a frame on because I figured I could get access to all the stuff that needs to be replaced and wanted to miminize the risk of it fitting back together. Those benefits outweighted the additional work to remove the body off the frame and the benefit of being able to completely do the frame correctly (rear is rotten but mid to front is ok). I am now reconsidering this decision. Any input on the decision process for Frame on vs Fame off Repair would be greatly appreciated. Here are some questions I have about frame off:
1) How much work is it to disconnect all the drive line system and everything to free up the firewall and panels so that the body can be removed?
2) How much does a tub typically weigh?
3) Will the bracing I already have setup be sufficient to hold the tub in shape?
4) How difficult is it to pull the engine and the transmission (lets face it, if I am pulling the body off I may as well totally free up the frame to be either acid dipped or sent out for blasting) so it can be properly done?
5) How easy it is to screw up the body fitting back on the frame?

 

[TCSTARK]

My frame of reference is a 76 FJ40 but I can give you some of the information you seek.

There were approximately 8-9 mounting points from the frame to the tub. I was surprised that so few bolts did the job but they do..

The tub is easily managed by two people (three is better) in removing it from the frame. It is far easier if the shifter is removed first since you won't need to lift the tub higher in order to clear it.

Removing everything from the firewall is tedious and time consuming. Every nut and bolt needs to be tagged and bagged. Write down everything in a notebook and take pictures so that way you know what goes where. Make sure you take pictures of how the wiring harness is run so it can be put back properly.

Engine removal - I did this with another MUD member and once again was amazed by the few bolts holding it in place. Make sure you have a solid/strong hoist that can handle the weight if you are removing the engine and transmission together.

The answer to the last question is unknown to me personally. I have read that bracing the tub is critical when working on the body off of the frame. I would read up on this a bit more before pulling everything off the frame.

 

[winnie]

when I bought my 40 it was always in the back of my mind that I'd be doing at some point what you are considering now ... its time consuming, but then again what you're doing now is time consuming ... have you considered buying a 3/4 tub from EBI or a good used tub ... if you buy a replacement tub, you're in a sense offsetting some of the time cost of taking the body off the frame because you'll virtually eliminate the body work/fab work you have to do if you continued with your current approach ... a body off will let you refurb the frame without the encumbrance of the body sitting on it ... you can perhaps store the replacement tub outside, off the ground, covered until you're ready to re-instal it ... in my mind a body off is the most thorough refurb, and if you plan to keep the truck for a long, long time, it should be seriously considered ... you know the history of your truck which makes it special in my mind ... not trying to spend your money ... just my $.02 ...

 

[JDCruiser]

TCSTARK and Winnie,
Thank so much for the feedback. I really appreciate the perspectives you brought forward.

Winnie, thanks for the 2cents, totally respect it. I was actually thinking, I wish I didn't buy all of the stuff that I have so far for replacing the tub panels (ie. floor, wheel wells, and quarter panels). I got about $1000 in replacement panels and shipping so going to a 3/4 tub now which would be the route I would take if I did it over again would be a big loss for me.

Thanks again guys.

 

[TCSTARK]

I am a proud owner of a 81 BJ42 now so I will be following your build closely.

 

[Centermass]

Nice work, enjoying the pics of the repair you are doing. I have a 79 that the previous orwner ran through the ocean and didnt wash it down after wards. Its got some finder rot

 

[AdamKFarmer]

TCSTARK and Winnie,
Thank so much for the feedback. I really appreciate the perspectives you brought forward.

Winnie, thanks for the 2cents, totally respect it. I was actually thinking, I wish I didn't buy all of the stuff that I have so far for replacing the tub panels (ie. floor, wheel wells, and quarter panels). I got about $1000 in replacement panels and shipping so going to a 3/4 tub now which would be the route I would take if I did it over again would be a big loss for me.

Thanks again guys.

JDC - Just as a thought. I need some floor pans and a few other pieces. I could buy them off of you for my project and you could off-load the rest to save up for a 3/4 tub. I think that might be your best bet.

 

[JDCruiser]

TCSTARK,
Congrats on acquiring a BJ42, nothing against the FJs but nothing bets the "gurgle and rumble" sound of the Toyota 3B Diesel engine...

 

[JDCruiser]

Centermass, glad you like the pics... nothing like cruiser porn eh!!! Will try to keep the pics rolling. They serve me lots of purpose too as my memory is crap!!!! LOL.

 

[JDCruiser]

aking,
Thanks for the offer. I will take a look at what at 3/4 tub will cost me, run some numbers and see if it is in the works... Will be tough for me to throw $5000 on a tub but will see what I can find and if it is worth working something out on the panels I have. Denver is long way from Ontario, Canada, shipping will kill us.

 

[JDCruiser]

Today I completed the removal of the Passenger side quarter panel. I couldn't believe the layers of panels that the guy who did the body work for the PO had in there. Was like a Montreal smoked meat sandwich stacked thick with bondo as the mayo in between the layers. Rather than cutting out bad metal he just wrapped more panels over top of it. My main tools to peel back the onion was a hammer and chisel. Once I got down to original metal I located the spot welds, marked their center with a punch and then used a spot weld cutter to drill them out. The guy bronzed soldered the top panel to the quarter panel right at the edge of the upright vertical seam, so I cut that out carefully with my air cut off tool. Then drilled out the spot welds on the flange to remove the original quarter panel. Here are some pics taken throughout the day.

 

[JDCruiser]

I then spent some time cutting out some of the outer skin of the sill on both the driver and passenger side. The surface the attached to the quarter panel was really rotten and very thin so I decided to cut them out. I will use a patch panel to repair them prior to putting on the rear quarter panels. This is also beneficial because it gives me a window to be able to access the closed sill interior and put some frame saver type paint in there which will prevent it from rusting inside to out. I was surprised at the interior condition of the sill it actually was pretty clean, I guess water couldn't find its way in there. As you can see this rear sill was close to not being salvageable. Some areas are pretty thin but with all the areas exposed now I will be able to give them a good coating of rust bullet... so now the rear sill, ambulance door openings, and top rail are ready for sandblasting.

 

[micdon]

JD,

I don't know if you're still thinking about a frame off, but it took me 3 days to pull the body and engine of the frame. Check my build thread "rolling rebuild and dumb questions"

 

[winnie]

hmmm, kinda surprising about the sill, but good news ... looks like the frame from the wheels back is good too ... good progress ...

 

[JDCruiser]

hey winnie, yeah I was surprised about the condition of the rear sill as well. Figured for sure there would be holes in the curved section based on what I saw on the wheel wells and the quarters. However, the PO at some point did make a rust proofing attempt awhile ago and he focused smearing it on the sill and the inner quarters. So that might have extended its life. The areas he couldn't reach were getting pretty bad, especially where it mates to the quarter panel, had to cut some of it out. The sill is also made out of thicker steel too so that helped.

I was hoping to make more progress during the long weekend, however, enjoying the nice weather and playing with my 2 daughters (6 and 4) got in the way.

Back at it this week.

Also, I have pretty much made the decision, to turn this into a Frame off, main reason, I don't want to do this twice and I will struggle to get correct access to the mid / front sections of the body and frame to do it correctly. With a frame off, I can have the frame sent out for chemical / acid cleaning and then properly coated with rust bullet or galvanized. Any last sanity checks that you guys want to offer up???? Although, I did already do the hardest part of this decision, tell my wife that I need to completely take over the garage for the next 2 years rather than just the 75% I am currently using up.... LOL

 

[winnie]

your daughters are only 6 and 4 once ... they come first and what a weekend, finally ... good decision in my view, an re the body off ...

 

[KY Longhunter]

My wife always complains about how I'm taking up 2 bays of our 3 car garage! She's a saint for putting up with me.

 

[JDCruiser]

Update... Today spent a few hours removing the gas fuel inlet panel from the quarter panel and the inside cover panel frame. I primarily used a spot weld cutter to remove the spot welds once I found their location. I used a chisel and hammer to peel back the quarter panel from the fuel inlet inner panel. I also cut off the sections of panel as I went along. The only difficult portion was a fillet weld at the top of the inside cover panel frame that was welded to the B pillar that the top. I had to very carefully cut the fillet weld out using a cut off tool and then chisel it out to break the connection. I am keeping both the B pillar and the inner fuel inlet frame so I didn't want to damage either of the panels. I was able to do that with minimal damage to the inlet frame. Here are some pictures from the work.

 

[JDCruiser]

Pics continued...