Builds "The Milk Truck" FJ45 Preservation Sorta (8 Viewers)

[Tank5]

I was anticipating having to make adjustments to the steering but wanted to take it for a test drive before I exposed the Hellfire arm to my hackery.

The combination of high steer and the pan hard mount are really tight the way I built it and limited my steering. I expected I would need more range and the drive confirm that.

I cut a scallop out of the Hellfire arm and shaved a little of the edge of the bracket. I gained a good bit of steering doing this and the bump stops are set to give me about 3/16 of an inch clearance.

I will add some paint and put it back together before another test drive.

 

[Michael B]

Congratulations! The first drive is always a big deal!!

 

[Tank5]

The steering is back together and using the number of steering revelations on my 80 series as a comparison, the 45 steering is now equal in range to the 80. I am going to call that good until I can test it on the trail.

 

[EWheeler]

The wind is blowing like crazy and it is 43 degrees outside today but it is an awesome day to go for a drive, so I took it into the wild on it’s first drive. It is pretty awesome! It seems the shifter is working in all gears, so I can move past that.

It moves pretty good. I drove it out to the end of the road and put it on pavement to take it up to speed. It did great, nothing seems to be leaking. It has a slight smell but I think it is the exhaust burning the ceramic coating. The brakes work great but I think I will adjust the pedal height to make it more comfortable.

I took a video, it is pretty crappy, the wind is blowing pretty hard and the bed held on by 4 bolts is rattling. If I decide to post it I will add a link here.

Here it is outside

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The truck, and the scenery, are perfect.

 

[thatcabledude]

That front bumper is so awesome.

 

[Tank5]

I switched gears and started working on the bed. I had planned on coating the underside with POR15 and maybe paint but leave the inside as it presents after I finish the fender wells. I am not sure about that now. I am considering blasting the inside floor after all the repairs are done and using POR15 on the seams then epoxy primer and paint. Maybe even raptor liner on the floor and fender wells. Just kicking thoughts around at the moment and open ideas if anyone cares to share.

Here is the progress on the fender wells. I had some old chunks of fender well from a 62 40 that got cut up years ago. The fender well ribs and metal gauge matches the 45, so I used them as patch panels to keep it all original looking.

 

[samc2447]

The patina looks cool, but it depends on your vision for the truck. At the very least blast, paint and bed liner the inside of the fenders. That will keep future rust at bay along with keeping the noise down from gravel hitting the inside of the fender wells.

 

[Tank5]

I am almost done fitting the passenger fender well with the added cover over the gas and filler tube.

I repurposed some more 40 series rear fender well parts to make the last piece of the fender well. I have many midnights into slicing, prepping, forming, and stitching together this piece to cover the filler tube. It is not perfect but it will fit in with the rest of the bed.

A few more fitting adjustments and I will do some final prep and make both fenders permanent.

 

[Tank5]

Little by little I have been making the fender wells permanent and fixing cracks, broken spot welds and hammering out dents as best I can. The fender wells are in place and I am glad to have that done.

This bed over all is pretty solid but it is well used. One of the prior owners added 30 plus extra holes to it that I still need to weld up. After that I will replace and repair some of the bed supports and then it should be ready for paint.

I am still trying to decide how I will finish the inside of it.

The first option I am considering is sealing the seams with POR15, spray epoxy primer on all the exposed/worked metal areas and then apply a rattle can matched color. This would leave most of it rough and patina looking. After it all drys it would get treated with Fluid Film or some like concoction.

The second option is blast the inside except the upper bed rim. Treat the seams with POR15, then epoxy primer followed by paint matched Raptor Liner.

If I go with option one I could always pull blast and liner the inside later. I have some time before I make a decision, so I will keep kicking it around.

 

[Tank5]

I have been taking little bites out of the bed work that seems like it never ends. All of the holes drilled into the bed floor have been repaired, stress cracks and broken spot welds repaired. The front bed mounts had to be remade and added. The middle bed support was missing, so I replaced it. The 2nd to last floor support had to be modified to clear the gas tank, got that done too. I didn’t take a lot of process pictures but here it is mostly done.

The last big repair and next is this section of the rear passenger sill.

 

[Tank5]

I made some significant progress on the rear quarter panel repair this weekend.

I cut the rusty section out and found the sill support underneath was pitted pretty bad.

I cut the rusty pitted section of the sill support out and welded a new piece steel.

I saved as much of the panel that I removed, combined it with another piece of the bed I had left over and some new 14 gauge steel to rebuild the panel. I still need to add spot welds and clean up the welds. This is as far as I got.

 

[Tank5]

I have been working on the bed. It is close to going on for the last time.

The bottom of the bed was degreased and sprayed with por15 metal prep, then dried.

I sealed around the gap at edge of the bed floor and fender wells with Por15 Seam sealer. After it cured I taped the seams, so I could turn it over and coat it.

The bottom got two coats of Por15. Hopefully I will get to bolt the bed on permanently soon!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

What degreaser did you use?

 

[Tank5]

What degreaser did you use?

Por15 has a degreaser they recommend before their metal prep. That is what I used. It has worked well for me in the past.

 

[Tank5]

I have been trying match the patina on the out side of the bed where I repaired and moved the fender wells back. I started out adding some primer and paint over the worked areas and removed most of it to try and match the patina.

I tried a few rust/patina products that only some what have worked the way I had hopped. I tried RustFX and a vinegar/hydrogen peroxide/ salt solution spray. It seems most that use theses sprays do so with the metal face horizontal not vertical. Since I am working horizontal the solution runs off and doesn’t stick around long enough to give the desired result. I tried the spraying areas and then placing a shop towel over it and saturated that. I found it helped but when the shop towel was lifted a fair amount of the patina came off with it.

I’m not sure how much more I will continue to experiment with it. I have opted for the patina finish but it is not appealing to spray salt solution on it. I may just have to let nature continue the process from here.

 

[Bripars40]

Looks like it's going to age well!

 

[Bripars40]

Another idea would be to sand/water blast the sides and let them rust evenly

 

[Tank5]

Another idea would be to sand/water blast the sides and let them rust evenly

I considered this but was afraid I would remove more of the original patina than I wanted to.

If I could start over I think I would have just left it freshly worked as it was before the paint and allow the worked areas to patina on their own.

It may still turn out just fine but I kinda feel like I spent time where I didn’t have too.

 

[Grayscale]

My aesthetic is to have shiny rust. On the sharp corners, and raised areas, I sand it with 250 or 600 grit by hand. So the bottom of the fenderwells is actually bright and not appearing to currently deteriorate, kind of like how the camera picked up the top edge of the tub/bed.

Steelwool and Scotchbrite are awesome for getting light to reflect on expansive body surfaces as well. It is fun to see all the spot welds from an acute angle in the correct light. Any good artist that uses oil paint, uses paint thinner, so it makes sense to do the rusting, I'd go one step further, and lightly work just a little fresh shine back to the top.

If your rust is smooth enough, you can really get a shine when waxed or oiled, and the water droplets make tight little beads, reminding you that your corrosion protection is still good. Smoothness is also a good thing if you ever wipe your truck with a rag or a sponge, and it keeps the wax from looking all like dandruff on the heavy rust spots.

 

[Tank5]

My aesthetic is to have shiny rust. On the sharp corners, and raised areas, I sand it with 250 or 600 grit by hand. So the bottom of the fenderwells is actually bright and not appearing to currently deteriorate, kind of like how the camera picked up the top edge of the tub/bed.

Steelwool and Scotchbrite are awesome for getting light to reflect on expansive body surfaces as well. It is fun to see all the spot welds from an acute angle in the correct light. Any good artist that uses oil paint, uses paint thinner, so it makes sense to do the rusting, I'd go one step further, and lightly work just a little fresh shine back to the top.

If your rust is smooth enough, you can really get a shine when waxed or oiled, and the water droplets make tight little beads, reminding you that your corrosion protection is still good. Smoothness is also a good thing if you ever wipe your truck with a rag or a sponge, and it keeps the wax from looking all like dandruff on the heavy rust spots.

I have it in my head to do something like this after I have the truck all together. I bought a case of red scotch right pads ready to go when I get to it.

I appreciate the steel wool/scotch bright tips. Do you have a build thread showing what your technique looks like?