1989 FJ62 "The Woody", rust repair begins

[LordHz]

Here is Thursday's end-of-work picture.. I have starter cutting out the rot on the drivers side near the body mount. The concern here is the metal where the body mount bolt attaches is shot. So I am trying to remove the bolt now. My "plan" is to fab up a 18 gauge 4 sided cube the will slide into the opening. This will leave the top and "front" of the box open so I can get to the head of the bolt through the little access panel. I will clean the metal inside as best I can and then weld it in. The second phase of this repair would be to replace the cut-away skin. Again, probably using 16 or 18 gauge instead of 22. I will try to draw a diagram of what I have in mind, since its hard to describe accurately.

 

[buckjoey]

Nice work, I bought my 80 as an excuse to learn to wrench. It has turned into much more of a project than I expected, and I'm now in the process of a v8 swap. Great hobby, and definitely a learning experience.

 

[Max.Powerzz]

Great work! Will you save the paneling on the back repairs?

 

[LordHz]

Great work! Will you save the paneling on the back repairs?

Max, not sure what you mean. I am replacing all the rusted skin panels with new metal that I am hand forming. Any metal I remove from the truck is just rust.

 

[LordHz]

Still removing rusty bits, but I can't get it all out without removing the body from the frame. So I will clean out as much as possible then spray the whole mess with rust inhibitor and then start welding things back together. The key is to provide some support for the back of the body and the left tailgate hinge.

Second picture is a test fit for the new bottom support.

 

[8960series]

What kind of welder do u use?

 

[LordHz]

What kind of welder do u use?

I have a Miller Millermatic 211 AutoSet w/MVP and have been using flux core wire. Just been putting off getting a cylinder of C25. This project has set me back much more than I intended as I purchased the welder just for these repairs. The Toyota Land Cruiser is our 4th vehicle and is only used for Home Depot runs and dragging my trailer around, so it has a low priority.

 

[LordHz]

Here is Saturday's goodnight picture, I am skipping some steps here, but this is the inner skin for the body mount "box" going on. I painted the inside of the box, so I am letting things dry before I finish all the welding. This will be completely seamed and ground down. An outer skin will cover this, I also have some more rust to cut out on the left hand side. On the right, I will be bending some steel to replace the metal under the hinge. This will suck because I can't really get to much of the bottom seam, the frame and rear cross-member are in the way. My plan for now is just to run as many tacks as possible.

Also, the new body mount box is 18 gauge, replacing the 2-3 layers of 22 gauge in the original.

 

[Max.Powerzz]

Max, not sure what you mean. I am replacing all the rusted skin panels with new metal that I am hand forming. Any metal I remove from the truck is just rust.

The "wood" paneling. Will you just repaint the whole rig, just the tailgate, or stick with the woody theme? I vote stick with the wood paneling.

 

[LordHz]

My wife likes the wood paneling as well, so somehow I will be getting a new piece made to match. How I'm going to do that exactly is another matter. I have some graphic arts friends who promise me they can scan a good section and send it off to a company that prints auto vinyl.. We'll see. The faux wood paneling is the least of my worries at the moment however.

Finally got around to seaming that body mount box, needs to be ground flush yet. Some more rust removal and I will bend up some new skins to close things up. Somehow I have to seal up the underside of my repairs. Leaning towards a body undercoat style paint and/or a rust inhibitor/converter.

Does anyone know the size and back spacing of the factory steelies on the FJ62? I have read 15x6 with 2.75" backspacing, but I was wondering if someone knew for sure. I am thinking about some 31x10.5x15, but the 6" is to small for those. I will research more threads.

 

[gandalfthegrey]

Very nice job. I have similar spots on my 62. Have you thought about reinstalling the rear washer fluid spray tip? If so pics would be much appreciated!

 

[LordHz]

Very nice job. I have similar spots on my 62. Have you thought about reinstalling the rear washer fluid spray tip? If so pics would be much appreciated!

Sorry to disappoint, the washer nozzle is never going back on, plus the pump and washer bag were shot. If I was going to re-install I would run them to the top and simply drill the appropriate sized hole and then use a clip-lock nozzle.

Actually, work has kicked my tail this week, so I am taking it easy until Saturday. I also have some suspension bushings, shackle bolts and body mount bolt on the way. Probably measure and cut the skin near the hinge tomorrow and start fine-tuning the shape so I can tack it in Friday.

ps. I want to throw mad props out to rjs78 and robustbambi for the assist with some old rear springs. They will keep me trucking until I can talk the boss into new springs. No pics yet, plus you all know what the springs look like .

 

[LordHz]

So here is the driver-side body mount all closed up and covered with new skin. While I would love to fix "all" the rust, its just not going to happen yet.

 

[LordHz]

Forgot to snap a picture before I layed down the first coat of primer, but you can sort of see all the prep that went into this. Ground and wired down a lot of stuff and then cleaned the paint and metal. Then used a degrease/paint prep, then the first coat of primer. I also repaired the rusted weather stripping lip.

 

[LordHz]

A few coats of primer later... Need to move the plastic around a little and wet sand down the hard edges (aka feather the primer), tomorrow I will paint it with white and it will be ready for the gate, which I also have to finish filling/sanding/painting. I hope to reinstall the gate tomorrow evening.

 

[LordHz]

Here is another angle of the under-gate section I am working on. This shows the repaired weather stripping lip. There were 4 rusted out sections and I had to grind down and add new metal.

 

[LordHz]

Found a before picture that shows all of the weather strip lip rust..

 

[Spook50]

Hey, good on ya. I wasn't sure how you'd be able to tackle that body mount area when you first posted the pic of it. Great to see it come out as well as it has.

Awesome feeling when you're learning as you go and you just nail it, isn't it?

 

[LordHz]

Hey, good on ya. I wasn't sure how you'd be able to tackle that body mount area when you first posted the pic of it. Great to see it come out as well as it has.

Awesome feeling when you're learning as you go and you just nail it, isn't it?

Spook50, I thought the exact same thing, something like, "I'm screwed!" It is far from perfect and there is still rust I couldn't remove with the body on the frame. The critical thing is to ensure the integrity of the body/frame connection. Probably mentioned this before, but I don't intend to restore my rig to pristine condition. I probably put less than 500 miles per year on the truck, mainly for hardware store runs, towing my trailer, the occasional snowfall, and someday some light trail use. I am going to post a list with pics of all the rust, I'm up to 19. Once the back is done, that knocks out 6. So 13 left to do. Good news, and what keeps me going, is these 6 were really brutal. The remainder can all be done and not disable the vehicle. Well, the lower door skins might be a problem, but who needs doors.

 

[Slowerthanu]

Fun project and rust sucks.

On the filler. I love Rage gold and Dolphin glaze. Never try to get all of the filler on at once and expect to sand, fill, sand, fill etc until it is smooth.

Do you use foam sanding blocks?