"A" Pillar Repair (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 14, 2012
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Location
Buxton, ME
Does anyone have pictures or recommendations on how to tackle rust repair on the "A" Pillar? This is what I am dealing with...

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Cut out and replace is probably your only option.
 
Should fairly straightforward - the actual "pillar" is just a c-channel type bend, open to the front. A nibble nibble here, and a bit of bending should be able to patch it up...then the outer skin wraps around it. Luckily it's a fairly inconspicuous area, between the outer skin covering it as well as the tub mating flange...doesn't have to be perfect.

Attached a bit of a view into how it all ties together underneath the skin...I can dig up a few other views if needed.

md

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The alu' tub (assuming 3/4, vs full) would mate up to that A-pillar where it's gone - you can see the bolthole in my photo where the flange meets up.

The flange does help to at least not need it to be "pretty" like a door patch...
 
The alu' tub (assuming 3/4, vs full) would mate up to that A-pillar where it's gone - you can see the bolthole in my photo where the flange meets up.

The flange does help to at least not need it to be "pretty" like a door patch...

I see. You know they sell cowls as well. I pretty much believe you can complete a full aluminum body with them. If I were in a rust issue, the Aquala parts would be my new FJ40. Not to see your point on repair but going this far seems a fair solution.
 
Indeed - I just assumed the OP was doing a 3/4 based on the question.

Not sure on the price difference for the 3/4 vs full cowl from Aqualu, never looked at the difference there. Good to have options, though.
 
The rest of my cowl is in good shape, its just the bottom of the A pillar, the drivers side floor going up to the fire wall and a little of the sheet metal below the kick vents. It seems like they are all pretty straight forward repairs, but the most involved is the A pillar. I am going to put on a 3/4 Aqualu tub, but I don't plan on spending the extra $3600 plus shipping for the cowl.
I welded some 2x4 tubing into replace my rotten a pillar when I was ready for solid mounting the Aqualu tub to the Toyota cowl. I’m not pretending that it’s a proper purist repair, but it should be sturdy enough for a wheeler.
DO you have any pics of how you did that? Did it extend below the floor for the second mounting bolt?
 
I just did this repair before attaching an Aqualu 3/4 tub. I used 16 gauge metal. With a grinder, metal brake and a mig welder the repairs were not difficult, just very time consuming given the extent of the repairs I had. Pretty much all of my cowl was rotten from the lower hinge down. And, yes, I looked at the Aqualu cowls too, but I could not afford both the cowl and the tub.
 
I just did this repair before attaching an Aqualu 3/4 tub. I used 16 gauge metal. With a grinder, metal brake and a mig welder the repairs were not difficult, just very time consuming given the extent of the repairs I had. Pretty much all of my cowl was rotten from the lower hinge down. And, yes, I looked at the Aqualu cowls too, but I could not afford both the cowl and the tub.
Do you have any pictures? Did you have to replace anything below the floor for the lower cowl/ tub bolt? If so, what did you do there?
 
I can get some pics later today. Yes, I replaced both cab mounts, most of the lower floor section and both A pillars, extending it below the floors to provide a second mounting point. The cab mounts started out as 1x3” rectangle tube that I cut to the correct thickness and braced internally for added support. They are not stock, but they work well. LC Heaven sells the cab mounts, but reviews for the business are not great overall.
 
DO you have any pics of how you did that? Did it extend below the floor for the second mounting bolt?
It’s in my build starts at post 287. Mine was done this last winter/spring and it’s not on the road yet. I did make a second hole for the lower mounting bolt and I thinks it’s stouter than before. I drove around with it bolted to the lower rotten cowl for a couple years before I worked up the nerve to tear it down and fix it.
I will say that there was some debate on how strong the weld will be with different thicknesses of metal, but I decided to go the route of beefiness.
My body mounts were in good enough shape, but my floor boards were roached. Since this is where the tub mates as well, I opted for new metal.
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having done a 3/4 aqualu tub onto very similar a pillar rust/lack of metal,
make sure you get some good reference measurements prior to hacking into it.
the cowl tends to slump on the drivers side, make it match the passenger a pillar height
before welding,
if the passenger side is roached, measure a couple other rigs that look ‘spec’.
 
Archie73's work is nicer than mine, but here is how I tackled it. The torpedo panels were new old stock. Also, What Deadsalt says is very helpful. I had problems getting things to square up and had to cut out work and start over because of the "slumping" he describes.

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