Ambulance Door rust repair progress & cutting down (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 23, 2021
Threads
11
Messages
58
Location
Baltimore, MD
Hey guys.
I have a gnarly pair of ambulance doors that need some repair. I decided to cut them down, and run the tops halves with a tailgate.

(P.S. anyone have a tailgate in the MD/DC area?)

Anyways. I made a little jig to cut the doors down yesterday and ran into a rough rust spot under the window seal. I took some pics along the way and will continue to update this if interested.

The doors:
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The rust:
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Weird spot.
I put off making this repair, but is honestly really simple to map out and form if you have a Shrinker/stretcher.


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Didn't take a photo, but spent some time getting the residual rust out of the inside + spraying it with some Eastwood rust inhibitor.

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Welding in, couple blow out spots getem on the next round.
I guess I'm limited to 5 photos. I'll add a few more in the next post.

You can see the door was cut off on the last photo, excuse the mess!

Jared
 
Few more pics... self explanatory!

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Never enough clamps! Use what ya got, they don't have to all match.

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Cut down and that's the progress so far! I'll update as I finish the metal work.

PPS.... Has anyone ever used the bottom halves of Ambi doors as a tail gate? Repair and mate together? Probably too much work, I just really don't want to invest $400 into a bolt on gate.

Cheers,
Jared
 
Excellect work! Not too many folks have the stretcher/shrinker gizmo...

I would like to see the picture of the jig you used to cut the doors down?

I have two tailgates. They both are rusted out on the bottom. My plan was to cut them in half, then weld them back together to form one good tail gate. I just have not figured out a good way to make a perfectly straight cut through both tail gates. If I had access to a large vertical metal cutting bandsaw it would be easy. Just tack the two gates together, and cut through both at once!
 
Excellect work! Not too many folks have the stretcher/shrinker gizmo...

I would like to see the picture of the jig you used to cut the doors down?

I have two tailgates. They both are rusted out on the bottom. My plan was to cut them in half, then weld them back together to form one good tail gate. I just have not figured out a good way to make a perfectly straight cut through both tail gates. If I had access to a large vertical metal cutting bandsaw it would be easy. Just tack the two gates together, and cut through both at once!


Thanks!
The 'jig" was a fresh 2x4' with 4 clamps and my Milwaukee hackzall with a bi-metal blade. Lol!
Good Idea with that gate though. I'd do the same thing if I can find some gates. Even rusty used ones are hiding from me.
 
It can be overcome but tailgate were made to fit against the back of the tub. Tubs that came with ambulance doors have a notch around the bottom and side so the doors fit flush. The tailgate fits inside and ends up being flush. Adding spacers to the tailgate side of hinges and latches will recess the tailgate. If your ambulance doors are that bad how bad is the back of the tub? If your repairing the tub could just do away with that notch.
 
It can be overcome but tailgate were made to fit against the back of the tub. Tubs that came with ambulance doors have a notch around the bottom and side so the doors fit flush. The tailgate fits inside and ends up being flush. Adding spacers to the tailgate side of hinges and latches will recess the tailgate. If your ambulance doors are that bad how bad is the back of the tub? If your repairing the tub could just do away with that notch.
Doors came off a different truck. The LC I am repairing is a '71. Currently notchless - debating adding that in or looking for an early tailgate that would drop in.
 
Just about finished. Needs a little sanding yet, and some self etch primer for the raw metal. Not going to go too crazy on any finishing work, as this area is entirely hidden by the window seal. Nice quick save. about 4 hours in total..


Here's some pics:

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And both doors cut down.
When I get the alignment and everything right, I will level and box in the bottoms.


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Maybe I can do something with these.... I'd imagine I'd be at about 15-20 hours of labor for a "quick" job
At some point time is money and buying a gate would be better. Maybe I'll just order one of those bolt on ones... Hmmm..



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Thanks for looking.

Jared
 
I am asking if it is possible to take the top of a tailgate with rusted bottom and mate it to rear barn doors with good tops, cut and inverted?
May be willing to lighten my storage a little.

I also used a 2x4 and a sawsall to cut ambi doors I half.
 

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