First owner fawked my tailgate!

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Spook50

Spook50

Skål
Supporting Vendor
10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Threads
807
Messages
7,653
Location
Spokane, WA
While pulling all my trim off today to repaint it (paint was chipping off and showing chrome) I decided to de-bling the TOYOTA chrome strip on the tailgate as well. While unbolting it, I noticed that the threads on one of the bolts holding it on were all FUBAR (repairable with a thread chaser, so I'm not worried about that) because for some reason the first owner put the wrong damn thread nut in place of the factory nut with the "built in" star washer. Not only that, but the stupid jackass (I hope he's reading this) used an aluminum lock washer! So of course the steel on the tailgate started to exfoliate and formed a decent sized chunk that rusted completely through.

So what do you guys think I should do? I'm thinking I might be able to have a sheet metal or body shop cut out the rusted area and weld a patch in its place, then redrill the hole and prime/paint the area to seal it up and cover the work. With that much work though, I'm wondering if it's going to come close to the cost of just replacing the tailgate. A replacement is $300 from Cruiserparts.net though :frown:

Couple pics:

So you can see where exactly the rust is
Tailgate-1.jpg


Closeup of the damage
Tailgate-2.jpg


And yes it's rusted all the way through. If I tried, I could easily punch my finger through what's left there.
 
I'm not a body man, so my approach might not be the most appropriate...but what I'd do is fix it myself. Sand all around until I got clean/unrusted metal. POR15 the area, body filler as needed, primer, then paint. It's not a structural area, so no worries about strength. A little dirt, and the paint will match fine...
 
lovetoski said:
I'm not a body man, so my approach might not be the most appropriate...but what I'd do is fix it myself. Sand all around until I got clean/unrusted metal. POR15 the area, body filler as needed, primer, then paint. It's not a structural area, so no worries about strength. A little dirt, and the paint will match fine...
Click to expand...

If it was just surface rust, that's what I'd do, but it's gone clear through the steel, so if I were to remove the rust, the result would be a 1.5" diameter hole :frown:
 
The guy that does my media blasting has a cool HUGE welder thing called a PLASMA SPRAYER.

This thing sprays metal like a sparkler on the 4th of July. I watched him blow panels clean with media and them fill the panel back up with metal.

Your thinking it's a hole dumb ass......Yes, It works its way in like watching a hole grow backwards.

He builds up the area and then you sand down.,.......

It was the coolest thing I have ever seen!!!

Well not ever................Yoopers Avitars are kinda cooler................
 
For the price of any body shop repair you could buy a decent little welder. I can't tell you how handy a welder is, particularly for Cruiser body shop repair and accessory builds (roof racks, tire carriers). Welding is much easier than you might think if you haven't tried it, and fun, and suddenly the whole world of metal fabrication opens up to you. That would be a twenty minute repair with a welder, grinder, a little bit of putty and some sanding.
 
AATLAS1X said:
The guy that does my media blasting has a cool HUGE welder thing called a PLASMA SPRAYER.

This thing sprays metal like a sparkler on the 4th of July. I watched him blow panels clean with media and them fill the panel back up with metal.

Your thinking it's a hole dumb ass......Yes, It works its way in like watching a hole grow backwards.

He builds up the area and then you sand down.,.......

It was the coolest thing I have ever seen!!!

Well not ever................Yoopers Avitars are kinda cooler................
Click to expand...

I've heard of those, but have never seen one (much less seen one in action). Sounds like a freakin expensive machine though. Wonder if any of the shops around here have one...
 
He told me it was $25k But it is as big as a VW bug and the lights dim when turns it on.

I want to buy a set of crusty late model doors to make into 1/2 doors. I could care less about rust holes. Just want to see what sand blasting and the sprayer will do. Wonder if it will save them?? He does alot of old hot rods and yesterday he was doing these head light bucketts they were toast in my opinion.....they looked new!!
 
AATLAS1X said:
He told me it was $25k But it is as big as a VW bug and the lights dim when turns it on.

I want to buy a set of crusty late model doors to make into 1/2 doors. I could care less about rust holes. Just want to see what sand blasting and the sprayer will do. Wonder if it will save them?? He does alot of old hot rods and yesterday he was doing these head light bucketts they were toast in my opinion.....they looked new!!
Click to expand...

Where in Oregon are you at?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom