FJ55 Roof Rust Repair (1 Viewer)

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I am about to start the repairs to the roof of my FJ55. It's going to be a long road but I think I can manage. I have been contemplating just cutting out the rusted sections and forming pieces with the same contour and welding them in. However, I understand there is a second piece of metal behind the roof section that traps moisture and may either be rusted as-well or may incumber my ability to use a pneumatic jigsaw.

If anyone has done a quality repair on their FJ55 I would like to hear from you. Also, if you have any photos of how you did it, I would appreciate learning from you. I have seen a few other posts, but the quality is less than what I am hoping to achieve.

@bobm I know you had started making some replacement parts but was not sure if you ever wound up producting or installing them. Inquiring minds want to know...
 
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So I chipped out the seam sealer to reveal how the roof is attached. Looks like it is laid in and then spot welded. I am probably going to drill out the spot welds and cut out 3' sections and make replacement panels. Just need to figure out how to cut it. Probably will give the Dremel a try with a die grinder wheel.
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@bobm Did you plan to weld on the flats or on the sharp bend? Rust goes up pretty close to the top where the metal bends over to the rounded portion of the roof, so I am debating.
 
There's more to the roof than what you're expecting. Scroll down to the pig forum and look at the profile of a roof that a member is cutting off right now. There's several layers under the top skin.

 
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There's more to the roof than what you're expecting. Scroll down to the pig forum and look at the profile of a roof that a member is cutting off right now. There's several layers under the top skin.

Damn scrapdaddy, thanks! You are right! I was not expecting what looks like a box channel under there. I appreciate you pointing me to those photos.

I will have to be very careful how deep I cut with my Dremel so-as to avoid cutting into that box channel accidentally. Looks like there is about 0.125-0.25" gap between the roof and the backside of that box channel. I will try to only cut out a portion of the roof panel. (like in the photo below).

Let me know your thoughts on if you think that is doable.View attachment 2527899

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Easy for me to say, yeah it's doable, but I get the shakes just thinking about it. Most of the guys cut out the bad pieces and patch, a few brave ones have pealed off the whole roof skin and repaired where needed. It's a huge can of worms when you start on the roof and A pillar area.

As BobM says "It's only metal". I wish the metal gods smile on you and buy plenty of band aids. :) Don't forget, there's several good threads going on in the pig forum on roof rust repair.
 
:) Don't forget, there's several good threads going on in the pig forum on roof rust repair.
I actually searched quite extensively within the forums and using google to find roof rust repair threads. Not much came up. I guess I would have to look through all of the build threads unless there are tags or something else that would have lead me to them.

If you are aware of any other threads on roof rust repair on FJ55's, please pass them along as I am having no luck finding them! Thanks!
 


 
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Just checking, but have you removed the headliner yet. Highly suggest doing so before it catches fire. That insulation Toyota used is flammable and cutting, grinding and welding on the roof will set it off.
 
Just checking, but have you removed the headliner yet. Highly suggest doing so before it catches fire. That insulation Toyota used is flammable and cutting, grinding and welding on the roof will set it off.
Yes, just removed it yesterday. Lots of insulation is still stuck to the roof but I figured I would run a wire brush over it to get it off. Thanks for the heads-up!
 
This thread is insane! I would have given up 10% in! Wow, just wow!!
 
Don’t know specifically to the 55 roofs but in general put your cuts where you have good remanent metal and/or you can get a copper backing on one side of the replacement weld. Remove all the rust at the seam on both sides to avoid weld voids. That’s the main issue I’ve dealt with on my panel patching on my early 45. I admit I do have booger welds in places because butt welding new 18-gauge steel to very old pocked 18-gauge steel, that’s probably more like 20-gauge, is a challenge at a minimum and a royal pain extensively. And then there’s expansion/contraction of the panels and resultant buckling/warping. Fun times, but when you’ve got it repaired there is a goodly amount of satisfaction! Good luck!
 
I had very similar rust on my '76, and had a shop cut out the rust and weld in new metal just on that face. I removed the headliner first for fire reasons.

I later sprayed an entire can of 'cold galv' aerosol into the roof from the back side to drown all the rust in zinc. I also had a shop installed a hand made (using my old one as a pattern) perforated vinyl headliner so that no moisture could remain trapped in there. The headliner looked very normal (period correct) in spite of the perforations.

Unless there is severe structural rust behind that rusted face, I would just carefully weld metal in there, and move on.
 
Oh, and I would use slicing disks on a right-angle grinder to cut the metal away. Sorta like using a giant Dremel.... since (as you noted) the structure inside will hamper using a reciprocating saw.
 
get a roof from up north and graft the entire thing on to your body
seems ours rust from the bottom up and yours rust from the top down
 
get a roof from up north and graft the entire thing on to your body
seems ours rust from the bottom up and yours rust from the top down
Point me to one and I just might :)
 
Point me to one and I just might :)


I had 2 a few years ago and took them to scrap as no one wanted them. had some 60 roofs also. I needed to clean the yard.

did you try the cruiser yard in CO, Poncho Springs? they may have some bodies to cut up
 

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