installing c channels (2 Viewers)

[brownbear]

Once the C channel is in you could put a plate on the outside over that hole. Honestly there is not much there to weld to, so you want an overlapping type of patch. The new channel is going to give it lots of strength.

To patch it, cut out the rust using a hole saw, no square corners. Or it will crack.

Make your patch look like a diamond. With rounded corners. Weld all around the sides.

Avoid vertical welds.

 

[g-man]

Your getting fancy now. I usually just cut 4 sides and weld a patch. Never had a problem with one falling out or breaking. I didn't know they made hole saws for metal. Seems like it would take forever to cut through. I don't own a plasma cutter. Maybe could drill 4 holes with gradually larger bits then play connect the dots with a cutting wheel, that way got some sorta rounded edges?? But then I have to figure out how to cut the patch to fit it.

 

[brownbear]

Over lap the patch, not fill in the hole.

The only way I would do a filler patch is on body metal. Anything else goes right on top.

you don't need a hole saw. But you absolutely need rounded corners. So drilling three or four holes and joining them is okay. Or just take a die grinder and clean out the rusted hole till you got most of the rust off. Or sand blast it.

Then slap a diamond patch over top and and good to go. All of course is my opinion. I learned about gussett and rosette welds on aircraft tube structure in college. But it's been 20 years.

 

[g-man]

I can cut a diamond patch then grind down the corners to round them. I'm cool making and oversized patch and welding the patch on top of the frame. But I'll still cut out any thin metal before hand.

 

[g-man]

Couple of pointers.


I would a needle scale to clean up the frame rail that was covered under that c channel.
Easy job, juts time consuming. Pry bars will help also.

"needle scale" are you saying clean up the scale rust? I don't agree that this is an easy job. Maybe not to technical but very physical. I'll take a wire wheel on a grinder or drill to try and clean up any rust from the inner frame. Already have had about 2 cups of rust chips come out from beating on the frame with hammer and punch. I guess most of what I have see so far is from the old C channel.

"pry bars will help" I'm wondering how hard it will be to get the C channels out once all the rivets are out. Will I need to remove the rear bumper so I can access the back of the "C" so I can drive a flat punch then pry?

 

[brownbear]

Nothing is easy on them. Mine came out as twisted angry chunks or metal. The bigger the pry bar the better.

An air chisel might help. I used one to punch out rivets etc. But again it all comes out, just with a lot of brut force.

I used POR-15 on my cruiser quite a bit and it did not stop rust from continuing to rust under the paint. So my next thing is cleaning it the best with a wire wheel etc, and then using the rust converter. Then put a paint on like duplicoolor self etching primer. Then a rust enamel.

I would do this between the c-channels. After the paint it dry spray a rust inhibiting oil on the surface between the c-channel. Then bolt it together.

That should slow it down and keep it from rusting.

 

[Dixon Santana]

"needle scale" are you saying clean up the scale rust? I don't agree that this is an easy job. Maybe not to technical but very physical. I'll take a wire wheel on a grinder or drill to try and clean up any rust from the inner frame. Already have had about 2 cups of rust chips come out from beating on the frame with hammer and punch. I guess most of what I have see so far is from the old C channel.

"pry bars will help" I'm wondering how hard it will be to get the C channels out once all the rivets are out. Will I need to remove the rear bumper so I can access the back of the "C" so I can drive a flat punch then pry?

Yeah I used that tool not thinking it would do much of anything, but it removed a lot and quickly. A wire wheel will do the job, but it wont get all of the scaly rust.

When I took the "C" out I had the bumper and rear crossmember removed. You will have to get creative and have patience getting that piece out of there. I remember having to bend the top and bottom of the "C" so it could pop out.

 

[brownbear]

An Air chisel also knocks off rust fairly good. I actually used a bar pen hammer and just banged away on the surface. LOL it also knocked off any wafer rust.

 

[g-man]

I may end up shopping for an air chisel before its all over. Today 4 more rivets extracted out of the passenger side body mount bracket. Took much longer than I thought. Looking at the rivets in the shackle mount I'm not even sure how I will get a grinder up in there. Tomorrow I should have it up in the air and take the springs down.

 

[jcj_78FJ40]

Air chisel is key. I used that more than anything else. You can use it to cut off the heads and punch out the rivets. It will also drive away close neighbors if you don't like them.

I also used Rust Bullet on the frame before assembling. I used rust bullet on my 40 frame 15 years ago and it has held up very well. Note that it's weakened by UV so I always use a top coat (usually something from Tractor Supply).

It's a bitch of job for sure but the end result is really nice.

 

[g-man]

As i thought my grinder doesn't reach the rivets inside the shackle mount. The same rivets are hard to reach inside the c channel because of the delaminating c channel there. Heading to the store for an air hammer and chisels in the morning. 6 rivets to go. Just the one's holding the shackle mount to the frame. Should have got the chisel first. Already been through 40.00 in drill bits and grinder pads. I removed the shackles and associated hardware from my work area so as not to get metal shavings on the greasing pins etc. I left the greased bushings in the spring eye and the shackle mount and covered them with a nitrile glove to keep debris out of the greased bushings.

 

[g-man]

For all those who mentioned air chisel, aka air hammer... thank you. That should be the first item on you're list to buy when thinking about this project. It took off the rivet heads in about a minute or two, and I was able to use it to pull off the shackle mounts. I used it to help get the C channel loose. There was a weld holding the c channel as someone had mentioned. It's about and inch long and its very forward on the C channel and a bit high. I noticed it is forward of where Trail Tailor C channels mount. I drove off one with the air chisel and on the other side just worked the c channel back and forth til it broke. Here is a pic of the weld it is the shiny part where the C channel meets the frame.

 

[g-man]

Here is another pic of that weld after breaking the C channel loose.

 

[g-man]

Here is an old patch on the passenger side

 

[g-man]

And now a new patch going on the other side.

 

[g-man]

And holes in the bottom of the frame on both sides just forward of the shackle mounts

 

[g-man]

And welding the body mount to the frame some.

 

[g-man]

I did temporarily install the C channel and bolted the shackle mount to the frame making sure there was room for the bottom patch.

 

[g-man]

worked on the rusty cross member with a rip in the metal.

 

[g-man]

Hit it with the grinder then patched.