Rear fender/seat mount area. Repair options? (1 Viewer)

[AcroSteve]

On my 84, this is by far the worst area for rust. Passenger side is worse, but both sides need addressed.

There is reinforcement here for the rear seat mounts. That's specifically what I'm wondering about. I can cut out tge offending area and replace it with a single patch, but what about the other piece?

Is it available? Does it have a name?

Thanks

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

New panels not available.

When repairing sections with multiple layers, you repair one at a time. Drill the spot-welds on the seat bracket, then cut and patch each metal skin. Make a larger hole in the skin which is nearer you in terms of the side you are working from. Make a decent butt-weld on the skins, flatten your welds carefully with the edge of a flap disc, paint in weld-through primer, then patch the next, larger hole. Do the same for that repair, then plug weld the bracket back on. Done properly, the repair should be invisible from either side.

That looks like a simple job where you can remove the bracket from the inside and the reinforcement plate from the outside, then repair a single skin.

 

[diesellibrarian]

This is a very rust-prone area, thanks to what I see as a terrible design. The open-ended "tubes" on the reinforcing plate get packed with mud and road grime and rust from the inside out. I repaired mine as follows (see pics below), but if I were to do it again, I think that removing the whole piece and replacing it with a flat piece of 14-gauge steel would be sufficiently strong. Obviously you will need to repair the fender itself first. On mine, only the lower lip of the inner fender needed replacing.

(Note that mine is an FJ62, so it has a welded nut for the lower shoulder belt mount)

 

[AcroSteve]

New panels not available.

When repairing sections with multiple layers, you repair one at a time. Drill the spot-welds on the seat bracket, then cut and patch each metal skin. Make a larger hole in the skin which is nearer you in terms of the side you are working from. Make a decent butt-weld on the skins, flatten your welds carefully with the edge of a flap disc, paint in weld-through primer, then patch the next, larger hole. Do the same for that repair, then plug weld the bracket back on. Done properly, the repair should be invisible from either side.

That looks like a simple job where you can remove the bracket from the inside and the reinforcement plate from the outside, then repair a single skin.

That's definitely good advice. The brace portion on the left side(previous picture) may be salvageable by drilling out the spot welds as you mentioned.

However, the one on the right is too far gone...

 

[AcroSteve]

Well, I did it.

Two different ways. Complete replacement on the right side and disection of the 3 layers on the left.

 

[kirvesmies]

nice, way to get after it

 

[bcolvin]

On that last pic did you get a replacement panel? If so where did you pick that up?

 

[TheElegantFox]

This is a thread I found while doing a carpet install that detailed this repair: Carpet Install / Tint Removal / Wheel rust repair - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/carpet-install-tint-removal-wheel-rust-repair.1047111/

 

[AcroSteve]

On that last pic did you get a replacement panel? If so where did you pick that up?

No. That was my original, I removed the rust from.