rebuilding a rusty roof

[sean]

I became owner of a fj60 recently, in very good shape except for the roof rust. Most of the drip rail is rusted, especially rear corners. the outer shell of the roof has its share of rust going up about as high as 3 inches above the rail, almost around the whole truck. drivers A pillar rusted pretty bad too.
I decided to get started on the rear passenger corner. I removed the rusted outer roof section by cutting it out with a cutoff wheel above the rust and down right through the drip rail (being careful not to cut the inner shell of the roof) and peeling the metal down to reveal the spot welds on the drip rails, drilled out the spot welds and with a few tugs it came right off. The inner roof so far appears to have very little surface rust, no rot at all and very solid, very nice surprise to see. There are some holes from drywall screws from a previous repair attempt, but a solid foundation to build on I would say.
Now I need some drip rail so 3/4" 16 gauge square tubing makes some very similar to factory with some plasma cutting and opening up a bend on the tubing on a press or vise.

 

[Dixiedog]

Watching thread to see what happens. Please let us know as you progress on this.

 

[Thornton Melon]

Good for you man.
I have the same areas of rust and it bums me out to no end when I just stand there staring and sulking over my lack of ability to do anything about it.
So I will check back on your thread with envy.
Goodluck!

 

[GasganoFJ60]

Very interested to see how this goes.
If possibly, I humbly request some more pics of the cutaway area to better see how the different layers/sections of metal overlap and meet.

 

[sean]

basically the drip rail is spot welded to the inner shell about every 4". The outer shell comes down into the drip rail leaving a gap(1/8" roughly) between the outer shell and the drip rail. the outer shell then makes a bend following the the drip rail right on top of it tight together where they are spot welded to each other. The outer shell stops there and does not bend up to the top of the drip rail as far as I can see, just seamsealed to the outer inner bottom corner(?) of the drip rail, maybe this pic can explain it better.

And I made a drip rail corner finally, the days long battle seems to be over, attached a few pics of it.

 

[Str8Razor]

Following, I need to remove my drip rail on the drivers side A pillar and not looking forward to it....i have a good bit of rust to deal with but have never done body work, got a little lincoln welder and some patience so hopefully it will work out, nice detailed post, will follow your progress!! Thanks..... @tmxmotorsports check it

 

[sean]

Made a little more progress, seems to be fitting together good so far.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Fabulous work! There is a large market for these little bits of replacement drip rail you are making. And
especially as this is the first and most descriptive work I've seen on repairing this problem.
So the metal from the lower window frame tucks up under the drip rail? Is it spot welded to the drip rail then? Keep going, and
posting such great photos of your work. J

 

[collk22]

What would it take for you to come to Denver to take care of my roof repair needs?

Very well done, sir.

 

[cruiserpilot]

So basically the roof is spot welded as a 'cap' against the lower window frames and A - B - C pillars
and structures? If you were to go all around and drill out the spot welds then the roof 'cap' could be
removed?

 

[2mountainfish]

Nice job on the drip rails. I am in the process of repairing roof rust similar to yours. My drip rails are in good shape but the inner shell has some damage. I am going to use Eastwood Rust Encapsulater on the inner shell before I weld in the new outer shell pieces. Did you pull your headliner before you started welding? I don't want to hijack your post so I will post my progress on my own thread,
Saving another FJ60!
Just wanted to tell you good job,and I will be following your process also.

 

[IBFJ62]

You are my hero. I'm going to tackle this myself soon, but I've been terrified that there was not another layer of metal behind the drip rail, and I'd light my headliner on fire. Perfect timing, keep us posted, and nicely done!

 

[2mountainfish]

You are my hero. I'm going to tackle this myself soon, but I've been terrified that there was not another layer of metal behind the drip rail, and I'd light my headliner on fire. Perfect timing, keep us posted, and nicely done!

I want to be your hero!!!! Seriously, I am just glad that people take the time to post and we all learn something. Awesome community.

 

[sk8salomon]

wow, nice fab work. just when I thought I've seen everything on mud...somebody comes in and kills it.

 

[87CRUSR]

Looking real good. That is quite a bit of custom quality metal work. A work of art.

 

[IBFJ62]

What gauge steel are you using for the sheet metal? Great job on the drip rail solution, that's been a question I've been rolling around in my head for a while..

Just noticed you're in SD, down in IB myself. Keep up the great posts!

 

[cruisedeisel]

Ok ok. so now I have to improve on my rusty skills. Nice job!

 

[cruiserpilot]

Two weeks have gone by, this thread dropped to page 8. So how is it progressing. I'm
not the only one interested in how you are doing this.

 

[sean]

Sorry for the wait, this job is taking more of my time than I have lately. To answer a few questions, the roof is spot welded to the drip rail across the rear of the truck and down the sides to the top of the A pillars, where things get a little strange. I will post some pics of that soon. I did leave the headliner in, I did not want to try and remove it because I feel that would of done more damage to it than the heat from the bodywork, I just have to be extra cautious watching my heat and take it slow. Having an extra set of eyes as a fire watch is probably not a bad idea too. I am using 16 gauge cold rolled steel and 16 gauge 3/4" square tubing for the steel pieces I need, I also used some weld thru primer on the parts before I attach them as well.

To make the outer pieces of the roof that I need to patch this up I put a joggle on the filler piece to go under the roof a 1/4" or so to make it easier to weld together without blowing out the thin metal with a butt joint. The bondo that will be needed to smooth it out hopefully will be minimal, about a 1/16" thick layer is what I am shooting for. To attach the roof filler pieces to the drip rail I welded the outer roof filler pieces right to the inside of the drip rail completely along the whole section, and grind the weld down smooth. I will eventually spread some seam sealer inside the drip rail to seal and smooth out the inside of the drip rail, prime and paint.

I do need to figure out how to drain the drip rail so water does not collect and sit in it which will eventually rot it out again maybe some strategically placed drain holes? Did Toyota put drain holes in the factory drip rails? I cant tell on mine due to the rot.

 

[sean]

one more pic of the passenger side