Rusty Wagon Rebuild (4 Viewers)

[kevinmrowland]

My question is that since this gives you basically a fresh start, are there going to be any major changes to what was on your other rig or are you going to be basically recreating the previous version?
Hopefully that sentence makes sense.

Yeah you bet.
It's going to be tan now, does that count?
For the most part I will just be rebuilding the same thing, I kinda like it the way it was.

$210 a ton for scrap cars down here.. At least you can sell the rust for something.

What about kitty-litter? Some of that pure rust got contaminated along the way....

Fantastic, I was worried about you leaving a trail of rusty bits from STL back home. Looks like most of it made it.

We were leaving a trail of bread-crumbs so you guys could come and visit!
As a side note, I'm loving the progression of your avatar, just like a real tat. It was BW line art for awhile, now we are getting some color fill...

Hey Kevin, if you decide to part with the rear side windows from that grey truck, let me know. I'm looking for a set of those...

Yeah sure, i'll put you on a list somewhere....

Kevin, glad to hear that you're working on a new rust free body and frame! I've got to say though, I've beat you to it Tell you what though, the motor lift method looks much safer than the high-lift method.
Have any special modifications lined up for the new body?

You guys turned that ol' beast around pretty quick! How 'bout we do this, compare times from a start-point and then divide by the number of hands you had to help you out. I still might be able to beat you with the swap that way.....

What are you going to do for rust prevention while you have it all apart? I have delusions of taking the body off like that and laying a coat of POR-15 on every surface I can prep from the frame to the roof. Fortunately here in Arkansas we don't see much salt on the roads, so I don't have as much to fear.

This entire frame/body combo was already "restored" once. I sandblasted the whole thing and painted it all with POR15. If you notice, my frame is actually still in pretty good shape, but what I'm finding is that the POR formed a shell that let parts corrode inside the shell, so bits look good, but then fall apart when you mess with them.
For this one I am having the frame dipped and powder coated, but I'll just put a fresh coat of paint on the body and run it.
One thing that I've found, and really like, is on old hot-rodder trick from up in the north-east, they take ATF in a little syringe and squirt it into the inside of body seams, it is the only thing that I've seen that really wicks up and in between the many layers of crappy sheet metal that are the ultimate demise of these trucks. No amount of paint or wax-oil will migrate into the tiny gaps between unpainted sheet metal where the rust starts.

finally a funny thread in the 60 forum.
get it!
georg

I do what I can Georg!
Did I forget to mention that Georg is sponsoring this build? Yup, he has a growing list of parts I'm waiting on....what a guy



KR

 

[tperry616]

That answers my question. Can't wait to see it all come back together.

I do have one other question though and this may not be the right place to ask, but how do you retain your curtains to the headliner? I've seen the pictures of it stowed, but can't figure out a decent way to keep them up without destroying the headliner in the process.

Thanks!

 

[kevinmrowland]

That's fine, check in on this old thread for more info:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/97847-picture-bed-support-back-60-a.html

KR

 

[Kanatii]

Thats awesome. Although you're making me think twice about painted coatings. I've already been doing my own redneck rust inhibiting in a similar fashion by rubbing down every surface I could get my hands into on the bottom of the truck with oily rags dipped in the mixture of used gear oil and motor oil that is in my oil vat in the shop.

I'll have to use a turkey basting syringe and squirt ATF up inside the drain holes of the body seams. I've already been cleaning them out with a compressed air jet as I'm laying around under the truck.

I can't wait to see how this one comes together, as your old truck was definitely one I followed. I've been making my wife look at your setup and your adventures to prove to her that a couple really can be comfortable living out of a cruiser.

Jeff

 

[tperry616]

That's fine, check in on this old thread for more info:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/97847-picture-bed-support-back-60-a.html

KR

Thanks! That thread is a huge help.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You guys turned that ol' beast around pretty quick! How 'bout we do this, compare times from a start-point and then divide by the number of hands you had to help you out. I still might be able to beat you with the swap that way.....
KR

True, I did have a couple of extra sets of hands. I think I counted 8 that were turning serious wrenches.

Either way, at least you'll have a rust free truck! Looking forward to the completed truck

 

[gregnash]

Interested in watching this move forward! So are you going to powder coat the frame while it is off? POR, Rust-Bullet?

 

[kevinmrowland]

I'll have to use a turkey basting syringe and squirt ATF up inside the drain holes of the body seams. I've already been cleaning them out with a compressed air jet as I'm laying around under the truck.

A turkey baster might be way too big, it really only takes a tiny amount of ATF and it gets everywhere. I guess that is the benefit, it is one of the few things that will actually wick up against gravity and get between the seams.

True, I did have a couple of extra sets of hands. I think I counted 8 that were turning serious wrenches.

Yeah, I got a kick out of checking in on your thread, too cool to see all the help.

Interested in watching this move forward! So are you going to powder coat the frame while it is off? POR, Rust-Bullet?

I did a full POR job last time, not happy with it at all, wont be doing that anymore.
This time I am going to have the frame acid dipped and then powder coated, will be doing as much powder coating as I can afford.

 

[kevinmrowland]

A few more updates, rust, rust and more rust.

At this point pretty much everything is apart now though, spent the weekend completely striping the axles down.

It's just a nightmare taking everything back apart with all the rust, even though this was all stripped clean less than 10 years ago.

I can just weld these back together, right?

Those of you who know me know that I like to have things neat and clean and orderly, this part of the project is killing me.

The little shop crane sure is coming in handy though, keep finding nice uses for it. I certainly miss the overhead bridge crane from back at home, but this works well.

 

[esh]

You better not get things so clean you won't want to go anywhere!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Lazy!!

Good use of your resources man. I think that's the first time I've seen someone remove a diff with an engine hoist!

 

[kevinmrowland]

You better not get things so clean you won't want to go anywhere!

Not too worried about that happening, already itching to get back in the truck and go camping.

Lazy!!

I know, right! The funny thing is my increasing laziness is making me have to think harder.

 

[lcolon]

Lazy!!

Good use of your resources man. I think that's the first time I've seen someone remove a diff with an engine hoist!

Having carried a few around personally - I can empathize with that hoist... Wish I would have thought of that!!! I could have moved my diffs from the floor, to the back of the truck, etc. without breaking a sweat.

You could use those to workout they are so heavy

 

[NorCalBorn]

Rusty Wagon Rebuild


Hey Guys, I got my tetanus shot out of the way this week!

Fixed!

Subscribed.

 

[Chriedwa]

Wow. This just makes my head swim. I have two questions. one on topic and one off topic:
1. Is the sole reason for so much rust in your rig due to the salt on the roads where you live?
and
2. What's the status of the rear hatch weather strip?

 

[beaufort-fj60]

wow, your old wagon was rusty as all get out.

 

[kevinmrowland]

Wow. This just makes my head swim. I have two questions. one on topic and one off topic:
1. Is the sole reason for so much rust in your rig due to the salt on the roads where you live?
and
2. What's the status of the rear hatch weather strip?

Yup, just the salt. And I even take good care of it, regular car washes (where I crawl around under it with the wand and get into everything, oil everything, cover everything else with grease. It's just doesn't matter, you are luck to get 10 years out of a car that gets used in the salt. So stupid.

As for the hatch seals, don't tell anyone else but they should actually be getting here today.

wow, your old wagon was rusty as all get out.

Rust!?!? Where?

 

[kevinmrowland]

Having carried a few around personally - I can empathize with that hoist... Wish I would have thought of that!!! I could have moved my diffs from the floor, to the back of the truck, etc. without breaking a sweat.

You could use those to workout they are so heavy

Yeah, I've been using that thing for all kinds of stuff. I'm not one to promote Hobo Freight, but 230 bucks got me this and the load leveler. I've gotten that much use out of it so far for sure.
And it folds up to a convenient size:

 

[kevinmrowland]

I've got another good door ready to sell, I'll be posting in the classifieds, this one has the rare non-US spec self venting feature, should fetch a pretty penny.

On a more serious note, the passenger front door is newer than all the others and is actually in farily good shape if anyone needs one:

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Good Grief that thing is rusty! Did your rig come out of Canada? Just curious how it got so rusty since you mentioned you rebuilt it 10 years ago. That new body will look great! Keep it up.

TK