Rusty Wagon Rebuild (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter kevinmrowland
- Start date
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Lookin' good. I wonder what life expectance the designers @ Toyota have in mind. At some point I know they want us to buy new rigs..
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #83
Absolutely, but it's a complicated equation. You have to think of brand loyalty as well (and if there is one thing the Japanese know it's loyalty).
It says volumes about a brand if their trucks from 30 years ago are still on the road and trucking.
From a straight design standpoint the important comparative for body rust and sheet metal failure is the relative durability of the mechanical components. The mechanical design, engineering, and execution on these vehicles is stellar, the drive drains can easily go a million miles with diligent service, that means the body should be engineered to withstand the same use since one is useless without the other. If you integrate planed obsolescence into any product, a responsible and appropriate design will develop all the components to withstand the same period of use and then be able to gracefully transition into their next step in the material circle.
Many of us on this site intend to drive these things much longer than any reasonable person would, doing our part for brand loyalty and image, it's a shame that the only real stumbling block in that process are a handful of poor decisions in body manufacturing.
Design rant over.
It says volumes about a brand if their trucks from 30 years ago are still on the road and trucking.
From a straight design standpoint the important comparative for body rust and sheet metal failure is the relative durability of the mechanical components. The mechanical design, engineering, and execution on these vehicles is stellar, the drive drains can easily go a million miles with diligent service, that means the body should be engineered to withstand the same use since one is useless without the other. If you integrate planed obsolescence into any product, a responsible and appropriate design will develop all the components to withstand the same period of use and then be able to gracefully transition into their next step in the material circle.
Many of us on this site intend to drive these things much longer than any reasonable person would, doing our part for brand loyalty and image, it's a shame that the only real stumbling block in that process are a handful of poor decisions in body manufacturing.
Design rant over.
Awesome Rockers!
This is SO cool! I was thinking about something like this to fix the rockers on my 60, but I lack the skill and tools. Cool to see someone doing this. I'll be eager to see how it turns out. Keep it up! And thanks for the pics.
This is SO cool! I was thinking about something like this to fix the rockers on my 60, but I lack the skill and tools. Cool to see someone doing this. I'll be eager to see how it turns out. Keep it up! And thanks for the pics.
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #85
Oh it's not my idea, quite a few folks have gone this route, we had to do this on our last body as well, there are photos from that in my ROTW thread linked below.
I will definetly be keeping this in mind when it comes time to fix the rusty rockers on my 60. Hopefully mine turn out this well.
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #87
Got the other side in and except for patching in the ends of the tube they are pretty much set.
Took some pics of the underside, you don't want to flatten out the inner panel, just clamp the flat parts tight to the new rocker and weld those, I leave all the other spots open to allow for good drainage (remember all that crud that was in there before) moisture is supposed to drain into the rockers, they need to in turn drain as well as they possibly can.
Other side:
Nice even reveal from the body, about an inch, a bit less in the center.
From the front:
This front lip tapers in away from the new rocker, once everything is welded up I pull it back flush and weld it solid, it's a structurally important part, need to be sturdy.
It's really key that the front fenders be off for this work, you can see this is all welded up tight, otherwise everything that gets thrown up from the front wheels would go right in to soak all that new clean metal.
...
Took some pics of the underside, you don't want to flatten out the inner panel, just clamp the flat parts tight to the new rocker and weld those, I leave all the other spots open to allow for good drainage (remember all that crud that was in there before) moisture is supposed to drain into the rockers, they need to in turn drain as well as they possibly can.
Other side:
Nice even reveal from the body, about an inch, a bit less in the center.
From the front:
This front lip tapers in away from the new rocker, once everything is welded up I pull it back flush and weld it solid, it's a structurally important part, need to be sturdy.
It's really key that the front fenders be off for this work, you can see this is all welded up tight, otherwise everything that gets thrown up from the front wheels would go right in to soak all that new clean metal.
...
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #88
The tailgate from this new tan truck is actually all rotted out (pretty sure it was replaced with one from a truck that had not been in such a friendly climate, they can look fine from the outside and only be a few years from exploding with rust)
Anyway, I'll have to make do with the tailgate from our rusty truck until I find a cleaner one, this one is in pretty good shape so I cleaned up what I could and will roll with it.
While I was at it I decided to change things up a bit, I am sick and tired of those stupid chincy tailgate light bars, I have had so many of them apart, messing with the lights, sandblasting them, trying to get a few more years out of them........ sick of it.
I scavenged this light bar from the tailgate of an 80 series years ago, so I welded up the old mount holes in the gate and drilled new ones for this.
These are not actually visual parts on the 80s, the TOYOTA has been moved to the lower lip of the lift gate and comes down to cover this thing, but it's sturdy and all plastic so it wont rot out.
They have some goopy edge seal on there, I cleaned that off and put on new rubber edge trim.
Holes drilled, one for the grommet as well.
That'll work:
...
Anyway, I'll have to make do with the tailgate from our rusty truck until I find a cleaner one, this one is in pretty good shape so I cleaned up what I could and will roll with it.
While I was at it I decided to change things up a bit, I am sick and tired of those stupid chincy tailgate light bars, I have had so many of them apart, messing with the lights, sandblasting them, trying to get a few more years out of them........ sick of it.
I scavenged this light bar from the tailgate of an 80 series years ago, so I welded up the old mount holes in the gate and drilled new ones for this.
These are not actually visual parts on the 80s, the TOYOTA has been moved to the lower lip of the lift gate and comes down to cover this thing, but it's sturdy and all plastic so it wont rot out.
They have some goopy edge seal on there, I cleaned that off and put on new rubber edge trim.
Holes drilled, one for the grommet as well.
That'll work:
...
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #89
This truck had been the victim of a redneck v8 swap so there were a few holes in the firewall that needed to be patched, welded those up and then drilled a new hole and welded on nuts to mount the 62 throttle cable. (I use one for the HZ throttle, bolts up nicely)
Also made this little scab plate for the hole that the AC lines go through in the core support, I hate how you have to disconnect and drain the AC anytime you need to do major service work. With this little plate I can unbolt it and remove the condenser, drier, and compressor all still plumbed together and set them out of the way if the motor needs to come out or you need to get to the front of the motor.
Long description, simple fix:
I guess that's it for tonight, I'll keep chipping away at it, running out of time.
.
Also made this little scab plate for the hole that the AC lines go through in the core support, I hate how you have to disconnect and drain the AC anytime you need to do major service work. With this little plate I can unbolt it and remove the condenser, drier, and compressor all still plumbed together and set them out of the way if the motor needs to come out or you need to get to the front of the motor.
Long description, simple fix:
I guess that's it for tonight, I'll keep chipping away at it, running out of time.
.
This is not a rebuild, its a dissection. Good work Kevin
Amazing work! 
Mike
I'm sure you've been asked this a hundred times, but what camera/ lens are you running? the pics are crisp! Great job on the build thus far!
TK
TK
TS888
Almost the person my dog thinks I am...
Hey Kevin, I'm suffering sellers remorse -- the more I think about it, the worse I feel about creating all this work for you.
How about if I come by in September or so and collect it? I'll return your money and throw in a 12 pack of Ninkasi TDIPA as penance for putting you through the trouble of fixing all the rust and installing all the upgrades.
If it's not done by September, I can wait...
How about if I come by in September or so and collect it? I'll return your money and throw in a 12 pack of Ninkasi TDIPA as penance for putting you through the trouble of fixing all the rust and installing all the upgrades.
If it's not done by September, I can wait...
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #95
Thanks everyone, it feels good to go through and take care of all this stuff, but at the same time I kinda need to get it done. I'm already in for more than I was planing, but I keep doing the; "well, while I'm at it" justification game. 
The saving grace for the camera has actually been the purchase of something called Camera Armor right when it was new, has really helped keep dust out and bumps and bruises to a minimum, camera still looks fairly new under the armor.
Not much to report this time.
Pulled the tranny and bellhousing/flywheel since I have a small rear main seal leak, will get that cleaned up and hopefully sealed up.
Got the ends of the tubes capped.
There are a handuful of other little things that got crossed off the list, but those are the only photos I've got.
.
I'm already in for more than I was planing, but I keep doing the; "well, while I'm at it" justification game. Actually, not really, they are just snapshots. I have an older Cannon XTI and I bought a Tamron 17-50 lens, that is where the pics come from, even though it is a lower end lens the key thing is that it gives me a 2.8 aperture so the lower light levels are not an issue and I can still get reasonably clear pics. There is no way I can justify the expense of a good Cannon lens, I drop things and abuse them, this is my travel and shop camera so it needs to be in some pretty nasty environments without making me cry if something happens to it.
The saving grace for the camera has actually been the purchase of something called Camera Armor right when it was new, has really helped keep dust out and bumps and bruises to a minimum, camera still looks fairly new under the armor.
Not much to report this time.
Pulled the tranny and bellhousing/flywheel since I have a small rear main seal leak, will get that cleaned up and hopefully sealed up.
Got the ends of the tubes capped.
There are a handuful of other little things that got crossed off the list, but those are the only photos I've got.
.
rover67
SILVER Star
Man, not sure how I missed this thread. Looking really great Kevin. You are going to end up with a really nice rig when this phase is done. I am really excited for you.
On min rust is starting to come through in a lot of places. Seeing what you are coming across is making me think that the only really way to fix it is to do a body sway with some additional TLC like you are doing. At one point I was thinking it might be fixable...
Thanks for posting up in such detail
On min rust is starting to come through in a lot of places. Seeing what you are coming across is making me think that the only really way to fix it is to do a body sway with some additional TLC like you are doing. At one point I was thinking it might be fixable...
Thanks for posting up in such detail
kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
- Thread starter
- #100
Chipping away at it....
Slacking off on updates again, it's tough to have the time to work AND post, so the posting suffers I'm afraid.
Seems like mostly I've just been sanding when I get the chance, but there are a few other photos on the camera.
Made some simple external patches for the the areas I cut out on the rear sill.
Anything that is getting sealed up I get ATF in there while I can.
...
Slacking off on updates again, it's tough to have the time to work AND post, so the posting suffers I'm afraid.
Seems like mostly I've just been sanding when I get the chance, but there are a few other photos on the camera.
Made some simple external patches for the the areas I cut out on the rear sill.
Anything that is getting sealed up I get ATF in there while I can.
...
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