rust need a little help

[black beauty]

on my 89 ive got just a little rust area and i need some advice from yall. on the passenger side of the truck under the rear speaker, in front of the rear bench seat where ot drops down to the front of the truck, right in that area i have a rust spot that is about the size of a softball. its pretty bad too. the carpet is all thats covering up the daylight. so what should i do? my way of thinking here is to cut the hole out in a square and then weld pieces back in to fill it up. but thats what im thinking. if anyone has any better ideas or suggestions let me know. and if im going in the right direction with my idea what thickness should the replacement metal be? thanx guys

 

[Justshootme84]

Check with Jeff's Bronco Graveyard and LMC Truck on a replacement panel for that area of the floor. They do sell new metal to fix that area. I agree that the best way to solve your problem is to cut out the rusted area and put in new metal. I would also look at the rest of the body for similar rusted-out sections. On my 86 Bronco, I was pulling the t-case and also saw daylight thru the floor. Found alot more rust after pulling the hardtop, and then the tailgate fell off when I opened it. The area where the hinges bolted to the body had rusted out. Other areas are at the bottom of the doors and iside the rear wheel openings. JSM84

 

[Broncobill78]

on my 89 ive got just a little rust area and i need some advice from yall. on the passenger side of the truck under the rear speaker, in front of the rear bench seat where ot drops down to the front of the truck, right in that area i have a rust spot that is about the size of a softball. its pretty bad too. the carpet is all thats covering up the daylight. so what should i do? my way of thinking here is to cut the hole out in a square and then weld pieces back in to fill it up. but thats what im thinking. if anyone has any better ideas or suggestions let me know. and if im going in the right direction with my idea what thickness should the replacement metal be? thanx guys

Well, floor panels can be hard. to be honest I think the BEST way is to probably cut out everything that's rotted then trim a patch panel and weld it into place. Not everyone can do that so you can follow SeaBronc's advise and use the newer adhesives to do the job (I've never used them myself but they sure do sound like an excellent way to effect this sort of repair) OR you can go the old school route and use rivets (I've done this and would strongly advise against it but if you have NO other choice then you do what you need to, ya fix it, move on & then apologize to the guy who buys it from you). Replacement panels ARE available as JSM mentioned but they tend to be large and intended to replace whole chunks. If it's a softball-sized hole then some scrap and a pair of tin-snips might be better. Just be sure to repair it with an equally thick piece of material (don't grab your TIG and an old beer can). as a rough approximation your average stop sign is about the same thickness but I could never suggest something like that, besides, you'd need a TIG to weld aluminum to steel anyways. There are a LOT of things out there that you can use for patches, old steel barrels have always been a particular favorite but use what you find (pls notice I said FIND and not steal)

 

[black beauty]

bronco bill and jsm thanks for the posts. when i posted this i had hope you two would be willing to reply. thanks for giving me your advice. im gonna go the right route and cut patch and weld the spot with the apprpratre thickness metal. thanks for your posts.

 

[shift1313]

i havent found a patch for that area yet or at least not one thats listed well. I think the best bet is either find a truck in the junk yard that hasnt rotted through and have someone there cut it out for you, or make it yourself.

i believe this is what your talking about

 

[black beauty]

ok thats behind the rear seat corret? it looks like it to me. mine is in the front and is not even close to being that bad. thats a total cancer situation mine is just a good softball size hole and everything around it is still intact, paint and all.

 

[shift1313]

nope that pic is the corner just under the rear speakers just behind the drivers seat belt(in the pic). That little area holds water like theres no tomorrow.

 

[Seabronc]

i havent found a patch for that area yet or at least not one thats listed well. I think the best bet is either find a truck in the junk yard that hasnt rotted through and have someone there cut it out for you, or make it yourself.
i believe this is what your talking about

That is the result of Ford's lousy splash guard design. If you look at the splash guard, it has a nice slot right up against the quarter panel. I think Ford designed it that way in order to cause the truck to rot out so you would have to buy a new truck,(the 5 year obsolescence plan). That causes mud and water to be thrown right into two places that are perfectly designed to hold it there, (1. between the quarter panel and the rear door post and 2. up on top of the rear cross member and just under the tail light.) In my last round of body work, I redesigned the splash guard to seal against both sides of the wheel well which keeps the crap out of those areas. It's one of those things Ford could have fixed but never chose to.

As far as that area goes, I don't know of anyone who offers preshaped replacement metal. It definitely needs to be completely cut out and replaced. As suggested, the easiest fix would be to find a truck with that are in tact and not rusted, cut more donor metal than you think you need, cut out the bad area, and fit the donor piece in. However, keep in mind, when you remove the obvious rust, you will most likely find other damage under it. It's not a real easy place to work in, but definitely doable.

Good luck,

>-

The attached photos show my solution for the splash guard problem. The first shows the stock guard with a tab that leaves a large slot for crap to get by and lodge in all the wrong places plus my redesigned guards. The second and third show my redesigned guards installed, (sorry the pictures are not too clear, but they seal off those areas. The 4th is an example of the area that gets cancer with the stock guards.

 

[needatruck]

What you were saying abot cutting it out and sanding it down is prolly your best bet.It looks like you got another spot up to the right of the pic, I would cut all of that corner piece out and replace it.

 

[michibronc]

Hey Seabronc,

What did you make your custom splash guards from? What a great idea.

That is the result of Ford's lousy splash guard design. If you look at the splash guard, it has a nice slot right up against the quarter panel. I think Ford designed it that way in order to cause the truck to rot out so you would have to buy a new truck,(the 5 year obsolescence plan). That causes mud and water to be thrown right into two places that are perfectly designed to hold it there, (1. between the quarter panel and the rear door post and 2. up on top of the rear cross member and just under the tail light.) In my last round of body work, I redesigned the splash guard to seal against both sides of the wheel well which keeps the crap out of those areas. It's one of those things Ford could have fixed but never chose to.
As far as that area goes, I don't know of anyone who offers preshaped replacement metal. It definitely needs to be completely cut out and replaced. As suggested, the easiest fix would be to find a truck with that are in tact and not rusted, cut more donor metal than you think you need, cut out the bad area, and fit the donor piece in. However, keep in mind, when you remove the obvious rust, you will most likely find other damage under it. It's not a real easy place to work in, but definitely doable.

Good luck,

>-

The attached photos show my solution for the splash guard problem. The first shows the stock guard with a tab that leaves a large slot for crap to get by and lodge in all the wrong places plus my redesigned guards. The second and third show my redesigned guards installed, (sorry the pictures are not too clear, but they seal off those areas. The 4th is an example of the area that gets cancer with the stock guards.

 

[BLADE262US]

Can you post a pic of the area you need again they arent showing up . I have a 94 that I posted in the forsale it pains me to do it but scrap is so high right now and Im wanting to add onto my pole barn so next week its going along with a 92 that I have for parts to scap. If you want to cover shipping Ill cut the section out for you I have a very large plasma cutter that does a very nice job of things like that . After reading through this ppost I do want to add something you cannot weld aluminum to steel so if you do decide to make a patch it must be steel . I weld aluminum alot and it requires a tig welder set on AC weld process the steel will be DC negative electrode . But honestly the TIG would take way too long MIG welding it would be the next best option but Seabronc's suggestion of the adhesive is very good . The adhesive they have now holds the body parts together as well as welding but without the warpage . Allot of body shops use it now days for that reason makes less work for them . /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />