Cab corner question

[SUX2BU99]

So my passenger side cab corner has a rust spot about the size of a golf ball, right beside the seam where the rocker and cab corner meet. It was bubbling when I bought the truck in April 04 and got a little worse, but I've managed to keep it pretty slow spreading since I don't the drive the truck too often and it's always garaged. Anyway, I was down there having a closer look and it looks like the metal is triple-wall there. From the backside I see a layer of metal with a drain hole in it and then there seemed to be another layer of metal behind the drain hole, which wasn't the outside metal.  That's what it seemed like anyway. Question is when you guys cut out rust in this area, or any area with multiple walls, do you just cut right through all the walls of metal? Does it then get replaced with a single-wall piece of metal? Just trying to visualize and figure out the details of what needs to be done before I break out the air saw or cut-off wheel.

Thanks!

[Fast68]

normally a fix is to grind out the rust as good as possible and use tiger hair glass

better is to weld repair it with a piece of tine cut out to fit

use magnets to hold it flush and in place

tack it in place al around it and tap it donw a little and grind and smooth over with the squeeze tube filler stuff, red or green

then prime and sand over and over til smooth


good luck

[Blazin]

There should only be two walls of metal. You might be seeing the tab of the rocker that goes in behind the outside sheet metal of the corner.The outer and inner. You can cut out the outer without cutting the inner. Then fabricate a patch or cut one out of a pre made cab corner. Weld it in place with many spots that will end up makeing a continuous bead. If you replace it all the way to the bottom you will need to dril a few holes in the preformed corner to spot weld it along the bottom edge. Remeber the rocker goes in behind the outer corner. Don't weld the seam between the two, it get filled with seam sealer after the primer is finish sanded. Then grind it fairly flush. Fine balance between flush and to much, if you take to much weld off it could posibly crack right at the seam. You take most of it off. Then rough up the entire area a good 5" to 8" up the corner with 36 grit fiber grinding wheel. Use short strand fiberglass filler to fill it, block sand that or use a grinder if you are good with one. Use plain body filler for a second posibly third coat if needed, block sand that in a cross hatch pattern at a 45 degree angle to the corner 36 then 80 grit. Then use a self etching primer, and a high build urethane primer ( you can get them in a spray bomb now with a catalist in the can that you break to activate ). Sand that with 320 or 400 grit paper, apply the seam sealer to the joint, mask, and paint.
P.S. the stuff in the squeeze tube is not filler, it is putty. Also it is garbage, I don't know any body men that still use it. It used to be used to fill the 80 grit scratches in the filler after you primed the repair with laquer primer. It shrinks over time and pulls sand srcatches. That is where the urethane primer comes in. It takes the place of putty and laquer primers with one product that out performs both of them put together.  

Edited by: Blazin at: 3/22/07 3:04 pm

[SUX2BU99]

Thanks for the great info guys. Maybe this 'middle' metal I'm seeing is indeed the rocker. My plan was to cut out the outer rusted metal and put in a patch either from a replacement cab corner or just a piece of sheet metal I form myself since it's a small area and doesn't reach down to the bottom edge. I don't plan on welding though; I plan on using body panel adhesive since a) I don't know how to weld b) it's pretty easy to use some adhesive on such a small area rather than weld and c) heckuva lot cheaper than buying or even renting a welding and messing it all up!  After gluing it in place I will use some 'kitty hair' (fiberglass reinforced body filler) for rough shaping, sand it down and then put some Rage Gold over top for smoothing and blending and then primer over top.  Oh, I will also try to get in as much POR15 as I can in the entire area and probably coat both sides of the patch panel as well. Blazin' gave some great info on how to sand so thank you for that!

[SUX2BU99]

Oh, for primer I was thinking of using the rust-inhibiting spray bomb primer that I have already.  Yes, no?

[Blazin]

On bare metal you want a self etching primer. SEM makes a good one and you can get it in a spray bomb. The ones you buy at the hardware store or Crap Mart arent worth a crap.
I have used the panel adhesive to install cab corners. It worked very well.