Order of rust repair

[Peanut74]

Ok, I got my cab media blasted and identified all the rusted areas. On the left side I need to replace a section of the floor, kick panel, lower pillar post, inner and outer rocker panels. The floor supports seem to be solid and I will confirm that once I open it up.

My question is what is the order I should use to replace the rusted parts?
> Run some 1" tubing braces and just cut it all out
> Replace the bad floor sections then the pillar and then the inner rockers
> Just the opposite the pillar and inner rocker and then the floor sections

For the outer rockers I will weld them in once I have the doors on. Just want to make sure that I don't get the cab out of alignment

[Peanut74]

I'm also trying to confirm the door hinge pillars did not move. When I measure just under the dash door seal to door seal I measure 64-5/8". When I measure just above the transmission I get 65-5/8". Could someone confirm this for me, please. It might explain some of the issue I seen when I removed the outer rocker.

[jgr]

First douche the entire cap with wax and grease remover blow off and get it in epoxy two nice coats
Some pics would be good, but start with the floor and work your way out to the rockers. I would run a brace from the door hinge area to the door latch area if you are happy with the door gaps always work in sections because if you cut to much out you can get in trouble real fast; also do it while it is bolted to the frame with your new cab mounts.

[Peanut74]

Thanks jgr. After I had the media blasted done I got it in epoxy primer. I wanted to make sure it didn't flash rust on me. I already have enough rust to repair.
Like you stated, I was thinking of running one brace from the door latch to the door pillar. Then running another across from one door pillar to the other. Then work on one side at a time. So thanks for confirming that part.

Where I was stumped was do you work from the outside in or inside out. Thanks for confirming that I should work on the floor first and then the rocker and such.

As far as putting the cab on the frame I can't do that right now. After I took the truck apart I found out the frame was bent. So right now I got the cab on a homemade wooden fixture. So would you advise waiting until I have a new frame before doing the floor repair or go ahead and repair the floor while the cab is on the wooden fixture?

I'll post some pictures once I figure out how to do it.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Peanut74

Thanks jgr. After I had the media blasted done I got it in epoxy primer. I wanted to make sure it didn't flash rust on me. I already have enough rust to repair.
Like you stated, I was thinking of running one brace from the door latch to the door pillar. Then running another across from one door pillar to the other. Then work on one side at a time. So thanks for confirming that part.

Where I was stumped was do you work from the outside in or inside out. Thanks for confirming that I should work on the floor first and then the rocker and such.

As far as putting the cab on the frame I can't do that right now. After I took the truck apart I found out the frame was bent. So right now I got the cab on a homemade wooden fixture. So would you advise waiting until I have a new frame before doing the floor repair or go ahead and repair the floor while the cab is on the wooden fixture?

I'll post some pictures once I figure out how to do it.

I worked from the inside out on mine. I did a lot of the work with the cab on a metal stand with wheels. No issues with things lining up on the frame. Look at my build (link in my signature) and you’ll see what I did.

[jgr]

you should be ok on the wooden dolly as long as you don't cut to much out. if it is possible bolt it to the dolly using the original 4 mounting point's. you will be surprised how much things can shift around. reminder your doors and how they fit will always be you point of reference.

[cleanfreak]

The last one I did , I confirmed the frame was straight and bolted it down with new body mounts , with the frame squared up on 4 jackstands. I have not braced the cab before doing this , but put the doors on and off to check gaps , starting with the window area. Order of rust repair that seems correct is floor and inners first , inner kick panel and a pillar repair , b pillar repair , cab corner , then outer rocker.. fitting the door at almost every step. You can adjust the door gap around the window & b pillar quite a bit by not bracing the cab , before you bolt down the A and B pillars , and before welding the kick panels and cab corners.. hope this helps , looking forward to some pics.

[Peanut74]

Thanks for the info everyone. I am at the edge of the cliff and when I take the plunge I want to make sure I hit water and not the rocks.

After reading everyone's input I am going to make sure the stand and cab are level with the floor. I have the cab mounted to my fixture at the cab mounts so I'm good on that front. Just need to shim where required to get it level.

As for the bracing if I run it to the inside of the cab I should be able to mount the doors to check gaps. Not quite as solid as running the brace in between the pillars but I believe it should work and still allow me to mount the doors to check gaps. What does everyone think about that plan?

[Peanut74]

I think I got it figured out how to upload pictures. Not as easy as copy/paste but I got it to work!!

[rjs53]

Not to bad actually. I replaced cab corners, inner-outer rockers, cab mounts, pillars and patched kick panels. I started by replacing inner rocker first cause my floor was solid enough I used it as a line to keep everything in place. I'm sure everyone else has a better way but I figure if it lined up when I started it would line up when I was done, and it did. I also rebuild the door hinge before trying to use it for reference. Just in case it was hanging a little.

[jgr]

Looks good I think you are on your way!!

[Peanut74]

Well I took the plunge today and started on the drivers side. Cut out the rot on the toe board. I didn't have a patch panel so I made my own and welded it in. Tomorrow I will work on the rust out floor section.

[Peanut74]

Ok Gents I got the toe board, floor, kick panel and A pillar all patched. Next up is the inner and outer rocket panel. My plan is to hang the door so that I can make sure my gaps are good. My question is when I hang the door do I need to have the weather seal in or just having the door latch for the outer rocker to door bottom alignment?

[jgr]

looks good no need for the door seal, hang the door and make sure you are happy with the gaps and feature lines and cut away.

[Peanut74]

Thanks jgr. I just wasn't sure on far to assemble the door for checking gaps. Here is a picture of the order I did things in. As you can see I did brace the "A" pillar to make sure it did not sag down when I cut the floor and kick panel out. Nice thing was my son in-law was here to help. He went to automotive fab school so he was a big help to make sure everything I was doing made sense.
I did have to modify the kick panel some to get it to go but not much. The "A" pillar patch panel was a different story. Nothing really matched up well so I had to a lot cutting and adding material to get it to fit on the cab.

Now on to the inner/outer rockers and the cab corner

[Peanut74]

Ok, got the LH floor repaired now I am working on the inner and outer rockers. But before I go to far I have a question. At the outer rocker and cab corner I have an area behind the outer rocker that is open and I see the same thing on the RH side. My question is should their be an opening as shown in the picture?

It would be sealed off once I put seam sealer in the outer rocker to cab jouint.

[Peanut74]

Thought I would post some pictures of my repaired cab. I also wanted to say thanks to the people who helped me with their advise. Still have to block sand as such but the hard part is done. I just need to sand, and sand and sand some more.

[Richard2112]

That cab is looking good. I can bend a wrench but body work and paint is alien to me. I read the thread and it may as well have been written in latin. When I get to that point, I'm going to have a ton of questions. Or farm out the job.

[May70]

Wow workin fast!

[sduckworth13]

Nice work! Have you fitted the doors on?

[Peanut74]

Richard2112, the way I started was to do a small repair first and get the hang of it first. My biggest learning curve was the welding of the panels. I was really struggled with it until my son in-law, a certified welder, gave me some welding tips and all of a sudden the light came on and comfortable with it.

I did fit the doors on as I worked on the rockers. However, the doors did not have the guts in them so I am expecting to have to refit the doors a bit.

[Richard2112]

Originally Posted by Peanut74

Richard2112, the way I started was to do a small repair first and get the hang of it first. My biggest learning curve was the welding of the panels. I was really struggled with it until my son in-law, a certified welder, gave me some welding tips and all of a sudden the light came on and comfortable with it.

I did fit the doors on as I worked on the rockers. However, the doors did not have the guts in them so I am expecting to have to refit the doors a bit.

Thank you for the tips. The welding is something I could work through eventually. It's more the bracing of the cab that boggles me. I've never done it and my rockers are almost dust. Rusty dust. And my door alignment aint so great. So I wouldn't know what to expect from bracing a cab and adjusting the braces so the doors align. I suspect that I might over shoot the target alignment and then be stuck not being able to correct it. Maybe that isn't possible but since I know almost nothing about body/paint, I'm afraid that will have to fall into more capable hands.

Unfortunately, outside of this forum, I wouldn't actually know which body shop might be capable. I'm afraid of turning my truck over to someone who might just weld the rockers in and then I can never align my doors.

The job you're doing looks correct and professional. I have a lot of learning to do in this area.

[Peanut74]

As far as bracing I put a brace from door to door on the front and back to hold the door jambs from moving in or out. Then cross brace driver front to pass rear and vise versa and finally front to rear jamb on each door opening. That should lock everything in place and hold it there. One thing to remember is that back in the 60's the door fit up was not that great so gaps were all over the place.