Truck quarter panel/inner panel replacement

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:30 am
Sunday. Beautiful day, but really windy. I removed all the spot welds I could reach without taking off the bumper...that dreaded chore. I first had to remove my trailer hitch. Should be pretty simple, just six bolts. Well there's always one bolt that gives you a hard time. I spent about an hour trying to remove this one bolt. The more I loosened it, the more impossible it was to turn. Finally, I got the bright idea to thread another nut on the end of the bolt and run it down as far as I could. That did the trick. Just needed to break up some rust.

Then, I got sidetracked for another hour when I saw how rusted my hitch was. I broke out the needle scaler and went to town. It's kind of addicting, but I'm sure my neighbor didn't care for the awful noise it makes.

Finally I got the bumper off and drilled out the last three spot welds, then cleaned up all the old spot welds and scraped off the caulk.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:31 am
I noticed that on both the replacement bed and my own that there is a corrosion spot where the front quarter panel bolts onto the bed front. Water trickles down this seam because it isn't caulked on the top or the outside seam, only on the inside seam. I'm going to give this area some special attention, then see if I can get some rust converter into the seam on the driver's side when I remove the bed from the frame. For a 12 year old truck, the amount of corrosion is pretty minimal.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:35 am
Now it's time to do a trial fitting. I'm working alone, so it was tricky getting the quarter panel assembly over the corner post. I stood in the truck bed and lowered it down onto the post as best as I could, then asked myself what am I going to do now? I couldn't let go of it because I didn't plan ahead. :whoops: So I left it wedged in between the cab and the corner post and jumped down onto the ground to struggle with it some more. It was difficult because I couldn't really see what was going on because the quarter panel was blocking my view. I had to work by feel.

When I finally got it in place, I again asked myself what am I going to do now? Again, I went off half-cocked and I couldn't let go of it. :knockout: Luckily, I could reach a racketting strap in the bed and I hooked it to the top of the rear door. Then I went and got a jack stand and some wood planks to support the front.

Then you do get it in place, the bottom rear corner will have to be pulled rearward and over the lower part of the post. Pretty easy though.

I'm using vice grips to hold it in place while I fit it. A straight edge across the bed rails and a tape measure will help in getting the vertical adjustment right. The Mk-1 Mod-0 eyeball for the horizontal adjustment.

I thought I'd be able to do the work with the truck bed on, but that's going to be too difficult. What I will do is do all the spot welds I can with the bed in place, then remove it to do the welds underneath and that one front spot weld. I'll tackle that tomorrow. I also hope to have everything put back together by the end of the day.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:38 am
I noticed that the wheel well was a lot higher than the bed floor, so I used some shims to raise up the bed floor, basically matching what I see on the driver's side. Once everything is welded, it will settle back down, I hope.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:41 am
It rained most of Monday, so I didn't get much done, but today was beautiful. I finished cleaning up the areas to be welded, sprayed a couple of coats of 3M weld-through primer, rigged up a gantry crane from ladders, and lowered the fender slowly onto the bed. I made sure that I touched up any with the primer that got marred during the process.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:44 am
Welded all the spots in the wheel well and top of corner post. Now it's time to remove the bed. Once again I made a gantry crane out of ladders, used my game hoist in the front and saw horses in the back. This bed isn't really that heavy, so I wasn't too concerned about my ladder breaking, although I did have to secure it with c-clamps and bungee cords to keep the two ladder sections on the top part together. I strapped the extension ladder to the A-frame ladders with ratcheting straps. After I got it high enough, I drove the truck out from under it. Notice the green paint on the grass near the tire. This will help me get the truck back in the right position for re-installation. Before I worked under the bed, I made some jack stands out of saw horsed and dimensional lumber.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:45 am
Because I had the bed off, I decided to fix up the front bed wall that was dented due to slamming on the brakes with a load of OSB sheets. I repaired some of the broken spot welds. I wish all my plug welds looked like this.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:50 am
I put it all back together today, except for the bumper and trailer hitch. I did a lot of grinding on my fugly plug welds, but everything looks okay. I'm a perfectionists, but I'm also realistic enough to realize that one does not become a skilled plug welder after two or three days. I'll touch up what I need to with glazing compound when I paint the truck.

Overall, I'm very happy with how everything turned out.

I found some corrosion on the frame. I hit it with my Harbor Freight needle scaler (great purchase), then some rust converter, then a Rustoleum top coat.

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I straightened out the front bed wall as best as I could.

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I scrubbed the plug welds underneath the bed with denatured alcohol, then two coats of self-etch primer, two coats of primer sealer, two coats of Rustoleum top coat, then a thick coat of rubberized undercoating. Hopefully between the zinc-rich weld through primer and all this, corrosion won't be in my trucks near future.

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I fabricated a little "pusher" using an old cargo bar and a nail to clamp down the sheet metal at the top of the corner post.

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Here are the visible welds. A little glazing compound will make them look pretty good.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:52 am
One last thing, I used a 7' level and a tape measure to get the positioning of the area below the tail light just right. I positioned the level horizontally just below the tail lights, then measured from the rear bed rail to the level. The driver's side was 2.5". The passenger side was 2.75". So, I had to push the lower rear part of the quarter panel about 1/4" toward the front and clamp it to get it the same.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:55 am
That's how it's done.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
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