Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:06 pm by mrjim2017
Part 2 - KB5 Wheel Well Repairs
Pic #9 - The back side of the wheel well cut out rusty panel. You can easily see the rust built up around each bolt hole. The rust build up was pushing the panel out. It was not sealed going around the wheel well arch, just drawn tight with the bolts, so water was able to get up and under and between the outer panel and wheel well inner panel as the rust built up making it worse.
Pic #10 - I went to a local steel supplier and had them cut me two 14 gauge patch panels. I then laid the wheel well cut-out section on top of the new panel and outlined it with a sharpie to give me my lines that I needed to cut the panel with a plasma cutter I have at my workplace. I left my lines oversized so that it gave me some leeway to trim-to-fit when I fitted the panel to the truck. I can remove material better than have to add material. Here is the panel after laser cutting.
Pic #11 - I once again laid the old panel on top of my cut panel to check for fit. I clamped the 2 pieces together and used my small 4 1/2 hand held grinder with steel grinding wheel to grind away the plasma cut edges following the curvature of the wheel well arch. This was just the first of a lot of grinding & fitting of the panel.
Pic #12 - I made alignment marks on the box body to help in shaping/cutting the new steel panel. I made an alignment mark in the middle/top of the wheel well arch and a matching one on the center of the replacement panel so as to keep the panel lined up each time I made an adjustment to it. I had to shape the bottom "legs" on each side of the wheel well so the panel would fit and drop down snug over the wheel well arch. Slow going grinding, re-fit, mark where to trim with the sharpie, grind, and repeat until the panel would drop down into place over the wheel well arch.
Next are the alignment lines that are made directly above each of my cuts on the panel sides. I also put a line down at the base on the wheel well molding. Then I placed the panel back in place and made my "cut" marks on the replacement panel to match the alignment marks on the body. I removed the panel and connected these cut marks with a straight edge and then used my die grinder and cut-off wheel to trim the panel following my line. Then is was back to fit, grind, refit, grind some more, and finally a panel that fits. Since the metal is 14 gauge, I also ground a slight bevel along the edge of the replacement panel and the cut body which will be helpful when I mig weld the panel together and grind the seam smooth. Here you can see the panel fit and in place.
Pic #13 - This is the finished replacement panel ready to be welded. I sanded the backside and then applied a High Heat silver paint used for outdoor barbecue grills. This will protect the bare panel from rusting and the high temp paint will only burn off close to the weld - which is not much. Regular paint would bubble up/burn off to a much greater degree.
Pic #14 - Got the sandblaster out and blasted the wheel well box panel and the inner arch where some rust had built up under the outer wheel well panel I removed. The rust was pretty stubborn and I got off all of the loose rust, but some of it was rock hard and part of the metal - but at least it was clean.
Pic #14.5 - This is my sandblasting set-up, both from Harbor Freight. I had the 40 lb blaster for some time, but moisture is your enemy even though I have a water separator on my compressor. Sand kept clogging up due to moisture and would not flow and I got tired of dumping sand and breaking the clog. So I purchased the smaller 20 lb blaster to become my new blaster, but used the 40 lb blaster tank as a moisture/water trap. My line from the compressor hooks at the bottom of the tank, and air then goes out the top through the pressure regulator/water separator which has a hose coupling end. I then fitted a hose on my smaller blaster so I can hook into the larger tank. No more moisture issues and clogged sand. I can also connect a hose to the tank which I power my air tools and spray gun without fear of water going through them.