After getting the drivers side floor finished I started repairing
the Tool Box. I started by putting it in the de-rust tank for 2 days. See Fig.
1. I was hoping this would loosen up the rust and 3 layers of paint.
The rust was gone and two layers of the paint softened up but that last factory
applied Sea Foam green layer had to be wire wheeled off! See Fig.
2-4 to see the box after most of the rust and paint were removed.
Fig. 5
Cut Line
Fig. 6
Making a patch panel the hard way
Fig. 7
Tacked in place
Fig. 8.
Finished
Fig. 2 shows where the
worst of the rust was. I cut this section out (See Fig.
5) then attempted to make a repair panel with a simple 90 degree bend
in a piece of 14.5" x 1.5" 16ga sheet. Sounds simple enough, right?
I tried the old 2x4 trick (clamp the metal between two pieces of 2x4 then bend)
but that did not work at all. I finally clamped the piece to a section of C
channel and just hammered it over. See Fig. 6.
Of course I then had to use the anvil and shop press to straighten it out...
I really need a sheet metal brake for this kind of work!
Fig. 7 shows the piece
tacked in place, ready to be ground down. I next made up several small patch
pieces for the bottom flanges of the box and welded those on. Fig
8 shows the repaired box.
11-13-2005
Fig. 9
Getting ready to weld back in
Fig. 10
Getting ready to weld back in
Fig. 11
Welded in!
After much work on the rest of the truck (center
channel, passenger floor, and mid
bed) I could finally put the tool box back into place. I primed the bottom
lip of the box and the floor pan, primed the inside of the box with self etching
primer, drilled some plug weld holes, lined it up, clamped it down and welded
in in place. See Figs. 9-11.
