Rat repair.

[DD1]

Looks great, Mike! Gotta be careful out there. You might want to see if you can change your circuit breaker for the 220v line to a GFCI breaker if you are going to keep on working in the rain.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by DD1

Looks great, Mike! Gotta be careful out there. You might want to see if you can change your circuit breaker for the 220v line to a GFCI breaker if you are going to keep on working in the rain.

Humm, do these dinosaurs have a GFCI built in??

[swamp rat]

Heres the working end of the cord that found the puddle, it was face down but just like this but there were about 4 more coils which held the one end up at an angle... Still wondering how the water never made contact with the plug ends, guessing friction.

[Vic1947]

Water's actually not a very good electrical conductor when it's fresh (as in rainwater). Add a little salt, however, and the properties change dramatically. That said, it's still not a good idea to drop a toaster in the bathwater.

[swamp rat]

Spent today with grinder and dotco in hand, then searched around for places I missed, and had to fill in some holes from the splatter problem I had, from 10am to 6pm, took forever! I didn't get the pic's of the results, and I still have to finish up the kicker and firewall flanges before I move on to the outer rocker.

So about dark and I was close to wrapping up, heard a faint meow, I made the mistake of answering the call not knowing where it came from, next thing I know I finished a spot weld and there was a cat trying to climb in my lap, there were 2 of them actually, one super friendly the other I little more cautious, hopefully the trusting one will learn to not be so trusting with strangers as there are some folks or dogs that would have a problem with there presence.

[swamp rat]

Got a question for everyone, when your welding and grinding are you using a paper air filter? I know Vic has a resperator, i know better than to breath the fumes and hold my breath a lot when welding but what about grinding? Definitely coughing up some black crap.

[rgunlock]

whenever I knew I was going to be welding or grinding for a while, I used the paper masks. If you don't, once you blow your nose you will know that you should have BTW, the floor repairs look like they are turning out real well.

[Vic1947]

Before I was forced to go to a full face respirator due to the eye thingy, these are what I used. (My wife also likes to use them when chopping up jalapeno's.)
They seal around your face a lot better than the cheap ones, plus they have a one way valve that directs the air out of a dedicated passage rather than thru the entire mask surface. I buy them by the box off eBay.

[7dee2]

With both Rick & Vic your repairs are looking great Mike. I've been getting the same 3M N95 ones from HD.

[GASoline71]

Good progress Mike!

I've been slacking on mine since deer and elk season was in full swing. But now back at it before Steelhead season kicks in!

Gary

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Good progress Mike!

I've been slacking on mine since deer and elk season was in full swing. But now back at it before Steelhead season kicks in!

Gary

Where do ya Steelhead at?? Up north like the Sky?

Oh Thanks for the comps everyone!

[GASoline71]

Skykomish and the Skagit/Sauk. Also make 2 to 3 trips a year over to the OP to fish the Coastal rivers.

Gary

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Skykomish and the Skagit/Sauk. Also make 2 to 3 trips a year over to the OP to fish the Coastal rivers.

Gary

Cool, I used to fish the Cowletz, Puyallup, frequently for steelhead, and all over the place for salmon but kinda burned out on it a while back.

Hate to admit I have taken a few days off from the truck and it's been really nice out..... 🙄

[GASoline71]

I grew up fishing the Puyallup and the Cow. Haven't fished either of those rivers in over 25 years.

Now we mainly fish for salmon in the salt out of a boat with downriggers.

I got some more done on my rig this week and it feels awesome.

Gary

[swamp rat]

After taking a week off I got back on it today, I started with replacing part of my shop floor LOL! getting a bit muddy in my work shop..

I finished welding in the floor, firewall pinch weld and inner kick panel, also went under the truck and welded more on the inner rocker, then I had to cover the inside floor of the cab with a tarp and brought out a small heater to bring temps up enough to spray some primer on the welds, once dry I applied seam sealer, did this to both inside, outside and underneath.

[swamp rat]

OK, This outer rocker is a POS! way worse than the last one! beginning to wonder if a trip to Olympia is in order again for a better one, the biggest problem is the body line under the door, I also had to slice the front part of the rocker and bend it out of the way just to get the front close to fitting into place, in the front pictures the rocker is still about 3/8" out from the lower A pillar...

[GASoline71]

I feel your pain on the rockers brother.

I had to cut the entire front off of mine and fabricate my own "front". Also the rear was a b!tch to line up as well.









Gary

[swamp rat]

Before I cut the passenger side apart I made references to where the lower edge of the outer rocker was in relation to the rear cab corner and also took a measurement from the bottom of the lower door hinge to the same edge in an attempt to make it easy to maintain the lower door body gap.

I have mounted the outer rocker, it needs to be sliced and pie cut yet but it looks like there is quite a gap between the top of the inner rocker and the sill plate where all the spot welds join the two together. I know of course that the door will need to be remounted to finalize fitment.

My question is would it be absolutely imperative that the inner rocker and outer rocker be touching and spot welded in this area along the bottom of the door? I know if its not welded its going to flex if someone stands on it while getting in and out of the truck ect. (Did I just answer my own question??)

NOTE: On the driver side the outer rocker nested to the inner rocker in the sill area before I even pie sliced it for the final weather strip flanges to fit.

[swamp rat]

Humm, trying to determine if I should do a pie slice at the weatherstrip or if it would be better to do one along the outer edge of the A pillar ( just to the right of the screw)

Driver side was done at the weather strip, but as the outer rocker sits right now the gap at the floor is wider at the front by at least 1/8"

[swamp rat]

Rocker is clamped on the bottom, front fender is in a little which tells me the front of the rocker has to go in a little, that would make the gap in my last post showing the inner rocker/floor to the outer rocker closer.

[swamp rat]

How about a little bit of both... . still a little difference in tha spacing between the inner floor and outer rocker but I can live with it, I'll need to use a washer on the fender.

[swamp rat]

One in the back too..

[rgunlock]

That's looking pretty good to me Mike. Way to make those roughed-in pieces work for you!

[swamp rat]

Thanks again!

Went out to test Fit the door and discovered a crack by the upper hinge, guess I'll test Fit tomorrow. I thought it would weld right up but two spot weld attempts in the center reviled that it was too thin, most likely from the hydro press stretching the shell too thin, had to cut/grind back to better metal and fab a patch, glad I have a stud puller to weld on a handle!

[7dee2]

Making good progress, looks good!