The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab corners,repair

The corners on my cab are rusted thru in a few small areas, but not so bad that I need to replace them with what the vendors sell. I used por-15 and phos. acid to stop any additional rusting. I saw a few options in eastwood and would like to use a good quality body putty. Any suggestions? Steve

Rage Gold

What is Rage Gold and who sells it?

can you get to the back side ? if so use fiber glass mat and coat it with por 15 to seal it. then use all metal body filler on the outside. then do the finish body work. this has held up on my 29 for the last 12 yrs

Leave a weep/air hole (eyelet) as was originally there.

You may get by with what you are proposing but it is a coverup, not a repair. It is very likely that the treated areas surrounding the small holes you describe are very compromised too.
On my truck I had thumb sized holes but when I tried welding in small patches I found I had to go out quite a ways to get solid metal.

If you aren't planning on spending any real money on a paint job on top of it, kill the rust and smear on whatever fills the hole, sand it smooth, rattle-can some patina paint on it (its on the same isle as the rattle-can striped paint ), and drive that baby.
Carl

Thanks guys; all good ideas. Carl, I like your advice as I do not plan to have a show truck paint job. Tim, would you have a picture of a "weep hole"? Has anyone else used this Rage body putty/filler?

Good info here, thanks. I would have probably posted the same question eventually. btw, I am a big fan of All Metal. It has it's specific uses.

Movinon, my cab corners are in the same condition. One side has a very small pin hole but feels solid when tapped from the inside. I guess I will know the whole story when I strip all the paint off.

The weep/breather hole is basically like a small single louver at the lowest point of the cab corner to facilitate condensation drainage/ventilation.
Sorry I don't have a pic tough.

I do not have a picture of a weep/drain hole.

I could not find a photo in a forum-search.

Thanks Tim and Jockbolter. I was snooping around and found them. Haven't been down there lately. Steve

Rage Gold is also my bondo of choice, but bondo will NOT ease your pain for very long. If there are distinct holes in the metal, if you dont go in and repair them with METAL, you are about two years away from having to do it again. Dont let anyone tell you different. Remember the 70's? If you werent there, many of us saw this misery and will NEVER do that to anything we own. Bondo, some fiberglass stuffed in the hole... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Learn to weld with a MIG or get someone to patch those holes. Its really inexpensive in the long run. Ask around in your area.. you will find someone to do this patching for you pretty cheap. THEN Rage Gold your heart out. (but no more than 1/8" thick) THAT is the making of a show truck. POR 15, is great, ALL METAL is great. but those are used AFTER your metal is sound. All metal works to smooth pits and things a bit too deep for Rage Gold. POR 15 is used after all your metal is sound to prevent rust in the future.

There is NO product that boasts it works over HOLES! ITS A HOLE!

Meanwhile, enjoy what you are doing.. I know I am. But think about it.. and step up your thoughts of what the word METICULOUS means, and your product will be better than that guy who was thinking he could just ALL METAL or POR15 his way to a show truck. Good luck!

I don't know about all of that, Deve. I am currently driving an old restoration at least 15 years old with 5-8 pounds of fiberglass and some kind of body filler in the cab corners, and you cannot tell that they are not original metal from the outside. No rust. The dude that did that repair had some real talent, all be it unconventional.
You may want to read the entire thread before lecturing a guy on how to make a show quality truck. He is not going that route.
Carl

It wont last. Its a cobbled up means to something that wont be the end. There are some of us who are proud to have 8 pounds of mombo in our cab corners, and some who aren't. Just making him aware that there are different opinions on that fact. Especially when its more laziness than anything else. Takes less time to do it right, than it did to do it wrong! I can weld a patch panel in 5 minutes. It took your bondo mombo a lot longer than that. We should either promote the quality methods, or not at all.

Personally, you will never convince me that cobbling up something on something so dear to most of us, is a good thing. You can try tho.. its a free country. Maybe just put a bandaid and some chewing gum over it? Where do YOU draw the line?

I welded in a new cab corner, they are in the 30 dollar range. Followed up with the rage gold. I don't have any over maybe a 1/16 inch. I'm not go enough to be true show quality but does not mean I shouldn try.

The pocket book draws the line for a lot of us.
The bondo "mondo" (whatever that means) who did my cab corners 15-20 years ago (I have no idea who he is), did a good enough job that you cannot tell the work was done after all of those years.
So if I read you right, since I chose not to do a 100 point style repair on my cab corners, I should turn away people at car shows who swarm around my truck after passing right by trailer queens, and tell them that my truck is not worthy of their praise. I guess I should also return all of the trophies and ribbons which I have received.
Carl

The concept behind the "The Cab That Breathes."
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/15884899136/in/set-72157649468726416

Carl, thanks for putting into words what many of us back yard 'Bolters already knew. Sometimes it's a balancing act and like you said, the pocket book plays a BIG part in this endeavor. Steve

Brad, I think my truck falls into this category. I hope to modify it a bit though. Steve

It's a balancing act for ALL of us Carl, not just a few. But you can take a piece of thin sheet metal from just about anything, and shape it to fill the holes and have it done right with NO cost for materials. If you lived close enough, I would do it for free. There are plenty of giving individuals out there that would cringe at the idea of fiberglass and bondo who would help.

The point was not to discredit anyones truck. If you knew me, you wouldnt be accusing me of crap like that. I am sure its a beautiful truck. My unrestored ones are more dear to me than the restored ones. Its about the message that doing something half-fast is just fine on a forum that has all of this talent.

I have been around long enough to understand that the typed word is hard to translate sometimes. I get accused of all sorts of things all the time and I let it go because if they knew who I am, those accusations would be hilarious. I give the same credit to everyone else too. In this case, its not about the truck, its about telling everyone else its okay to take that route, when its not over for you. Once it starts to become a problem, I KNOW you won't take the same route when fixing it, YOU will do it right. Especially since there is no cost difference. Even if there was, you have been one of the more sensible contributors to the forums, so you will do it right.

Accusing others of having contrary attitudes or disrespecting each other is pretty much the penalty we pay for typing as opposed to sitting around drinking a beer and discussing personally. So, NO Carl, you didn't READ me right. If you have a free to super cheap way of fixing something thats broke, as long as you FIXED what is broke and didnt just delay the inevitable, Im all for it!

Thank you Steve.
I don't understand what is wrong with fixing it up to be drivable until you have the funds to do the whole truck the way it should be done.
Carl

'Nuff said. Steve

And I want to thank you too Deve for your very wise and thoughtful advice. I always appreciate all the advice I can get, after all we can always learn something new from others experience. Steve

Hey 53Movinon - I'll add to the thumbs up on the rage gold. It spreads easy, sands easy, and doesn't offer many pinholes.

Now that being said, it is expensive, so if you have more time than money just buy something that you can paint over and be done with it. Most any of the fillers will do you fine. Evercoat makes many different brands for different budgets.

Good Luck