The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop lead question

I have a 1951 chevy 3100 truck I am rebuiding. I know there has been several questiona and answers regrading the lead in these trucks. My question is the lower drivers side windshield corner, about 3-4 inches up on the pillar there is lead. I accidently found this out the hard way with a welder. If you melt that lead out, is there enough structure there to redo it someway. It looks like there isn't much behind the lead. I personally would like to weld some more metal in the place of the lead, but I don't want to melt the lead out, and it lose it structure. any help
?

Tony,

I think the lead was there only as a filler, not a structural component. If you have to dink around in the area, it's common to melt the lead out with some type of torch and when it's time to address the joint, Bondo would be the way to go!

Stuart

The lead is a filler like bondo.

If you melt it out with a torch only get it hot enough to wipe out with a shop rag. Also, the body was "tinned" so the lead would bond to the steel so after wiping, heat the steel and wire brush as much as you can.

Lead is no friend of the welder.

As noted above the lead isn't structural. When lead was commonly used there was no "bondo". It could be melted out if necessary but unless you're going to change the body at that point why melt it out? You'll just have to replace it with something.

I assumed he needed to weld in that area. If not, just leave the lead there.

Ain't language wonderful. I got that he's wanting to replace the lead with another metal unless the lead's structural. My reply was basically "why". The lead isn't structural but it's already there so why replace it if you don't need to. If he has to do some welding in that area, he'll probably have to remove at least part of it but there's no reason to melt it all out just to put something else in it's place.