I am going to replace the lower door skin on my 66 1/2 ton. I am a decent home welder. Are there any tips anyone could offer, or anything I should avoid? Any comments would be appreciated:7
rdw, Click the "online store" tab above, and do a search for part # 44-715. There's your lower door skins for $27.95 each
>rdw, Click the "online store" tab above, and do a search for >part # 44-715. There's your lower door skins for $27.95 >each Well, There you go.. Chevy Duty!
I just finsihed replacing the inner and outer door skins on my 66 panel. I used a wire feed and did a pretty good job. Be careful of warpage and make sure you get an exact measurement for refit. Before I did the welding I made sure my measurments lined up then cut out the rotted panels and laid in the new with a few pop rivets. I then rehung the doors to make sure the fit was correct, made a few adjustments, then did the welding. Turned out ok and didn't have to use too much filler to even it out.
>I just finsihed replacing the inner and outer door skins on >my 66 panel. I used a wire feed and did a pretty good job. >Be careful of warpage and make sure you get an exact >measurement for refit. Before I did the welding I made sure >my measurments lined up then cut out the rotted panels and >laid in the new with a few pop rivets. I then rehung the >doors to make sure the fit was correct, made a few >adjustments, then did the welding. Turned out ok and didn't >have to use too much filler to even it out. :7 I had not thought about riveting it in first(good tip). I will be tackling this project this weekend or next. What setting did you use for your welder? Did you space out your welds or run a straght bead across? I want mine to turn out as well as your's and use as little filler as possible. Thanks, Rick
Rick, You can't run a bead on sheet metal. It will warp big time ! Spot weld every six inches or so the length of the seam, then go back where you began and start to fill in the gaps with more spot welds in the same way, every 6 inches or so. Can't help on the welder settings but it will be VERY low for sure. DV
A couple tips--use .o23 wire in your mig, it will give a dense weld at a much lower setting. Use self drilling #8 screws to make it a one step job instead of pop rivets or cleco fasteners. Borrow, rent, or buy(Harbor Freight-$39.95) a flanging/punch air tool. The punch will make holes for your self drilling screws to pass through the first layer of metal without "coning" the back side and the flanging tool will offset the patch edge the thickness of the metal so little filler is needed. If you have the step in the flanged area stop about 1/8" shy of the trimmed door edge there will be a trough for the weld bead and when ground will require just a tiny amuont of filler. Be sure to follow the already given advice on skipping around to keep the metal cool--2 extra hours here will save you 2 weeks of eliminating warpage. Use the coursest disc you can for the grinding, like a 24 grit. The more course the disc the cooler the metal will stay, and the better the grip "tooth" for the filler. Finally, prime with epoxy primer BEFORE using filler--this gives a rust prevention area between the metal and filler and does not affect adhesion. Good luck
Yes, to all of the above. I've been learning the hard way on this truck. Went to sheet metals screws to set my rear quarter panels and rockers after trying pop rivets on the door skins. I set the welder at 2 and it seems to work well there. Like the other advice I didn't draw a bead, spaced welds about every 6 inches and then gradually filled them in. My truck really started out a horribly rotted out mess and I'm quite surprised at how well it looks and how solidly it all came together. All I wanted was a daily driver I could drive hard. It turned out better than that and now I'm afraid I'll actually have to babby it.
