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I'm about to take the runner on a trip from Ohio to Jersey and back. Fixing a few things up before I go and wanted to hear what filler sets up the quickest and is best to work with. Here's the damage (wire brushed with naval jelly eating some of the rust):
That one goes straight through. I'd rather cut out all the bad and tack new 22 gauge steel in, but I'm still learning and don't wanna rush that job. Leaving in 2 days, so I'm planning on giving it a quick coat of KBS rust seal, sand it down and patch the few bad spots. Can I paint over filler the next day?
Here's a few other things I'm getting done: Rear bumper's been twisted bad and dented up ever since I've had the truck. Today seemed like the right day to pull it and bash some the damage out. It'll get paint tomorrow. Didn't take a before pic, but this is straight as an arrow compared to what it was. I always thought the rearview and visors seemed springy. Turns out the support had detached. JB weld to the rescue. Had a small leak into the cab so I pulled the chrome trim to investigate. I'm never putting it back on. It had trapped leaves, pine needles and dirt that was damp after being in the garage for days. This is after scraping the paint off. I trimmed the glue to make a V shaped chanel. Brushed on naval jelly, wire brushed, then liquid phosphoric acid. Tomorrow I'll sand, paint with Rust Seal, then press a 1/4" rope of butyl rubber into the channel. Eventually I'll get a new windshield, but this is a cheap fix for now that should stop the leak till I get around to the replacement. I used butyl rubber a few years ago on the rear-most side windows and I'm convinced they'll never leak again.
I had plenty of that on the fenders of my 89 4Runner. In your case I would use "kitty hair" filler. One brand would be Bondo fiberglass. Where you have the hole all the way through you duct tape a piece of wax paper behind the hole and remove it after the filler has hardened. Kitty hair has little strands of fiberglass in it. You end up with a rough surface which you smooth out with a light coat (less than a dime thick) coat of regular Bondo. Rather than Bondo I like Rage fillers but I can't find them locally and had to buy them in gallon size from an on line body shop supplier. Rage sands a lot better than Bondo from Walmart. There's no way you will use an entire gallon on your fenders so it would probably be a waste. I used way less than a half gallon. In the case of the rear fenders make sure you pull the inside trim panels and see what you have on the other side. I treated mine from the inside with Eastwood frame saver which is thin green phospho. It gets down into the seams.
kdo58, nice job getting that bed back in such good shape. If I had bigger tires, I might cut the rusty lap joint out and tack the ends together. Too close to stock for that to look right in my application, though.
Nervo19, I went back out to the garage, pulled the panels, scraped the inner seam down and brushed on some acid. This'll be a good test of Rust Seal, which I haven't used yet.
There's an old auto body supply shop not that far, I'll look at their stock of 'kittyhair' fillers and see what looks best. I'll be glad to see all these fender holes disappear for longer than the last time I fixed them.
Progress today: Driver's side. This is after 2 coats of Rust Seal. Inside seam at back of wheel well. Inside at front of wheel well. Also primed around the fuel door panel. I think I'm gonna fill the holes for the rock chip guards. Mine are in bad shape and I run mudflaps now. I also think it looks better without them. Windshield chanel. The butyl tape isn't in there yet and it already looks very waterproof.
Here's what 'good enough for now' looks like. The non-matching paint is off-white Rust Seal. When I get back from the trip I'll sand it down and get a can of Toyota 033 white to hide the repair better.
Passenger side wasn't terrible to begin with so it cleaned up better. Driver's side. Note the rock chip holes are gone. The butyl rubber windshield seal doesn't look perfect, but I'm betting my cab leak's gone. I might try to find a strip of rubber to press over top. It'll look more finished and won't attract as much dirt.
11-26-2016, 04:15 PM
