Dusty Roads- WARNING PICTURE HEAVY

    I got a late start but I got a lot done. I started with the running board that had not been touched yet. Well it was worked on with paint stripper months ago but still had rust and paint where it was under the cab.

   There were also 4 holes in the top as if a tool box or similar where bolted to it.

    Also the underside was never touched.

    After running the wire wheel over it I moved on to the holes. I made sure I had good metal around the holes by cleaning it good with 80 grit on the grinder. Then I cut out 4 squares from scrap.

    The squares will be placed on the underside covering each hole.

    I use magnets to hold the squares in place so I can fill them in from the top.

    Then I ground them smooth.

    Cleaned up the running board so it will be ready for Reformer.

    Then I had a bolt that had broke off when I tried to remove it. I drilled it out with a small bit then took one slightly smaller than the bolt and drill it with that.  by the time I drilled through the bolt caught and came out via the spinning bit.

    Then I moved on to the inner fender walls. they still had a lot of paint on them so I basically just knocked off the surface rust and cleaned it up real good. I did, however, go over the entire thing with the wire wheel. I just did not try to remove all of the paint.

    There were some old repair welds that will need grinding down a bit. Also some straightening and dents to be banged out.

    I had already worked on the other one a bit so one side was almost done.

    The other side had grease build up and dirt so I started with a scraper even though I could have done it with the wire wheel. Using the wire wheel causes a lot of dust and I have to wear a mask, so I opted to slow down a bit and breath easy!

    I even removed some old fender to body welt(?)

   

    It came off pretty good dry. I wanted to see how this cleaner worked on it so I put some in a spray bottle and wet it down and let it sit for a few minutes.

    It didn't work too bad but not worth the effort in this case. I finished it up with the wire wheel. BTW when i refer to the "wire wheel" it is a wire disc that goes on my grinder. It works very well and does not scratch or gouge the metal.

    Notice this panel has the same repair welds in pretty much the same places.


     Today's work leaves me with the last headlight to clean up as well as any dents in the parts I did today to do. then hopefully the only paint removal will do with the cab.  With all of this rust reformer the truck should never rot again! LOL All joking aside it should preserve it well enough for the next caretaker to have a solid truck to work with.

    I am becoming awfully fond of the green I'm finding on the truck ..... and green is my favorite color!