In this video I cut out and weld in rusted sections of the bed sides on a 2008 Chevy 1500. I attribute my successes to god and give him the glory. Part 2: • 08 Chevy Silverado bed...
Subscribed to your channel after watching the fuel line replacement video and then found this one too. I have to tackle the same project on my 02 Sierra before Winter but cab corners, inner and outer rockers have to come first. Not really looking forward to these projects since I don't have a garage anymore. The struggle is real here in rusty Maine.
I know how you feel. I don’t have a garage myself. I’m lucky enough i can use a bay at work after hours if I need to. I’ve spent a few winter days under a vehicle outdoors though.
this was a great video ! you did a great job ! the only thing I would of done different, is I would of cut the rusty jaggy metal off the inner fender, so no one gets cut ,while washing the truck, they may stick hand under there to wash out the wheel well lip! but its still a great video, thanks for posting it !!
I’m glad you liked the video. I appreciate the compliment, thank you. I hadn’t thought about someone catching there hand washing under there I’ll remember that in the future. Thank you for watching.
They did seem to rust out rather quickly. I believe they were going through a financial restructuring at that time and were cheaping out on some of the vehicles.
I have an 08 that I owe over $4,000 on unfortunately. Every panel on the truck had to be replaced, inside door bottoms are rotten, the frame is one big patch, Every frame support has been replaced, and my bed was beyond saving. The cost of a Texas rust free bed is in the $3,000 range, so I'm having to do a wood bed. On ebay you can find the inner wheel housing replacement panel for little over $100 for both sides, it would be worth it after patching the outter
I’ve seen a lot of people in my area on Craigslist that travel to the south and bring back a bunch at a time for like 1500 per bed. The usually are not perfect though. I think it’s getting harder to find them at salvage yards in perfect condition. I’d rather little dents than rust myself. Personally I think the small wheel house panels are what cause the bedside to rust out. The salt just sits there where they meet. Sorry to hear your having to replace so much of the truck. That must be pricey.
Thank you. I can’t remember if the tank was exposed to the arcs or not. I think the inner bed sides blocked the tank from the liquid hot magma. Safety should be top priority so I’ll keep the welding blanket in mind. There’s not much of a second chance on blowing up. Thank you for watching.
i'll be doing this same job on my truck soon. Two things. You really should have picked up a new outer wheel house for that wheel well. Leaving that rusted metal up there is going to help it come back. Another thought I'm having with mine instead of welding it, i'm considering using two part body panel adhesive and attaching a strip of metal to the inside of the box side with the adhesive, letting it cure, basically creating flat surface lip to adhere the patch panel to. On a side note, the thinner welding wire you use, the better job you can do on body panel welding without warping it. I've currently using I think .34 wire in mine, but switching to .24 for putting rockers and cab corners on another truck I have to do.
I have .030 in my personal welder, I thought the wire was .035 in the welder I was using and I found out later it was .045 I put that in the description to show you can do it with thicker wire if you have to, I also wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve seen some videos of the panel adhesive and it seems to work especially for the thinner panels so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to use it the hard part is going to be clamping it together. The video I saw the guy used self tapping screws to hold the seam together and removed them later. There is still a lot of damage to that truck bed, and I understand it would have been a better job to replace the wheel housing but at some point you need to say when. If the rest of the bed was perfect I would have replaced it, but it’s all in pretty rough shape. The repair was supposed to last 6 months until a new truck was ordered, honestly if I knew the paint was going to cost so much I would have put fender flares on it. If you do use the epoxy I hope you let me know how it comes out. I would be interested in the outcome. It would definitely make large panel repairs easier than welding. Thank you for watching.
That is not an option on these Silverados. The inner and outer bedside come in one piece, and these patch panels are the only thing you can buy aftermarket for the bed. Anything else has to be fabricated. Edit: I have now come across inner wheel housing for these trucks, but both sides will cost you around $300
You can either wield or use an adhesive but trade school or community college still and will always require wielding courses body shops also want techs to know how to wield it’s important in the Autobody collision repair industry.
If your vehicle is worth the extra time and money you can buy the pieces for the wheel well also and drill out the spot welds and weld on the new pieces in the same orientation as the old rusty pieces.
What kind of welding is that? I want to do mine myself and buy the welder to do it. Can you tell me what I would need and what that welding style is called so I can look it up and learn
It’s a mig welder. I would use it with shielding gas and not flux core. Make sure your polarity is correct for shielding gas. I think it positive polarity for gas and negative polarity for flux core. You should get a auto darkening helmet too, it makes it easier. I would use .023 or .030 wire for body panels if you can. I had .045 in this welder which is a little big
I find a lot of autobody shops do insurance work and there’s a pretty good source of work. Plus it pays more. They don’t want to do smal jobs like this. It’s time consuming to weld in a patch instead of changing the whole bed side.
Thank you. The camera is pretty forgiving. A smaller welding wire and block sanding using a guide coat before painting would have produced a better end result, but it’s ok for a work truck. Definitely better than it was. 😂
I ordered the ones I got from advance auto but here is a link to a place that sells them too. You can find them on eBay also. www.carid.com/2008-chevy-silverado-1500-quarter-panels/
@@JasonTheMunicipalMechanic I'm seeing the link that you provided I can actually get all the side bed panel complete so I won't have to do all that repair just plug and play?
Getting the whole bed side does make it easier to look good. You don’t need to worry about the heat warping the panel or blending the panel seems. It is more expensive but I think easier to make it looks good. I personally would try and find a southern bed from a salvage yard or someone down south. I got a frame for my truck from North Carolina and it had pretty much no rust on it. You can search for used parts on this site www.car-part.com/mobile/index.htm I don’t know if this link will try to bring you to a mobile version or not.
I got these panels from advance auto parts but you should be able to get them from many places offline. The Chevy and gmc bedside panels are different so keep that in mind when looking for them.
@@JasonTheMunicipalMechanicthat's good that they're worried about people's safety, but that would be annoying to maintain. I live in Michigan vehicles rust fast here. Its nearly impossible to stay on top of it. We can legally drive any POS DeathTrap we want as long as it's registered, insured, and has working lights.
There all really got for the first ten years then once you have to patch them up depending on you method it could need a touch up every few years. Winter is not my favorite season for many reasons.
@@JasonTheMunicipalMechanic exactly I have a 2010, and the rear fenders just started to rust in early 2020. I did my fist patch job last week. I'm probably gonna buy fenders flares though because my patch job wasn't all that great.
It takes practice. It helps to have all the tools to do it to, it definitely makes it easier. Painting is an art in itself, I can fumble along but I’m no pro. I tried those spray guns from Autozone my first time and they were absolute garbage, but 2 for $100 I should of guessed. I got a devilbiss Tekna I think it is and it’s like night and day difference. It was $400 but seems like a good one to me, there’s only so far a spray gun will go when your painting outside like I am anyway. I used an electric orbital sander with my first few repairs and they work ok, better than hand sanding.
