Run to the Hills! - Jason's Completely Stalled Colorado GTFO Build

Ray, you are a gentleman and a scholar!

I'd love to pick your brain and check out your truck, but I'm slammed at work today. I do appreciate the offer!

We should definitely try to make time for a beer or something and maybe even see if we can get @alee891 there too. I'd love to meet both of you and see your trucks!

 

Wish some 1st Gen guys lived by me I wheel with all 2nd Gen guys....I guess I should say 1st Gen guys that are active on TW.

 

Me too, I've only met maybe five first gen owners that wheel. I haven't talked to them in person in a while. Sucks, which is why I need to move out to CO already there are like 6-7 that are on here a lot

 

Oh yeah Austin works not to far from me too. I forgot about that. Well all in good time bud.

 

Keep hope alive, man! It's definitely nice having guys like @BDN, @SilverGhost, @Squeaky Penguin, @alee891 around here. That's a ton of 1st Gen knowledge right there!

DO EEEEET!!!!

We'll make it happen, man!

Thanks again for the offer. Stuff like LT is a long way off, but I have a lot to learn, so that's a good thing!

 

You listen to my advice? I sure hope your truck turns out alright.

 

Yours seems to be doing alright

 

If you have met Brett and know him his comments do make sense.

 

Firewall Tubbing for 35s

Well, I managed to get another step further on the long, winding, and painful road that is the firewall tubbing.

The welding on the driver side has been done for over a month now, and I finally got it cleaned up and applied the seam seal. The welding on the passenger side is about 70% complete, so it's been kept together with, you guessed it, duct tape. I like to keep it classy.

So like I said, I cleaned the driver side tub as follows:

1. Use engine degreaser to remove diff oil residue from my overfilled front diff.
2. Spray and wipe area with acetone.
3. Using a grinder and a 80 grit flap wheel, remove as much surface rust as possible.
4. Spray and wipe area with acetone.
5. Cover entire tub area with Naval Jelly to remove any remaining rust. Let sit for at least ten minutes.
6. Rinse entire tub area with water.
7. Spray entire tub area with compressed air to remove any remaining water.
8. Spray and wipe area with acetone.
9. Spray entire tub area with compressed air to remove any remaining acetone.

Here is the result (not a great picture):


Applying the seam sealer was a bit messy, but not a terrible process. That is, until the plunger in the tube decided to rupture and let a little over half of the material out into the caulk gun. I was not pleased.

During the sanding and cleaning process, I had noticed a few pin holes and areas where the sanding had gotten a little overzealous and had taken most of the weld. I hit these areas prior to the broader coverage in order to make sure that they were filled with sealant.

Here is the sealing job at the halfway point, right before I noticed the ruptured tube.


Because I noticed right away that the sealant was taking a set much sooner than the half hour or so I assumed, the final job wasn't exactly a work of art. Like most RTV type adhesives, it's most likely a moisture cure, so I think the cool weather and slightly higher humidity made it start to set much more quickly. I'm the end though, it's the firewall on a truck. It's good enough.

Here's the final product:


Next step on this side after another clean and prep is to apply Herculiner to the entire inside fender well and firewall! I also want to seam seal the inside sides of the welds as much as possible.

And obviously finish the damn welding on the passenger side...

 

Seam sealer looks good! Surprised you have been wheeling it with holes in the firewall still. Ever think about another sealant on top of the seam sealer just in case? I sprayed mine with black flex seal. Really wanted to keep the water out especially with the water crossings I do. I am getting water in the cab on my passenger side from some place but not sure if it's tubbing related.

 

Yeah... I'm not the smartest guy sometimes, but at the same time, I managed to get in five nights of camping in before the weather got cold, so I'll gladly deal with the aftermath!

I'm with you on being extra cautious about sealing everything up. Especially given that I found two or three pinholes in the welds on the driver side tub. My plan to finish out that side is to do the following:

• Clean and seam seal the welds on the cab side of the tub as much as possible.
• Clean exposed sheet metal on both sides of the tub (cab and fender).
• Apply no less than three coats of Herculiner to both the cab and fender sides of the tub. Hopefully more like five or six coats. Overkill is good!
• Cross my fingers that that is good enough.

I also need to pressure wash the inside of the fender to get as much dirt, mud and mag chloride out of there as possible. Then I want to run some 1/16" rubber sheet from the inner fender to the inside of my trimmed flares using rivets to secure it all. I think I can tack a few rivets at the outer fender lip as well. That should make for a nice custom fender liner so as to avoid packing mud and shit up in between the inner and outer fenders, and also the flare as well.

 

I used a piece of rubber roof membrane to seal off the area inside the fender well, in front of the door hinge area, and it's working great so far.

 

Awesome! That's exactly what I'm thinking.

 

I seam sealed inside and out when I tub'd. Then flex sealed the shit out of it. Looking good man

 

I need to do that. My inner foot well area is a mess.

 

What is this magical 'flex seal' stuff of which you speak? I wanna do bedliner over all of it at the end, but this stuff might be a good addition before that.

Thanks, fellas!

 

https://youtu.be/VikGZ5T-S7U

It also comes in a spray can.

 

This! An extra layer of protection is always good.

 

I used this 3M undercoating inside and out after the seam sealer was applied inside and out.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...SVjAtC1-h49ATTdmpdKuk9AFLGfvxTsRJEaAjh48P8HAQ

I bought both from Napa. The 70th and York store has a paint and body only store that I got it from.

 

Clean seals dude! Wish I would have done a cleaner job, It'd make it a hell of alot easier to find the leak!