CAZ's Standard Cab Build

It’s the lower that’s the issue anyways, I’m still on my original uppers at 565,000
But I replace my lowers every 150,000 to be safe,
Thumbs up for your reg cab

 

Glad to hear as I still haven't done them. That is a whole lotta miles you have there!

 

Haaaaa, just getting broken in

 

Fix it asap. Mine progressed very rapidly. I think wheeling tweaks the bed in this spot and makes it rust fast. Mine went from flawless to this in a year and a half!

 

Looks clean!

 

Going to try a combination of this and welding at the bottom corners. Hopefully it will minimize warping and make for a nicer looking repair!

 

How did your fenders end up coming out?

 

Should know this weekend. I finally got them glued in last night. Need to get a few supplies and move on to the filler.

 

Looks good. So you didn't do any welding to insert the new panels?

 

I'm going to have to do a little at the bottom corners to fill in, but otherwise I used the 3m panel adhesive shown a few posts back. Pretty cool stuff!

I cut off the support that used to be in there and am not supporting the new with anything but the plastic inner fender. We'll see how it goes...

 

I flanged the patch panels to go in behind.

Here is a picture with stripper on them. I stripped them to bare metal and used an epoxy primer.

 

Cool. I just assumed I was going to weld in the new panel completely. So that'll be interesting to see how that adhesive works out.

My passenger is to the point that I need to just do it. This morning a small peice of the bubble rust fell out so there's a small hole I can see right through. It goes about 1" above my OEM fender flare for about a 3-4" section.

 

Yeah, mine progressed really fast. It was bad - I had a paint bubble appear the day I cut it out. I pressed on it and water squirted out!

The paint on the front was holding the rust flakes together.

Here is the back of one of them - where my fingers are is the inside of the fender lip. The support is on the left - you can see where I cut it off.

 

Damn that's a of rust in there. Mine probably looks the same inside. How do the fenders feel without that support? Is it noticeably more flexible?
I'm thinking of ordering one of these panels to use and just cut out what I need. It's only a small piece like yours that I'll need, though, so I don't know if that is overkill buying such a huge panel.
https://raybuck.com/product/1995-04-toyota-tacoma-upper-rear-wheel-arch-passenger-side/

 

Pulled my flares off this afternoon. Passenger is worse than I thought. Drivers is not as bad. It’s mostly on the bottom. Could probably be covered back up by the flare. What do you think about this?

 

Dang, that's way worse than mine was. Even your good side is worse...

I'd fix it asap on both sides. It is worse than it looks behind the "good" side. Best to fix before it reaches the visible area beyond the flare.

Mine is limited to the arch around the wheel well and the patch doesn't extend past the radius in the body where your flares stop so would be hidden.

Is that rusted all of the way over to the gas door?

 

This is the drivers side I just cut up. 2nd pic the passenger marked for cut. It’s pretty close to the gas door. Just before it.

 

And cut. Looks like it’s below that flare line.
I still need to cut off more of the fender support as well since it's pretty rusty.
What really worries me is that the passenger side has some rusting on the back side of the actual bed just about the wheel well plastic.

 

Wow, you move fast!

I pulled the inner fenders and cut the support up pretty high. Was just out checking my work now that it is dry. It is still pretty rigid without the support.

Looks like you could use about anything to patch the fuel filler side since the flare covers it. I could cut you a chunk of front fender if I can find a spot that still has a similar curve.

The other side is gonna be a little harder...

 

After seeing how effed up that passenger side was I figured I needed to get rid of that junk ASAP. I'm thinking I'm going to order one of those wheel arch panels for that passenger side and try to cut and weld in a new piece. Maybe even tack weld it and then use some of that 3M adhesive you linked. If you're able to cut out a chunk of fender to send me for the driver's side, that'd be great! It will get covered up by the flare so it won't need to be show quality or anything LOL. Thanks for the help and advice.