1995 Rebuild

Maybe spray the frame with rubberized undercoating wherever you can? I sprayed some on my leafs, the crossmember for the spare tire, the skid plate, tranny mount crossmember, and some other random spots on the frame. Truck got a little quieter just doing this.

 

Kind of already done - frame was just painted with Chassis Saver and top coated with frame paint. Rest was sprayed with undercoating and bedliner.

I want to fluid film it so nothing can get to it.

 

Good read, awesome to see what all has been done! I moved my truck from Mississippi to Ohio and have been doing a lot of the preventative measures to combat the rust as well. A question for you though, what did you use to coat the inside of the frame and how did you apply it?

 

I used some stuff that I got on Amazon. Purchased a gun there too with an attachment wand. Think they came to like 40 dollars total.

 

Some stuff?

 

It's a rust converter. They are all very similar. Think 3m makes it.

 

New sticker. Goes with the YO

 

Awesome repair, good work.

 

Nice work!

 

Hi @mmgcny

Great thread here.

So can you clarify regarding the 3/16'' steel repairs? Mostly steel comes in sheets. or squares (If not tubes/pipes,etc).

Thus, were you / your welder only able to weld in new areas that you could cut rectangles and squares out of? That makes sense to me. But areas of the chassis that bend/etc -- Doesn't make sense that you would be able to weld in a similar piece?

 

We used 3/16 sheets in most of the spots. Basically, you start with a sheet and cut out either the flat piece you need or a patterned piece that you can bend into the piece you need. See the image for a better explanation of the latter. We just cut these pieces without building a template first, but you could first make these out of cardboard then transfer the pattern to the metal.



There were a few spots that we used some frame pieces that came from the used body mounts that I purchased. They came from a junkyard and they just cut the whole section of frame off so that I could cut the mounts as I needed. We used some of these frame pieces to patch an area on the front passenger side.

We cut out some bad sections and welded plates over these sections. We did not try to butt joint new steel to old steel. We overlapped and welded.

Just of word of caution - make sure you have a good welder (both the person and the equipment). I have seen some other frame repairs where the welds look terrible. Welds should look like the metal was flowing and that it was laid down in what looks like waves. There is a term "booger welds" because the welds look just like some put a bunch of boggers on the joint. You don't want booger welds on a frame. It is ok for an exhaust, just not in a place that if it fails you can die.

 

Awesome feedback, sir.

So a 'booger' weld vs a clean weld is basically the skill of the welder, right?



That weld is so ugly, it makes me cringe.



A lot prettier.

You guys still MIG welded at the end of the day, right?

 

Its a bunch of things -

1. The skill of the welder is the most important. Depending on their skill he or she can deal with some issues with the next 2.
2. Next is the material - if it is rusty, not a good grade, oily, painted, etc these will all have an impact on the weld.
3. Finally is the equipment. Don't expect to plug in a HF 110 welder and be able to weld a frame. Its not going to happen and if it does, do not get in that truck.

My friend who welds can do a decent job with bad equipment but you can not cheat physics and chemistry. Paying someone skilled to weld is money well spent.

 

I feel you. I don't ever plan to do any type of frame welding on my own ever. Definitely reserved for a professional.

I was just wondering what kind of equipment your guy was using (MIG/TIG/etc) -- Whatever it is, like you said is probably expensive and legit equipment that you would use only as a professional in that field.

 

He used his Miller MIG - I think that it is the 190.

 

I had a 1995 Previa once upon a time that was OBD II.

 

The S/C version?

 

Yes.

 

IIRC that version was an early adopter of OBDII, as it wasn't required until '96. Suspect the non-S/C versions might have still been OBDI. I mean not that anyone cares much now that they are 20.

I do recall that there weren't many early OBDII adopters in any marquees; but there were a couple of one offs out there. Kind of like the change to R134a in '94, or all cars having Cats and unleaded fuel somewhere in the mid 70's.

 

You are correct sir! '96 was full adoption of OBD II across the board. I remember it well.