A little restoration

Finished both mirrors up today and re-installed them. I also discovered that who ever the knucklehead was that assembled the mirrors, cross-threaded two of the studs for the mirror! Thankfully, I have a lot of experience with fixing damaged threads. I ground off the damaged threads and the bolts went on, no problem;



I also started on replacing the arm rest material. My son warned me that pleather would be hot in the summer, he was right! since the pleather was lifting from the arm rest, I decided to replace it. I purchased material from J. fabric, cut it to size and used spray glue to attach everything.
The good news is that the glue and plastic I used for the repair is rock solid. I had to scrape off all of the old glue from the upholstery. Coleman fuel is my friend.



The previous attempt;

New hotness-we'll see for how long..

 

I decided to show a little more detail about how I did the arm rest for the benefit of others.
This is an '05 truck, so the original glue was yellowed and dried out when I replaced the original, due to the cracked plastic, so it wasn't a problem to work around.
For the second go-round, I had to tear off the new cover & foam and then remove the old glue. When ever I deal glue, I use Coleman fuel. It loosens and dissolves glue with out attacking the object. Glass, wood, plastic, it works on all of them.
I soaked the newer foam in Coleman fuel and it came up, no problem. I then used an acid brush and a knife to scrap the rest off and wiped it all down again with CF.



I cut out new foam using a template, masked off the armrest and glued it on.




Used a template for the material, using the old material as a guide. I added extra material to make sure I had good coverage.
I used clamps to secure the top, and sprayed glue on the bottom half. I masked off the top so it did not all stick down at the same time, creating wrinkles.





I went around the edges and tucked the material tight so it looks like it was vacuumed-formed onto it.

 

Installed the 'anti-tweeker' device, great product! It can be purchased from christian06.
There is a dedicated thread to the product; Anti tweaker device
I did some minor clean up on the part, softened the edges a bit, no big deal. A little etch primer and semi-gloss black to cover the steel. Installation is easy and it looks nice.

 

paint looks good. you have something to be proud of there.

 

TY!

 

OK, so now it is time to start the war against rust. Luckily, this was a Hawaii truck until about three years ago.
I started last year when I removed the D rings in the bed, they were completely frozen with rust. I also removed two of the small bolts on the bed walls.
I used Metal Rescue on the two small bolts and the D rings. That stuff did remove the rust, but the rust returned very faintly after a couple of weeks sitting inside. The RR was not strong enough to free-up the D rings. A few weeks ago I saw the Action Gell product and decided to give it a try. After asking a bunch of questions on their site, they gave me a small discount before I ordered.
I started with the surface rust on the threads using the Gell. They all looked like this bed bolt.

This is what the threads looked like after the Gell.


You can still see a small amount of rust on the threads for the D rings, but the bed wall threads are clean, and you can see some of the rust conversion as the grey color.
I applied some Gell to the small bolts, primed & painted them and installed them. I also applied liberal amounts of high temp grease to everything to keep the rust away. the bolts were difficult to install because of the heavy paint. ( not so much paint on the threads next time )

I started on the crash bar extender and removed it for treatment.



Lots of rust starting, but not the end of the world. coated them with Gell.

After an hour there is still rust remaining in a lot of the areas, but the threads are clean.

Giving another coat of Gell, we'll see how it turns out. I moved on to the the bed bolts to see if I can save it or replace it. The Gell seams to be reacting to the bolt, which leads me to believe that it may be coated with zinc. I will be asking the manufacturer about it.
So messaging back and forth with the company, these bolts are galvanized. The Gell is reacting with the zinc coating.


Much more to come concerning rust!

 

I don't know how old you are sir, but you are doing an amazing job on restoring your truck. MACO did decent job on the painting and the amount and quality of work you have done is amazing. I have this to my watch thread list. Will be interested in see the rest of restoration. I did the same to my Gen 1 double cab 4 years ago then sold it to my neighbor and bought my Gen 2 Double Cab with now almost 50K needless to say it is like new. but my Gen 1 had almost 200K when I went through it but being in California Rust wasn't the problem The sun had done it damage along with normal wear and tear. I See it every day and it still looks good and neighbor loves it. I sold as at 75 didn't feel like work on it any more, so bought a Gen in perfect condition and now at 76/77 I am improving it, that's what I tell my wife.

 

Thanks so much!
I am old enough to know all the words! Let's put it this way, know one has ever guessed my age, its my Castilian genetics.
I just think it is good to share what I discover so others can benefit. That way it is easier to ask for help when you get stuck on something. Luckily, these are relatively easy to work on. I usually do things no-one has done before, which isn't always a good thing.

 

Sooo, since I was looking at the crash bar, I decided to remove the skid plate to see what the rest of it looked like. I was very pleased the bolts came loose with no issues. Lots of surface rust starting....




I don't think that the Gell will eliminate this to the point of gone. I will probably have to get out the sander and Dremel for physical removal. I have some POR 15 waiting in the wings, we'll see. The problem is getting inside the hollow crash bar, not really possible. I guess that's what the different film treatments will be for. I need to take a close look inside with a light.
Lots of rust dust on the backside of the pass. side bumper mount. Most of the dirt under here is just dust. It wipes right off, luckily. There is rust under it though.

This kinda makes me cry a little..

Going to see if I can get the skid plate and supports sand blasted tomorrow.

 

OK, so a follow up report on the Action Gell rust converter. I had the driver's side crashbar extension covered with the Gell all day & night. Some areas were converted, some small areas, not. Images;
These first two show conversion to an iron oxide, the first was bubbled metal on the factory bead weld and just above. Looks good-

The second, another bead weld. You can also see the edges of the metal around the opening have converted-

These next images show areas of non-conversion-


The white area in the above photo is build up of the Gell. To the right is the area where there was no conversion.
Keep in mind, I followed manufacturer instructions and had these parts covered with the Gell. I also removed and replaced the old Gell with fresh, three times yesterday.
So, what my experience has shown me is, the Action Gell deff. works on light surface rust and most of the heavy rust, but not 100%. It converted rust to an iron oxide on the threads in the bed walls, which was what I was hoping for. You have to be patient and 'baby-sit' the stuff on heavily rusted parts.
My next report will be if the 'Rust Reformer' can save my factory D rings. They have been locked with rust and unable to move. Why am I bothering, because I am curious. I will order D rings if this stuff does not work anyway.
I will also be using POR15 on the center crashbar, and see if I can get it inside the bar. That part has started to rust on the outside, so I assume it is rusted on the inside as well. That will be a challenge as I will be fighting gravity to reach all of the interior walls!

 

Lots done today. I got the final coat, 2nd, of POR15 on the crash bar, finished priming the front armor plate & Cbar extensions, installed the bead molding in the doors.
The crash bar was not as bad as I thought. I tried a course flap wheel, but that did not really do much. So I used a wire wheel I had for my drill and that worked great. Removed loose rust and paint.
Before

After. Ready to clean with lacquer thinner and start painting.

PRO15...



The sandblasted parts are going to be painted using Rust-oleum primer and semi-gloss black. It will be cheaper to touch up in the long run than powder coat.




Installed the new bead molding on the doors. Before,


After..

 

So I am definitely calling these dead.
I saturated them in Action Gell...

But then I realized that I needed to get into the tight areas around the D ring, so I soaked them in Rust Reformer for three days, changing the fluid every day. The water would turn black as it was eating the paint as well as rust.

There was deff. no active rust left when I removed them.

So I placed one in a vice and whacked it with a 5lb. sledge. The D ring did not budge.

But the bolts & washers are clean!

 

More progress today. Started the final coats of black rust-oleum on the armor parts and final coats of POR15 on the tow point bracket.

I also started to prep the all of the bolts for re-install and paint. First, I coated them all with Action Gell, and this was the result;




They did not turn out as clean as I had thought they should, so I soaked them in Rust Reformer for about two hours, moving them around in the solution every so often. This is how they turned out;


They are much cleaner, even though there is STILL rust on some of the bolts. I will just wire brush them to remove the rest of the rust.
I also started to look at the bed bolts. I had my mechanic break them loose so I would not strip the torx head. I could still only get four out of six of them out. The first two looked decent, and I 'gelled' them and wire brushed them. When I got to the next bolts, they were toast, not worth working on. Will be replacing them, wonder if I can get them in stainless? I just coated them all with high temp grease until I get replacements and put them back in.





I also took these bed side bolts out. there Was rust under the heads, so I Gelled' them. With light surface rust, the Gell works great.


Rust is gone, nice clean metal now.

 

This is the level of rust removal I would have like to do on my truck! I settled for needle gun, coat of por 15, and naval jelly put on with a trim brush on exposed bolts. Wiped those clean and oiled the bolts. Didn’t take long and will help make everything live a lot longer, but you are going the extra mile here

 

For instance, my d bolts were also rusted to their own collar as yours are, even after copious amounts of soaking in pb blaster in direct hot sun. They will bend the collar, but won’t turn freely. Have yet to go back and replace and realistically, it’s not even top 20 on my list of small things to fix...

 

I figure, I should do it once the way I want to. That way, if anything fails, I know it wasn't because I didn't put a full effort into it. I will only be able to do sections in stages, but now I know the process.
I also put a coat of Fluid Film inside the crash bar. I really wanted to get the POR15 in there, but just don't have the right tool....yet.

The reason I want to replace them is so I have something in the threaded holes that isn't rusty, so it may as well be new D rings.

 

Finished everything up on Monday night, via work light. Just in time to beat the rain. I had to speed up the painted bolts by putting them in my convection oven on about 80-90º until the oven cools down. I did this about four times until they were dry enough to install.

Parts ready for install..

The bed bolts installed..

Below is an example of rust still remaining on one of the bolts that holds the armor in place. This bolt was soaked in Action Gell and Rust Reformer. I still had to go in with a file to clean up the threads and remove the rust. So what I've learned is that all rust reformers have their limitations and do not work as advertised, but combining them will get you close to rust free. ( They come close to their advertising, but not perfect )

 

Vinegar removes rust. Seen it eat rust out of a gas tank to the point you have a hole in the bottom

 

I'll give anything a chance to prove how effective it is.
Better images of the completed work;

 

Purchased a set of headlights from @Nimble9 and installed them today. They look better than I thought because they are blacked out inside. They are plug & play, no LED's to deal with.

Had to spend about 45 mins. to adjust them, and got them as close as anyone could as per PA requirements. They were all over the place when I first turned them on;

Much better;

When I took the Spec-D's out, I noticed water all over the place. There was an inch of water inside the light.



While I had everything apart, I checked all the painted parts, and so far so good;

It was also nice to see that the paint on the wheel houses is holding up fine.