demort71
Junior Member
I have a 04 Rumble Bee short bed I bought last fall. It's a pretty decent truck overall, but it's rusting over the rear wheel openings, which is typical for a Midwest Ram of this vintage. I repaired a 06 Dakota a couple of years ago in the same area. I bought a pair of rust repair panels for the bed and trimmed them down to the needed shape and size, then brazed them onto the bed. I did get some panel warping using this weld method. I don't really want to invest in a TIG or MIG welder, given the cost of the gas and tank. I think TIG welding would be the best method to repair this lighter gauge metal versus MIG welding. I have brazed metal patches on 70s cars and trucks without warping the panel, but that metal is thicker than the modern vehicles.
I want to try repairing the Bee without getting any warping. I was planning to glue the repair panel to the bed instead of welding. Then I was going to use a layer of aluminum based body filler and a top coat of plastic filler over that. The repair panels are going to be about 4" wide and the length of the top part of the wheel opening.
Who has experience using body panel adhesive to adhere patches or panels in general? Does the adhesive last and continue to adhere to the panel for years or will the panel eventually pop loose? Thanks for your thoughts.
FYI-the ancient picture to the right (a century old now) is the picture of a Maxwell pickup truck from the teens. It had chain drive. This truck was in my family. Maxwell was the auto company that Walter Chrysler revived and then bought to start the Chrysler Corporation. Dodge Brothers was another auto company that Chrysler bought from the heirs of the Dodge brothers in the late 1920's, which is a better known factoid about Chrysler. Plymouth and Desoto were model lines developed later by Chrysler to fit different niche markets.
I want to try repairing the Bee without getting any warping. I was planning to glue the repair panel to the bed instead of welding. Then I was going to use a layer of aluminum based body filler and a top coat of plastic filler over that. The repair panels are going to be about 4" wide and the length of the top part of the wheel opening.
Who has experience using body panel adhesive to adhere patches or panels in general? Does the adhesive last and continue to adhere to the panel for years or will the panel eventually pop loose? Thanks for your thoughts.
FYI-the ancient picture to the right (a century old now) is the picture of a Maxwell pickup truck from the teens. It had chain drive. This truck was in my family. Maxwell was the auto company that Walter Chrysler revived and then bought to start the Chrysler Corporation. Dodge Brothers was another auto company that Chrysler bought from the heirs of the Dodge brothers in the late 1920's, which is a better known factoid about Chrysler. Plymouth and Desoto were model lines developed later by Chrysler to fit different niche markets.
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