Old77’s GMT400 SWB 4x4 5-speed project/DD

[89Suburban]

hoory shoot!!!!!!

 

[Old77]

Bed is off. Looks like someone used to pull a gooseneck with this thing Doesn’t seem idle but it’ll be getting removed before a replacement bed is put on. Tomorrow will be time to remove a lot of the interior so that I can give that upper corner some attention. Frame and all the things need cleaned from 33 years of dirt and grime and it’ll get a coat of chassis paint. I’ll also replace the sending unit while the bed is off, too.

Anyhoot, lots to do!

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[TotalyHucked]

Those Falkens look basically new! Very curious to see how you go about repairing the cab, gonna be watching this one for sure

 

[Old77]

Those Falkens look basically new!

Yep....the wheel and tire setup is about what I paid for the whole truck.....NOW you're coming around


Stay tuned on the cab repair. Hope to make progress on it this week as soon as I get the interior out and rear window fully removed

 

[Old77]

Rear window out and interior taken out. Will start working on that corner in earnest tonight/tomorrow. My goal is to have corner repaired and new window in by the end of the weekend. Then front ball joints and inspection to get tagged next week

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[Old77]

Started round 1 of cutting tonight. Got my patch piece cut from my donor piece

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There’s an inner structure that is spot welded in that was reinforcement for the seat belt. This patch obviously game from a later gmt400. So now I need to figure out to cut the spot welds out without ruining my patch panel Any ideas?

This pic is after I’d already cut a lot of the structure

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[Old77]

THEN I started cutting into the cab! There musta been a hole in this corner and they just filled the hole with bubble gum welds

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Good news is the original seat belt structure is not spot welded on the 92 so I just to be careful to remove the skin and paying attention not to dig too deep. I already nicked it on accident a couple of times but I’ll repair those before putting the patch panel back on

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Of course, that hole is not the final patch hole. That’s just an exploratory hole

 

[Old77]

The goal for the patch is for it wrap around into the window channel and over into the door jam to minimize the bodywork I have to do. I’m hoping to just need to do a little body work at the top near the cab seam and the at the bottom near the body line


Let me know if any of y’all have any ideas on the spot weld removal.

 

[Old77]

For the spot weld removal, I think I’m just going to go real slow with a combination of drill bit and grinder and try to remove the spot welds without damaging my patch panel. I may hit that up over my lunch break tomorrow

 

[legopnuematic]

For removing the spot welds a thin cut off wheel works decently. Just float over the spot weld going side to side. Keeping an eye on when it just breaks through.

Or a 1/2x18 band fine/dynafile, same idea, thin the waste side of the the spot weld unit it pops.

Or a blair spotweld cutter. Basically a small hole saw with a spring loaded center.

Or drill bits and drill the spot weld out.

I will go between all of those methods, just depends on what access I have and what I need to save or what I will be discarding.

A steel putty knife works well to split stubborn spot welds and split seam sealer if there is any.

 

[Old77]

For removing the spot welds a thin cut off wheel works decently. Just float over the spot weld going side to side. Keeping an eye on when it just breaks through.

Or a 1/2x18 band fine/dynafile, same idea, thin the waste side of the the spot weld unit it pops.

Or a blair spotweld cutter. Basically a small hole saw with a spring loaded center.

Or drill bits and drill the spot weld out.

I will go between all of those methods, just depends on what access I have and what I need to save or what I will be discarding.

A steel putty knife works well to split stubborn spot welds and split seam sealer if there is any.

This is essentially exactly what I had in mind after taking some time to think it through and YouTube research to determine what others have done

Once I get this done I can fine tune my hole on the cab and start properly fitting my patch in. Fingers crossed that I might be able to start tacking the patch in tomorrow night.

 

[bucket]

@legopnuematic is "spot-on"


Lol, see what I did there

That piece you cut out is a wall hanger for sure. Someone put in WAY too much effort to repair it the wrong way.