:::Thoughts (Should I Put In For A New Quarter Panel?)

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If the local pick-your-part yard is nearby and having sale or has decent pricing, I'd look for a cancer-free bed and do a meticulous job rustproofing it with Fluid Film or the like.

If you don't care about aesthetics, you can patch it, what you can also do is use fiberglass cloth with some foil tape as a backing and try your best to contour to the panel. Build up the glass layers and use some kitty hair filler or plain-jane Bondo for final finishing and prime/paint it.
 
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Originally Posted by nthach
If the local pick-your-part yard is nearby and having sale or has decent pricing, I'd look for a cancer-free bed and do a meticulous job rustproofing it with Fluid Film or the like.

If you don't care about aesthetics, you can patch it, what you can also do is use fiberglass cloth with some foil tape as a backing and try your best to contour to the panel. Build up the glass layers and use some kitty hair filler or plain-jane Bondo for final finishing and prime/paint it.


That's a great suggestion, thank you

Originally Posted by DuckRyder
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Bingo! That's exactly what I was looking for...thank you!
 
Search car-part.com and see if there is a good whole bed available in your color. Probably be about $500 and an hour or two to change it out. I just swapped out a bed for a guy's 2000 S10 pickup and we found the same color used in good condition for $500 and when swapped looked like it belonged there all the time...paint age and normal wear was all the same.
 
Originally Posted by GMBoy
Search car-part.com and see if there is a good whole bed available in your color. Probably be about $500 and an hour or two to change it out. I just swapped out a bed for a guy's 2000 S10 pickup and we found the same color used in good condition for $500 and when swapped looked like it belonged there all the time...paint age and normal wear was all the same.


Thank you for your suggestion, which I will take into consideration
 
I wouldn't do fiberglass since it's an exposed, visible part. If it were in the bed I'd think differently.

I'd suck it up with getting a patch welded in and paint reasonably well matched. Or else I'd let it rot and be saving for a new truck. It all depends upon how much you like the truck...

The replacement bed is a great idea, but it's a lot of logistics to make it work... I'd consider that option first honestly, but you could waste a lot of time in search and I don't know that it's a great use of your time unless there's a bunch of pick and pulls or used parts distributors around.
 
Originally Posted by JHZR2
I wouldn't do fiberglass since it's an exposed, visible part. If it were in the bed I'd think differently.

I'd suck it up with getting a patch welded in and paint reasonably well matched. Or else I'd let it rot and be saving for a new truck. It all depends upon how much you like the truck...

The replacement bed is a great idea, but it's a lot of logistics to make it work... I'd consider that option first honestly, but you could waste a lot of time in search and I don't know that it's a great use of your time unless there's a bunch of pick and pulls or used parts distributors around.


I thank you for both your time and opinion.

***

Swapping beds is more work than what I want to get into right now...do you have any idea what a welder would charge to weld a patch into the quarter panel? The patch itself runs $55 plus shipping, and if I have it welded into place, it would be a big improvement over what I have currently.

The other question would be: how would I treat the welds? I know that I would have to grind them down, but what method would be most effective?

Thanks in advance
 
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Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by JHZR2
I wouldn't do fiberglass since it's an exposed, visible part. If it were in the bed I'd think differently.

I'd suck it up with getting a patch welded in and paint reasonably well matched. Or else I'd let it rot and be saving for a new truck. It all depends upon how much you like the truck...

The replacement bed is a great idea, but it's a lot of logistics to make it work... I'd consider that option first honestly, but you could waste a lot of time in search and I don't know that it's a great use of your time unless there's a bunch of pick and pulls or used parts distributors around.


I thank you for both your time and opinion.

***

Swapping beds is more work than what I want to get into right now...do you have any idea what a welder would charge to weld a patch into the quarter panel? The patch itself runs $55 plus shipping, and if I have it welded into place, it would be a big improvement over what I have currently.

The other question would be: how would I treat the welds? I know that I would have to grind them down, but what method would be most effective?

Thanks in advance



It's not the welding and welds that are the issue. It's the prep and paint after. A pickup bed shouldn't have much in the way of closed off areas; notionally accessing from behind once done to treat, paint, etc. should be straightforward. It's getting it to look reasonably presentable that's the challenge.
 
To some extent the answer depends on exactly where the rust is and how bad.

My Ranger has a partial wheelhouse inside the fender. It extends from the lip to the inner bedside in the area above the wheel. I'd hazard a guess that this is where the rust is from it becoming packed with mud, snow, salt and other detritus and not getting cleaned out. I suspect this partial wheelhouse will need to be repaired as well. Is this included in the patch panel?

It's also possible you could avoid the welding entirely and install this patch panel using Lord Fuzor or similar panel bonding agent.

Still, you are going to have several hundred dollars (and at least a day labor) in this by the time you have done it.

IMO the replacement bed of same color and flares are both more expedient, and possibly more cost cost effective solutions. Particularly if you could find used OE flares off of a sport or edge.
 
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Thanks to all who replied.

You have all given me much to think about, and if I go ahead with any kind of repair, I will post the results on this thread (should any future poster look to do a similar repair).

Again...thanks to all who shared their knowledge and time.
 
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