1950 Willys Truck re-rebuild by 50wllystrk

4 minute(s) of a 620 minute read

Oh the truck, that's right......

Two pictures, pretty well self explanitory. The first one is the seemless repair. The second is all cleaned up where the repair is like it never happened. It'll all get a sand blasting before paint and that seals the deal, pretty much all machine mark will be gone after that. Plus the sand blasting creates a great texture for primer and paint to grip real strong.

Thanks for the compliments both of ya...

Yes, as you saw from some of the pics, I cut out the bad, drew a templet from cardboard. Now I used a Torchmate to do the cutting to create the patch. My old way, same as most. would be to transfer the templet to a flat plate and gas torch or plasma cut the patch. I do very much taper the edges of the old frame and the new patch, so much so that the weld wants to burn through to the back side. Main thing then is to focus the weld to the thicker metals and sweep across the thin metal in the middle.

Then doing the opposite side goes easier since you now have more material to absorb the heat.

I grind the weld with a 4 1/2 inch grinder. Grind till the weld is still slightly higher than the frame metal. Then identify any low spots in the weld seem. Now focus on the low spots with a pass of the Mig welder. This filling and grinding may take a few repeats. Once the whole weld is just slightly higher than the frame, get a brand new 40 grit flap disc. The grinder spins at some 20.000 rpm, with little or no pressure focus on the weld, you will see the weld smoothly decrease right to the height of the frame, keeping the grinder moving back and forth at all times.

The key... NEW flap discs, it has to be new, if it aint new for this final grind, you will have to put pressure on the grinder which then the flap disc will try to follow the shape of the weld instead of the weld giving into the grinder. Yes, you will change the flap disc rather quickly, it only works when the disc is like new. BUT, the disc is not wasted, it'll still work perfect for all you other needs so you still get a full life out of it.

Who remembers the butt ugly ends of the main cross frame. The last we saw them they were badly rusted and weak. With a quick sandblasting we can now make out what is salvagable and what needs repair.

Thanks again for the compliment, is just a matter of practice, practice, practice.

We'll finish this particular part of the frame with an inside of the frame picture.
Once I get alittle farther this all will be sandblasted also, everything should blend together. I can't wait.....