My J-4500

[Crankyolman]

I got the back side of the tailgate pretty much stripped today.






It's actually quite straight, a few small dings and dents but nothing that can't be fixed.


The next step is to make up a tub and some rust remover and get it derusted.

[Crankyolman]

Today I made up a little soaking pool and 35 or 40 gallons of rust remover and submerged the tailgate in it.





I found the recipe online and hope it works. The recipe is 10 grams citric acid to 1 liter of water and a little dish soap. They said you can use as much as twice that amount with no problems. This sounded good to me since a few years ago someone gave me 150 pounds of citric acid. I gave 100 pounds away and kept 50. I have no idea how long it takes to go through 50 LBS of citric acid but I've hardly put a dent in it.



I measured 1/4 cup of citric acid which came to 50.5 grams so I figured 1/4 cup per gallon. Then I heated up the water, added the citric acid and soap and poured it into the pool until the tailgate was covered. I used black plastic to make the pool because it's best to keep the solution hot. The weatherman says our temps will be in the high 80s to around 90 degrees over the next few days so I figured I'd let mother nature do the heating for me. After I finished filling it I then covered it in clear plastic figuring that will let the sun in and make everything nice and hot.


Now I just wait and see how it turns out.

[Crankyolman]

I took the tailgate and a few other parts out of the solution this morning and power washed then. I'm actually very impressed by how well it worked.











There are a few spots that may need just a bit more attention but for the most part it is now completely rust free


I do expect a bit of flash rusting which can be taken care of easy enough. So the next step is to treat the bare metal, encapsulate what's hidden and start welding it back together.

[jeepman1]

Very nice work. I wonder if your fruit punch there would clean up some really nasty greasy things like my transmission cross member?

[Crankyolman]

Very nice work. I wonder if your fruit punch there would clean up some really nasty greasy things like my transmission cross member?

Thank you,


I don't know how well it would work for degreasing but it worked great on derusting and only removed paint where there was rust or it was kind of loose already. The guy who had the recipe said you may need to put it back in the solution a couple times and that the solution works best hot. I was concerned about melting the plastic so my water was probably only 170 or so when I poured it in but it started working right away.


One of the things I really like about it is it isn't really environmentally unfriendly or acidic. I was reaching in with my bare hands to remove the parts and it didn't burn or anything, although it might have gotten my hands nice and clean. It's cheap too, especially since I already has 50#s of citric acid. A while back someone told me I needed something called evap-o-rust which is expensive and didn't work well. This stuff is cheap and worked great.

[Crankyolman]

Today I got the inside areas treated and continued stripping paint on the front side (technically back side) of the tailgate. I almost have it completely stripped.





Tomorrow the plan is to encapsulate the hidden areas. Saturday and Sunday I should be able to start welding everything up and next week begin on smoothing out the few dents that remain.



There is one area between the two Es that is oil canning and I need to see if I can somehow shrink that area a little bit to tighten it up.

[Crankyolman]

I've been trying to keep everything on tailgate #2 on a schedule but since I'm using the shop at my work and other things tend to have to take priority it can cause real setbacks. Today however was not one of those days. I didn't have a lot planned for today, I wanted to get encapsulating coat inside done which I did first thing. Then I managed to get the rest of the paint stripped off the front. This was where I planned to stop for the day but I found I had enough spare time to fit the lower patch panel then found myself welding it in place. I tend to have better access to the welder on Saturday and Sundays and don't have to worry about people thinking it's funny to mess with the settings and mess up my welds so I had planned on only welding on weekends.






After much thinking about it I decided to remove the center support. I don't think it is really necessary for what I do with my truck and it gives a place for water and debris to get in and rust things out. Last week I bought new electrodes and welding rod to replace what I had used on tailgate #1. I think what I got actually works better than what I used on gate #1, or perhaps I'm just getting better at welding. In some spots I managed the nicest tiny little welds I've ever done, they rival the ones done by our certified welder on the air filter.


I still have a lot of welding and grinding to go but things are actually looking well on their way. My hope for tomorrow is to get the bullet hole filled and the big square patch at least tacked into place and hopefully get all the welding done. Before I get started on the filler work I will need to try to get that patch between the Es shrunk so it doean't oil can. It is pretty straight but still has some waves and will need a bit of filler if I can get that bit shrunk. My hope is to also get something done with that this weekend.

[Crankyolman]

It was another super busy day for me at work but every time I hade 10 minutes to spare I was in the shop welding.



I got the lower patch finished



got the bullet hole all welded





and ground down



and actually got the big patch behind the bullet hole tacked in



On a couple of the spot welds on the lower patch I got it a little hot and got some warping that I will now have to deal with but I will do that once everything that needs welded is complete.

[Crankyolman]

I managed to get all the welding finished today








The next step is to grind down the welds then work out the remaining dents and warps, which shouldn't be all that hard.

[Crankyolman]

Yesterday was my Friday and I managed to get a lot more done on tailgate #2.


I managed to get all the grinding done. I also managed to get a deep dent on the back side pulled out. My neighbor never found his stud gun so I figured who needs it? I have a TIG welder, steel rod and a slide hammer with a vice grip on it. So I welded a stick to the dent and used the slide hammer to pull it out.



It worked real well.


Once all that was done I started shrinking the warp between the Es which went fairly well.










I'm actually quite close on getting that smoothed out. The oil canning is gone and the amount of filler required will be pretty minimal but I might do a little more shrinking.

[SOLSAKS]

tailgate work is nice
but the dang gold breather is awesome

love the dual snorkel
and the gold color makes it go off the charts in coolness.

great.
dave in NC

[Crankyolman]

tailgate work is nice
but the dang gold breather is awesome

love the dual snorkel
and the gold color makes it go off the charts in coolness.

great.
dave in NC

Thank you. I like it because it makes the engine compartment look balanced. It also makes the engine run better which is a nice bonus.

[Crankyolman]

I'm sure you guys are probably tired of my tailgate by now, which is understandable, I'm certainly tired of working on them but it is getting very close.



Body filler is done






and the front side is primed



I ran out of the green primer and wound up using black which isn't really a bad thing because tomorrow it will get gray high build primer and I will begin sanding and prepping for paint. With the black below the gray I will know when it is time to stop sanding and add another layer of gray.



I bought a little paint touch up gun the other day at an estate sale so I think I've also decided to see if my local paint supply store can mix up a small amount of Champagne white and I'll just give both tailgates a coating of the proper color.

[Crankyolman]

Today I finished the work on the back side of the tailgate. I still need to bedliner it but I need to paint the front side first.



The last step on the back side was to seal the lap seam where the panel is welded together. I believe this is the main source of most of the tailgate rust out. So I masked the gaps off





and used some recently expired aircraft sealant to seal up the lap seam





Once it cures I will coat it in bedliner and it should keep water out for a very long time.


Once that was done I began the long slow tedious job of sanding the front side. I got things pretty straight so it seems it may not be all that bad. As things look I should be able to get it painted next week. I will probably have to bring it home for that because I don't want oversrray getting all over our metal shop. Hopefully the weather will be good for it since I will be doing that in my back yard.

[Crankyolman]

I didn't get much done on my tailgate last week. I went to the paint store and showed how old I am and how long it's been since I've painted a car. My plan was to get a quart of lacquer in Champagne white and paint it that as a temporary measure against rust but when I asked if they could mix up a quart was told the only single stage paint they sell is enamel. I'm old school and the old rules were if you wanted to paint over it some day, never use enamel, always use lacquer. So when I went to work the next day I was kind of bummed and less than motivated since I only had a 2 day work week and just pondered what to do for a bit. I didn't even pull my tailgate out from under the table.


What I did pull out was the tailgate that came with my truck.





I figure I've stripped off about everything that I needed and it is now time for it to become a bench.. or coffee table... or wall hanging... or who knows what. the frame part is in pretty rough shape, the top is dented and twisted, the side pieces are rusted out and most of what wasn't rusted out on the bottom was cut out and reused on tailgate #2. So I took it to the band saw and cut it apart.





I saved what could be reused just in case Myself or someone else might need patching material. The center section is actually in pretty good shape, it seems a shame to use it for something other than a tailgate. I actually thought about welding it in to tailgate #1 to make a double walled gate, that might still happen or who knows?


My all too short summer vacation started Saturday and secretly my wife called some local paint supplies to see if any of them carried Lacquer. One of them said they did so Sat morning I headed down there, stood in line for far too long while people chatted about everything but paint and when it was finally my turn I asked about it and was told " We can get it in Enamel not lacquer but we will have to order it, it will be here Wednesday"


So I stopped at autozone on my way home and bought a can of Wimbledon white which is actually a little more cream colored than the Champagne but much closer to the cream color I'm thinking for the final paint job. I will probably need another can or two but This autozone has really gone down hill lately and they only had one can of pretty much half the paints ond no can't of the rest and an "I don't give a S##t attitude from the people working there. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to another one and get another can or two.