'85 K5 "Denali" Blazer: Front 4-link

[Conner]

I mentioned above about how I butchered the driver side wheel house getting it out (seriously, don’t be like me LOL). Well I fixed the damage I caused, and then repaired some rust around the bottom edge where it spot welds to the bed floor. This was extremely time consuming.









I also fixed some rust on the passenger wheel house in the same area. Luckily that went much quicker since I thankfully didn’t chop that one up getting it out.

Both wheel houses are ready to reinstall, but I still need to get the bed floor ready. Have some rust to fix and then need to do some paint in the seam.

 

[Conner]

This brings me up to the current state of the truck. I am working on the back of the bed and tail panel area. My tail panel was rusted badly at the sides, and so was the bed floor on top of it and the structural corner pieces that the tail panel attaches to (these are called “tail light plates” and “tail gate posts” according the LMC’s catalog I think).

I patched the tail light plates with pieces from LMC. The replacement pieces are maybe marginally thinner than the originals but these new panels are actually pretty decent. I did have to weld on the nuts for the tail panel to bolt to, as the replacement tail light plates had the holes for them but not the welded in nuts like originals. That was a little annoying but no huge deal. I also patched the bottoms of the tail gate posts using 16g that I made myself. I had to put those in after the tail panel to get everything to fit in.

I put in an entire new tail panel from AMD (although I don’t think they make this part, just sell it). This part seems pretty good and on par with the original part quality wise, thankfully. I had to cut the new tail panel in half to get it in, which was a pain. I can’t really see another way to get it in, MAYBE if you cut more of the surrounding body away than I had to and also lifted the body off the frame a few inches. For me it seemed easier to cut the tail panel. I did “sleeve” the tail panel with a bent-to-fit piece of 16g to help align it correctly and add a little strength to where I cut/welded it.









New tail panel in, and the corners it attaches to repaired as well. This was super time consuming to even get it to this point. It took a lot longer than I expected. As you can see, I braced the bed sides with 2x4s sitting on top of the body mounts under the bed. The thought process was it would prevent the bed sides from moving in relation to the frame once the tail panel, which supports them at the rear, was out. It worked well, nothing moved whatsoever and even without the tail panel in the bed sides wouldn’t budge.

 

[CT-BLAZER]

Are you using Weld Through Primer on the parts???

Stuff if great

 

[Conner]

Are you using Weld Through Primer on the parts???

Stuff if great

Yeah, I’m not sure if this is the ideal way but what I’ve been doing on all the overlapped seams with spot welds is to mark and tape off where all the spot welds will be, then do epoxy primer and a couple coats of cheap spray paint. Then finally pull off all the tape for the spot welds and spray on the weld through primer.

As an example, here’s the passenger rocker and the floor where it welds to. The white is just cheap spray paint (with 2k epoxy underneath) and the gray spots are where I would be spot (plug, technically?) welding, which was taped for the epoxy primer and paint so it’s just weld through primer over bare steel.





I’m of course all ears for any tips and tricks, this is the first time I’ve ever done this stuff so I’m shooting from the hip for a lot of it LOL.

 

[76zimmer]

Nice documentary on rust repair! Inevitably someone asks about how to do it and this is a good example of the steps to take. thanks for taking the time to post up your work! Nice progress.

 

[Conner]

Nice documentary on rust repair! Inevitably someone asks about how to do it and this is a good example of the steps to take. thanks for taking the time to post up your work! Nice progress.

Thank you! Hoping to be done with the rust repair sooner rather than later LOL. I did a lot of research here, and still do, so hopefully these pics can help someone else.

 

[Conner]

I ordered the back panels for the bed floor. AMD part numbers 791-4373-L and 791-4373-R (made by TriPlus according to their site). I have the passenger side but not the driver side yet (back ordered through Summit, I bought through them because they have a location near me and shipping was going to be a lot).

The ridges in the new panel don’t match the ridges in the original bed unfortunately. It’s mainly the spacing, but also the depth of the ridges. The depth I think won’t be noticeable once they are welded in and ground down, but the spacing I had to adjust to make even close.

In 2 spots I added about 1/8” (labeled “add” in the below pic) and in 2 other spots I removed about 1/16” (labeled “remove”). This is time consuming and annoying but I think now it’s close enough that it’ll look right once it’s all done.



I also transferred over the tire carrier welded-on nut, even though I probably won’t use the original tire carrier. I wanted to recreate the factory stuff though. There’s a hook shaped thing that supports the fuel filler neck (I think with a hose clamp), so I transferred that over too. Finally, I cut the square hole for the body bolt. I have heard those like to round out, and since I’m neck deep in this stuff anyways, I added a 16g piece on top of the panel where the hole is to reinforce the area, and hopefully prevent it from ever rounding out.



Also drilled spot weld holes and the bolt holes for the inner quarter panel bolts. This side is ready to put in, but I’m going to hold off until I get the driver side just in case I have to take it in/out to help fit the other side. I will be painting the part that will be on top the tail panel, but will hold off on that until the last minute to avoid scratching it back up when fitting the other side.

 

[76zimmer]

Seems like nothing is a bolt on (or weld on). Everything needs massaging to fit right.
nice attention to details!

 

[Conner]

Small update, while waiting for the other side of the rear bed floor to come in, I started on one of the smaller patches I am doing for other parts of the bed. In hindsight I’m wondering if replacing the entire bed floor would have been easier, but at this point the plan is to do 2 or 3 small patches instead.

I cut out a section that’s badly pitted and has a few pin holes. This section includes the driver side pocket that the rear seat clips into. I separated that piece from the floor panel so that I can reuse it. I will clean it up with a blast cabinet and reattach it to the new floor patch, which I will have to make from some of the extra rear floor and a small flat section. I still have to get started on that.

 

[Conner]

Question, does anyone know why there is a small hole, which had a sheet metal screw in it, in the bottom of the pocket that the rear seat clips into?



Both of the rear seat pockets and the pocket that the front passenger seat clips down into has the same thing. I’m tempted to weld the hole shut but I don’t want to regret it later… Does something like a rubber cushion for the seat clasp go there, or??

Also, as can be seen, I blasted and primed this pocket to reinstall on a new section of bed floor, but I put that on hold for the moment. The driver side of the rear bed floor finally showed up. I have that cut to fit (and spliced in/out in a couple places to adjust the ridges), but still have to cut the body bolt hole, holes for the bolts that go to the inner quarter, and the spot weld holes.

 

[Conner]

Last night on the driver side bed floor piece I cut the square hole for the body bolt and reinforced it with a piece of 16g just like the passenger side. I also drilled the 3 holes for where it bolts to the inner quarter panel. Drilled all the spot weld holes to the tail panel. And finally scuffed all the surfaces that will be layered together and put a coat of 2k epoxy primer on them. Still have to do a couple more coats of cheap spray paint to be safe and then weld through primer where the welds will be. But it’s very close to going in place permanently, finally.

 

[Conner]

Some decent progress made the past few days. All the spot welds between the bed floor panels and the tail panel are done. Also got all areas of butt welds tacked. Everything lines up very well thankfully.



Even though it was extremely time consuming, I am glad I made the modifications to the bed floor panels to adjust the incorrect spacing of the ridges/valleys. Originally many of them were badly off, like this one below:



And now, after adding material in 3 areas and taking some away in 3 other areas, everything lines up almost perfectly:





Gotta keep working away at it. The bed has been chopped up for much longer than expected, I am very ready to have it all back together.

 

[flatland]

Nice work. Mine did not require quite so much rust repair and I still got quite tired of it.
It was a great feeling to see it after it was repaired and painted!

 

[Conner]

Nice work. Mine did not require quite so much rust repair and I still got quite tired of it.
It was a great feeling to see it after it was repaired and painted!

Thanks! Yeah, I am getting tired of the sheet metal work to be honest. Ready to do the more fun stuff!

 

[Conner]

Got the back of the bed floor done today. I think it came out pretty good. The seam is visible but everything lines up pretty well.

 

[flatland]

One step at a time, that's the way to get it done. That looks good!

 

[76zimmer]

Nice work!
it'll be mint in no time!

 

[Conner]

Nice work!
it'll be mint in no time!

One step at a time, that's the way to get it done. That looks good!

Thanks guys, appreciate the motivation!

 

[70jimmy]

Great work, talk about jumping in with both feet neck deep!

 

[Conner]

Got a medium sized patch in the bed floor finished up. This is the area around where the rear seat clips into on the driver side.













Couple more much smaller/simpler patches to make in the bed floor but getting close...