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Inner wheel house rust patches,anyone make any??

diesel4me

diesel4me

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I was wondering if any place sells pre made INNER rear wheel well house rust repair panels...my '85 Suburban has rot where the inner wheel house meets the rear quarters all around the "arch" of the inside of the wheel well..I'd rather not have to hand fab a patch for it as it will be time consuming and probably dam near impossible to make anything that wont look "hack"...

I have a few trailer fenders that I'll never use probably,I was thinking of using one of them,but they are kind of squared off at the corners,not rounded like the wheel arch is,and would need quite a bit of fabbing to make them fit..I suppose I could use galvanized duct pipe or stove pipe instead,I also thought maybe an old inner tube could be riveted in there ,all I need is to keep mud and water from being flung up into the rear 1/4s ,I can see some bubbles already starting around the rear windows due to salt spray,and want to prevent it from getting worse..

Anyone see patches like these in LMC or other body supply catalogs??..I have looked and locally all they sell is patches for the OUTSIDE f the rear arch ans complete wheel houses for pickup fleetside beds...maybe the ones for the outside could be used on the inside too?..
 
diesel, I just went through this. I actually thought about trailer fenders too..but the one I picked up from the local farm/fleet store just fell through the hole in the side of my truck! (too small) I couldn't find anything premade either...and as far as I can tell, they are different than the housing for the pick-ups and k5s..but mine were so rusted who knows.

My rust was so bad I ended up using a k5 inner wheel well and fabing using some angle iron then bolting it to the floor and wall. It is larger than the burb so it works to reach good metal farther out if the metal around your inner wheel tub is really bad.
I lost a bit of room between the wheel tubs because these are wider, but at least it is all functional. I sealed with silionce between all seems before I tightened down the bolts. It is all bolted. I also eliminated the spare tire well becuase it was just a rust hole.

I can get part numbers when i get home, I don' thave access at work.
Here are some pics.
392227119.jpg

392227829.jpg

392227831.jpg
 
Here is the part I used actually, it is from LMC it is the wheel tub for a 73-87 pick up. It is pre-drilled and actually had welded nuts on the bottom, I didn't have to alter the housing in any way, I just drilled holes in my burb and bolted the housing to the floor and wall.
LMC part number 38-7612
 
Oh got it! Yeah I ordered one of those when I ordered my inner wheel tubs. They bolt to the inner wheel tub and when the two are used together may come closer to replacing the factory metal in the suburban...but I don't believe it is the right original peice...but it could be still what was used in thes suburabn mine was so rusted I didn't have a good original to go off of.

The thing that threw me is that the suburban has a wider gap between the outer fender and the inner fender becuase the suburban does not have bed rails like the k5 and the pickups did so I ended up not using that peice becuase it did not fill that gap like it does on a k5. I still have that peice and would be willing to send it to you Bob fpr the cost of shipping if you want to check it out.
 
Rene's picture shows the part I need,that has the "teeth" ,goes right behind the outer wheel arch!...I have seen a panel like that one with the teeth in it listed in the J.C. Whitney catalog (at least in an old one I have from 2002!)....but I may be able to get one locally from a body supply place ,there is a few around that sell patch panels..it helps to have a part number or picture when ordering one,on the phone,your chances of someone getting you the right part just by description are about the same as hitting the lottery for a million bucks...and most places wont give refunds on body panels once purchased..

Big6ft6,I'll PM you if I decide to take you up on your offer..not sure when I'll get around to doing any work on this Suburban,its sat for almost a year since I got it...its got other issues that'll need attention first--the 700R4 in it supposedly loses reverse after a long ride,and refuses to go in or stay in overdrive,so thats the first thing I need to fix...I also have a complete Fisher plow setup to install on it...I've been working on getting my '82 K2500 ready for winter (thats on the road & insured so it gets first priority!)...

I had a guy pull in my yard a week ago,and ask if the 'Burb was for sale,and I told him "not really--unless the price is right,then everything is for sale!"--but he lost all interesrt when he saw it was a diesel,he had one in a 1 ton dump truck and hated it...he offered me 250 bucks for my 81 G-10 van,said he was looking for a "rolling storage shed"...but I can drive it to the scrapyard and get at least 350 for it just for scrap,and I hate to junk it,so I think I'll let it rot some more in my driveway!..

If I dont start doing something with the 'Burb soon though,it'll be a lot more work to fix the rust--right now the undersides are in great shape,but the rockers are showing signs of popping thru under the doors and the clearcoat is peeling bad,looks like it has psoriosis!..has several deeply pitted rusty areas on the doors and fenders too...
I put white lube over the rusty spots for now to retard further rusting..the front floors look good under the rug,someone dumped a lot of oil on the floors,I'm hoping the rear cargo area isn't rusty inside under the rug,haven't pulled it up to look,it looks fine from underneath..

My main problem is money,and the fact there is only one of me,and I have four vehicles of my own plus another I have to maintain,and its not easy finding time or money to do it all,been trying to fix the house up for winter too--have to find someone who can patch up some shingles that blew off the roof this year,and all the trim and window frames & doors need paint--so does the endwalls on my quonset garage..place looks like a foeclosure its getting so shabby..:doah:..
 
Diesel, I'll take a photo of the part so you can be sure it it what you're looking for, I'll also try and get a photo of it up under the fender so you can see how it fits up.
 
That'll be great!..by the way,nice work on your restoration...

I have brazed,welded,pop riveted and drive screwed my share of rotted out GM trucks back together,but I wouldn't be willing to go to the extent you did!..MAN!..thats a LOT of rot!...but you did a nice job patcing it together again...
Unfortunately trucks here look like yours did in ten years or less,and not many show up in junkyards that aren't rotted,if they do get one with a nice body they always crush it instantly or push it around with the loader till every useable panel is trashed!.. My Suburban's rotted inner wheel panel looks about the same as Rene's does,and one side is worse than the other one as far as the size of the gap..(drivers side is worst!)..I noticed today the entire rear 1/4 is filled with about 50 lbs of mus and leaves,and its bubbling up ,so that'll be a hole soon..:( Got to get that out of there somehow..two months of 90 degree sun didn't dry it out like I hoped,and were getting 3-6" of rain tomorrow..
 
Here is the part for passenger side, the second picture is looking up under the fender with the part installed. It fits perfect against the outside fender/wheel opening, but it doesn't extend to the inside fender wall of the suburban. This doesn't mean it is the wrong part, becuase it is possible it isn't intended to mate to the inner fedner wall, but possibly it mates to the outside of the inner wheel well. In my case the inner wheel is moved towards the middle of the truck, if they were moved out they would mate with the this part very well. *edit* that brace might be in the way....I didnt look close enough this morning, but if that brace extends down down too far, that might kill the idea this part would work for a burb. I'm using P/U wheel wells did not look like original burb tubs I took out...so not sure if they the whole thing is even what was originally int the suburban??? I'd be curious to find out with a vehicle that wasn't rotted away. The last picture is the part number.
392290375.jpg

392290376.jpg

392290381.jpg
 
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Does this part bolt on ??....I didn't see any bolts on my Suburban holding it on,but its possible they are buried under a ton of undercoating,whoever had this truck went crazy with either undercoating or roofing tar,they coated the whole undersides with it early in its life,so its not that bad a shape underneath..(truck came from washington state originally,then someone in VT bought it,before the guy I got it from bought it..)..

It would be nice if this was a bolt in deal and you only need to tack weld it in a few spots..I'll have to crawl under the truck this weekend after the tropical storm coming in here blows out tonight and get a better look at it...thanks for the photos,now I know what I am looking for...by the way,the part number sticker says that panel fits GM pickup,Suburban/Blazer!..I might call around and see if one is available locally and how much...
 
I doubt it was bolted in at the factory, most likely pinch/spot welds, but the after market part has all those holes along the top, and they line up perfectly with same holy on the outer edge of the inner wheel tub for the same year p/u/blazer. When I had the two out of the truck I could bolt them together and they made a complete nice wheel housing, but the seem did not line up with the suburban's interior wall like it would in a blazer or pick up.

Don't get fooled by the designation that if fits blazer/suburban. Lots of parts places just copy and paste that crap across every part in situation where majority of pieces are the same like between k5/burb, but not all peices are interchangable but the designation still makes it in the parts list. Sometimes you'll find multiple part numbers for same make and year even when nothing changed at the factory...that is usually a symptom of the excessive copy and paste issue at these parts places.

But you can go to the sherman body panel website and get lots of info there.
 
Here is the best i can draw to explain it. The k5 and pickup have thinner fenders and have a "bed rail" where the k5 top botls to the k5 bed. The suburban has a thicker wall and has a brace (you can see the brace in my previous photos and the drawing below. This panel I have is (drawn with red line below) fits perfectly to fill the smaller gab btween inner and outer fender of a k5 (I checked on my neighbors) but hardly makes it half way across the gap on a subrban se my pictures earlier in the thread too, helps to see both drawing and pics. After thinking more I also believe the existance of the brace in the suburban fender all but gaurantees this peice won't fit in a suburban, the brace protrudes down into the path where this peice would mate to the inner fender if it could reach...at least in a 89 like mine.
392375193.jpg
 
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But if you still want it Diesel, it is all yours if you want it I'm not going to use it.
 
All I did was get a good short bed and take it apart because the sides are bolted on.Used the floor after trimming about a foot from the front and the inner wheel wells.Also used the sides where the front and rear sides of the floor bolt to up about 8 in high on mine because it was rusted out bad.My outer wheel wells are good so don't need to use the ones off the doner bed but could have if I wanted to.Only thing I had to get aftermarket was the rear bar that the door hinges bolt to because the truck bed one is different.70-80% of it bolted right in and its all gm parts so the fit is perfect.
 
Zombie, do I understand correctly that you bolted body parts from a pick-up/ bed & Wheel housing area in to a suburban bed-wheel housing? This is what I'm trying to figure out if it would work or not. If it does then Diesel is in good shape for finding cheap after market metal.
 
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