ideas for bump

[Madsen1970F100]

I have all trim removed from my bed and all along the bump (1971 bed) the metal is not exactly rusted, but is pitted here and there. What techniques can be used to fill these pitted areas but still keep a solid straight line. Its right in area where there is a seem. Not a welder nor have top skills to eliminate seem

Any ideas?

[hazelnut]

I'd sand blast the area, I would put wide masking tape to the outside of the area you want to blast then cover that with duct tape. That way your not blasting everywhere. pull all the seem sealer out that you can from the seam. Sand blast away with a fine sand. Once the area is rust free spray with epoxy primer to protect. then seem seal, put masking tape along both sides of the seam to keep sealer form going everywhere. Use a putty spreader to put the seam back in. Once you have it close pull the tape and feather the edges where the tape was.
A tip: Put dish soap on your fingers to spread the seam sealer, Keeps it from sticking to your fingers and will make the sealer smooth out and lay down like you want. Plus it keep it from sticking to your fingers.

[Madsen1970F100]

Thanks Hazelnut. Got a sand blaster? Need a little extra income? let me know...you are local-ish to me. This bit of body work, along with a decent paint job and some body panel alignment should bring project to nearly complete. Little interior stuff to do as well.

I actually talked to Line-X shop here and they offered to sandblast entire bed, top, bottom, sides, etc. Then Spray line-x in bed and underside. $1600 was the quote they gave me. Might that work? Fair price? I would get bed back and sides sandblasted and bare, hopefully enough to get a lot of seem sealer out. And proceed as you suggested.

Where can I buy seem sealer?

Thanks!

[hivewax]

Seam sealer on the exterior will eventually fail gain, so I'd say learn to weld or find a welder and close that seam up.

[motzingg]

the modern urethane 2 part seam sealer you can get (3m is the only brand to consider, imo) will outlast the metal 10:1.

believe it or not, polymers have gotten a bit better since 1968... the back side of a weld is very prone to rusting. I've welded in a ton of rust repair panels, homemade and commercial, coming from wisconsin originally. If you cant get at the back side any weld will rust from the inside out.

If you dont need the physical strength of the seam sealer, you can use a skimming filler, there is one called dolphin or something like that which is way way better than anything else out there.

[motzingg]

U-poly, that was the brand i think... its been awhile

[hazelnut]

Thanks Hazelnut. Got a sand blaster? Need a little extra income? let me know...you are local-ish to me. This bit of body work, along with a decent paint job and some body panel alignment should bring project to nearly complete. Little interior stuff to do as well.

I actually talked to Line-X shop here and they offered to sandblast entire bed, top, bottom, sides, etc. Then Spray line-x in bed and underside. $1600 was the quote they gave me. Might that work? Fair price? I would get bed back and sides sandblasted and bare, hopefully enough to get a lot of seem sealer out. And proceed as you suggested.

Where can I buy seem sealer?

Thanks!

I've got a sandblaster and your welcome to use it, Just bring the sand, plastic to cover the truck, and some 3/8" air line to get it out in the yard further. Oh and a 12 pack of Bottle Bud light You can buy seamsealer at any body supply place or online at somewhere like eastwood.

Sandblasting the bed would work IF they guarantee in writeing that it will not warp the metal. I bought a bed that was sandblasted for mine and it was wavy. IMO i think i would just have them do the underside and inside the bed, That way you don't have to chance haveing the metal warped. But if they guarantee it wouldn't be wavy than let them do it all. I've heard that if you blast both sides of metal it will guarantee it to warp. I've blasted both sides before and the metal did warp. But im not a pro so it could have just been me doing it wrong

I would seamseal the underside of the side seam also, Thats where all the rust starts from on these trucks. Its a bear to get to but needs to be done to not have to worrie about rust. I still have pull the bed off mine to seamseal the underside of the seam. The list keep growing