Rebuilding the 97'

[The_Jackale]

So I have finally brought my truck home a couple days ago, its taken almost 2 weeks since I have bought the truck!!! I have a list to follow and repair items, junk yard items to look for ect.

 

Today Im starting off with the Drivers side door latch, 

 

THIS IS THE WORST I'VE SEEN. and yes that would be JB weld. WHY? No idea, but I can confirm it will not fix this apparently. 

 

I also have rust at the base of the seats, it looks like the vapor barrier was off the drivers side door for a long time. The panel was not attached when I got the truck, and the previous owner said he did not remove the barrier. 

 

 

So of course the drivers side has rust and water damage under the carpet, down below the cab mounts in the front are gone, going to be working on a way to lift the cab about 4 inches up to weld new ones in. The bed has a tennis ball size hole by the wheel, they had removed the inner fender that projected it. 

 

So today we are taking advantage of the sale at pick n' pull to grab a list of parts from the gassers that are in there. Hopefully get a door I can cut apart and weld into mine without changing the color. Im going to measure the thickness of the floor and see if I can save it, but I think long term its going to have to be cut out. I try not to patch over rust, I'm not the best welder, but the Hobart 140 works okay with gas. And I have plenty of grinding and sanding discs.

 

Cannot wait to get this thing on the road. I have not posted because there's been no need due to the amazing search feature. So I figured I would do update threads instead since all my questions are already answered.

Edited February 16, 2020 by The_Jackale

[The_Jackale]

Looking up into the sky through my bed!

 

 

Driver and passenger side front mounts are bad, centers are cracked, rears are fine.

And this is a reason why you should not take off your inner fender liner. 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by The_Jackale

[dripley]

The later model 2nd gens did not evan come with them.

Inner fenders that is.

Edited February 16, 2020 by dripley

[Royal Squire]

Maybe you should consider a complete cab replacement 

[The_Jackale]

8 hours ago, Royal Squire said:

Maybe you should consider a complete cab replacement 

Debated, but its not bad enough for the month it would take me to swap them. Maybe if I slowly gather the materials for a 98.5 to 2001 swap with suicide rear doors id do it. But I think the mounts are different

9 hours ago, dripley said:

The later model 2nd gens did not evan come with them.

Inner fenders that is.

Maybe after 1997 then. The 1997 had them. I have one on the passenger side. But the bed is rotted out on the drivers side. Going to tackle that when its not raining and do some patch panels spot welded for a temp fix.