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- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 5,332
- State - Country
- GA - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Engine
- 5.0
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Drop
- few inches
- Tire Size
- ~30"
Well I got bit by rust again. I called myself checking out my new project truck when I went and checked it out. Main thing I was concerned with was rust and wiring in the cab, since that was the main bits I was planning to use if the truck. Well apparently I did a poor job of looking or I never actually got under the driver side of the truck, because it's shot.
Got to pull the seat and carpet to see just how extensive the damage is, or if I have any on the passenger side that I couldn't see from the bottom. Seat bolts are of course stuck, and the seat rails would have given me a mjor clue if I'd known to look at them. Back passenger side bolt isn't connected to a rail, the rail is gone. RUST! Driver side front bolt is stuck/rounding won;t come out. Driver side rear bolt I can't get access to because the seat is stuck in place. Passenger front bolt is coming out. Sprayed everything with PB blaster. Ordered a set of bolt extractors on Amazon, should arrive later in the week. All else fails I'll take the sawzall to the seat frame and forcibly remove it so I can acess the bolt. Seat is worn out and I wasn't going to use it anyway.
I'd say it isn't really safe to drive as is, not that is is drivable at the moment anyway. While I'm not concerned with the floorboard falling out after a danger to manifold warning pops on my laptop, I wouldn't trust a seat to stay anchored after a hard braking or minor fender bender.
So how bad is a floor pan replacement? Biggest problem here is I don't weld, and I don't have time. Dad does have a mig if I can get all of it over to his house, but that still leaves the problem of no time. Drilling holes and riveting after removing rust wouldn't be difficult, but that's a lot of rivets to pop in. Dad said back when he worked in a body shop, probably 40 years ago, that they braized in floorpans with a lap joint rather than welding with a butt joint. Don't know anything about brazing either. I don't see a lapjoint being an issue as long as its clean and sealed up good, but I'm thinking spot welding would probably be better than brazing.
I know new pans are available, and price isn't that terrible. I also have an 86 cab that I am scrapping due to rust, but I think that the driverside floor is good. Issue with taking a patch panel from it is I underlined it with bedliner and rust bullet before I found the other rust issues. Might cause problems for welding into truck.
Got to pull the seat and carpet to see just how extensive the damage is, or if I have any on the passenger side that I couldn't see from the bottom. Seat bolts are of course stuck, and the seat rails would have given me a mjor clue if I'd known to look at them. Back passenger side bolt isn't connected to a rail, the rail is gone. RUST! Driver side front bolt is stuck/rounding won;t come out. Driver side rear bolt I can't get access to because the seat is stuck in place. Passenger front bolt is coming out. Sprayed everything with PB blaster. Ordered a set of bolt extractors on Amazon, should arrive later in the week. All else fails I'll take the sawzall to the seat frame and forcibly remove it so I can acess the bolt. Seat is worn out and I wasn't going to use it anyway.
I'd say it isn't really safe to drive as is, not that is is drivable at the moment anyway. While I'm not concerned with the floorboard falling out after a danger to manifold warning pops on my laptop, I wouldn't trust a seat to stay anchored after a hard braking or minor fender bender.
So how bad is a floor pan replacement? Biggest problem here is I don't weld, and I don't have time. Dad does have a mig if I can get all of it over to his house, but that still leaves the problem of no time. Drilling holes and riveting after removing rust wouldn't be difficult, but that's a lot of rivets to pop in. Dad said back when he worked in a body shop, probably 40 years ago, that they braized in floorpans with a lap joint rather than welding with a butt joint. Don't know anything about brazing either. I don't see a lapjoint being an issue as long as its clean and sealed up good, but I'm thinking spot welding would probably be better than brazing.
I know new pans are available, and price isn't that terrible. I also have an 86 cab that I am scrapping due to rust, but I think that the driverside floor is good. Issue with taking a patch panel from it is I underlined it with bedliner and rust bullet before I found the other rust issues. Might cause problems for welding into truck.
