First thing I needed was a way to move the tub around by myself. As I was still working on finishing the construction of my shop I wanted it to take up only a small amount of space and be easy to move. I ended up making a wooden frame with four casters on it, and screwed it to the end of the tub (no lack of holes to use!). This worked pretty well but some tasks were not that easy to accomplish in the vertical position. Here I am using a spot weld cutter to remove the hat channel.
The spot weld cutter is awesome for removing spot welds once you figure out how to use it. Start with a good centre punch mark to hold the guide pin in the centre of the cutter. Use the drill at high speed put only barely touch the surface with very light pressure until it it starts to cut a full circle, and then increase the pressure. When it cuts throught the hat channel it usually gives a "puff" of rust which tells you you're through. If it "skates" off in one direction when you're using it, tilt the cutter to the same side as it skated towards.
Before I completely removed the hat channel I thought I would tackle an easy hole first to learn how to MIG weld. This hole and crack is in the fender under the back of the drivers seat. The jeep did not have stock seats and a bolt under the drivers seat damaged this spot. Anyway seemed like an easy fix.
Welded the 2 holes and the crack reasonably easily... hey this isn't going to be too hard!
Put copper sheet behind the large hole to back it up while I welded it.
The copper backed the hole nicely and all I had to do next was to build up the area around the hole until it met in the middle as I had read on the internet.
CRAP!! Spent a lot of time chasing the hole around. Finally decided to cut the section out and replace it.
Not to bad! A few voids here and there and for some reason it got some wrinkles in it, but nothing adding a few beads here and there won't fix and then finish it by grinding it smooth.
CRAP!! The additional beads really wrinkled the patch and burned through in some areas. Grinding made the patch paper thin. Time to call in the calvary.
So I called in my friend Don . After looking over my humble effort we decided to cut another patch, and Don showed me how to TACK weld the piece in before filling in between the tacks (who knew?).
What a nicely fit patch I made. Held in place with a few magnets and with a few short welds it should be good as new.
So I took a stab at finishing it and it came out not too bad.
A little bit more filling and grinding and we have one picture perfect patch. That's the end of this particular repair and I can move on to other areas knowing this is one area done right (Cue ominous music!).
Body Work
With the shop nearing completion and the parts back from the sandblasters it was time to start fixing things. Learning to MIG weld and cut and fit parts is a key actiity. This section follows that work.
