Damaged CUCV Rebuild

[wheelspinner]

Its already too late but you really don't want to cut it off at the pillars.... WAY unsafe. Your best bet was to drill all the spot welds off the top panel and remove it. Porta power the inner structure up to where it needs to be (the shop that did the estimate should be able to print off the measurements for you.... if not I should be able too). Since you already made the cut you need to to separate the pieces. We haven't replaced a roof on this model yet so I don't know how many inner sleeves are in the pillar.... if there is more then one you need to remove more sheet metal and make extensions pieces. You don't want all your seams in one spot. Preferably they should be about 6 inches, at the minimum, apart. It actually creates a weak point if all in one spot. Ill attach a crappy pic I drew up real fast that hopefully explains what I'm talking about. If you have any questions feel free to ask or feel free to ignore me also haha. Best of luck!
View attachment 441952

Thanks, after getting the fiberglass topper off (that's where we found the rust) we; I have a buddy that also likes doing these types of repairs came to the same conclusion. We have not cut the roof off and will most likely proceed with the individual panal replacement. The only place we are having trouble is finding the spot welds on the "B" pilliar horizontal area. Any dimensional information you have would be great. We're just going to do the best we can......

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Its already too late but you really don't want to cut it off at the pillars.... WAY unsafe.

Yep. It is simply not possible, no, not even for the best body shop, to cut those pillars and then put them back together with the same strength. If you have a rollover that roof will collapse.

For a show car that's never driven, okay, but for a working vehicle, cutting the pillars simply should NOT be done.


Yes, body shops do it all the time.


People get killed when those repairs fail the first time they are stressed, too.



Yeah, I know it's too late, but maybe somebody reading this down the road will think twice...

 

[nyoffroad]

You've already cut off the doner roof so you can see whats in the pillers. IIRC each one has a 'Z" shaped reinforcement in it and it also would need welding at another location other than the outside panel.
I had a similer problem, my son's truck had a tree land in the center of the roof/windshield I used a port a power to push it out till the glass fit the ground all around the edges of the roof and used just the out skin of the doner.
I sat the doner skin in place, got the fit right and then used one tube of metal adhesive and "glued" it on. Ended up a very easy repair, little mess, and very little body work needed.
We use a product from Lord Adhesives called Fusor but 3M and others also make metal adhesives, check it out, no welding means little or no corrosion and it completly sealed on both sides of the joint. Great for cab corners and slip on rockers and 1/4 panels.

 

[bigginstactical]

Sometimes those little welds are hidden pretty well haha. We normally cut the skin off above the problem area and stick a screwdriver or in our case door skin removal tool in between the skins and pry them apart. It starts to become clear where the spot welds are by where and how well the metal is sticking to the inner. Then drill or use a cutoff wheel in the general area to remove the metal and loosen it all up. Takes a little bit of time but short of grinding the whole section down to nothing that's about your best bet . I will look on our estimating software today and see if it goes back far enough for the measurements. Gluing the skin does actually work well and is supposed to be stronger then a weld....buuuuut that depends on if the chemical is good, conditions, metal prep and so on. Bonding a new roof to an old support we use some glue and some welding.... old on old I would weld. The windshield is not glued in, although still has some structural benefits, its not near as strong as a normal glue in. Then you add the fact there is a fiberglass top and no rear window or back support.... welding is safer in this case because of less variables. Not saying the guy above was wrong to glue in but in some cases it makes more sense to weld.

 

[wheelspinner]

Well it seems grerat minds all think alike. We will be attempting to just "skin it" if possible. As far as the safety, I do understand all the structure in there, my intentions were to make it "pretty" and install a really good roll bar. The "B" pilliar is alraedy just slightly puckered, so there is some structural compromise there already. I will most likely porta power it into place, but still add an additional roll bar. I really do appreciate all the help and hints here. I glued the roof into my "Ace and a Half EPLOVA" and was pretty happy with that, so may go that route again.

 

[wheelspinner]

Update. We decided to try and straighten and repair the skin as it was, other than the large dents, in pretty good condition. Here is a picture of what we found, where I "thought" the skin had ripped, was actually large cracks in ridiculously thick bondo previously applied in its Military life.

My friend Matt spent quite a bit of time and with great patience and a porta power was able to get the door opening and inner roof in really good position, along with some of the roof straightening. My son Marty (gametender) was up for the weekend and is a budding metal man. We spent quite a bit of time with him teaching me how to use a stud welder, wiggle wire and proper pulling techniques. We got it alot better, but ran out of time. Gotta do some metal shrinking now as there is a lot of tin canning going on, but that will be taken care of with a torch and wet rag. I will post more pics when I get home as I am travelling right now and only had the one with me.

 

[Warthog]

Holy Cow................that is alot of bondo. Keep the updates coming.

 

[doghead]

Where did you buy that truck from?

 

[wheelspinner]

I bought the truck from C & C but this repair had three old coats of paint on it so this was from the Uncle.

 

[wheelspinner]

Here is the roof as it is now. More pulling and learning metal shrinking should have it pretty nice soon.

 

[o1951]

Yep. It is simply not possible, no, not even for the best body shop, to cut those pillars and then put them back together with the same strength. If you have a rollover that roof will collapse.

For a show car that's never driven, okay, but for a working vehicle, cutting the pillars simply should NOT be done.


Yes, body shops do it all the time.


People get killed when those repairs fail the first time they are stressed, too.



Yeah, I know it's too late, but maybe somebody reading this down the road will think twice...

What is the proper way to replace a roof, and maintain full strength?

 

[wheelspinner]

The "best way" is to find all the spotwelds, cut them, remove the skin, and reweld it. The structure is actually in the posts more than the skin. After getting into this one, it was just better to pull/straighten it.

 

[b4thundr]

awe man that sux!!! sorry for you loss!!

 

[wheelspinner]

Got it in primer today. Finally. Seals came in so it gave me some motivation.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Sweet. Should be back on the road soon.

 

[wheelspinner]

Getting there!

Got the topper on and the paint pattern matched up. Glass is next.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Will this be the mode of transportation to the GA Rally or the ME350A1?

 

[wheelspinner]

Not sure. Hoping the 923 with something in tow.

 

[wheelspinner]

Since everything was running now and the weather was perfect decided to take a new "family portrait ".

 

[Recovry4x4]

Need an M151 a mule and a HET to complete this set.