Roof rust under weather stripping

[Hipster]

Looks like your going to need an L shaped piece of sheet metal. I have hand formed pieces like that by forming it over a piece of angle iron or piece of wood. Have also gone into an industrial fab shop and looked through their drop -off pile and had them put a a fold in a piece for small money. I work in a body shop so a lot of times I can find something with the shape I need in the scrap pile. A piece out of a hood, fender, rocker panel that has the shape you need. Just match up the thickness of the roof panel/piece you are replacing.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I'd wire wheel it and see how deep it goes. Then cut out what you need to and weld some similar gauge sheetmetal in. I was fortunate enough to get a patch panel from a buddy's damaged cab, but if I didn't have that I'd have no worries about cutting a strip of metal from an old dryer I have laying around.

Here's Roscoe a couple months ago. The rear window had fallen out and the headliner was trapping moisture against the window frame. The inner layer of metal was actually worse.

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Here's how far I got Friday. It rained all day yesterday, so I'm hoping to get the pinholes fixed and the welds smoothed out today.

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[AuroraGirl]

looks to be from the upper door seal fitment or possible grit buildup that the seal then made into sand paper
Got a lot of dust or leaves or other environmental things that could build up?

 

[Masterb4tes]

looks to be from the upper door seal fitment or possible grit buildup that the seal then made into sand paper
Got a lot of dust or leaves or other environmental things that could build up?

It can get dusty here yeah, and there was a lot of crap caked into the seal, I suspect you are right.

So it looks like we have some holes through the skin... Minor but they are still there. These pics are after a brief wire wheeling and light 80 grit flap disc. I also manage to get the roof strips off too, mine had some sort of sealant holding them in.

 

[AuroraGirl]

It can get dusty here yeah, and there was a lot of crap caked into the seal, I suspect you are right.

So it looks like we have some holes through the skin... Minor but they are still there. These pics are after a brief wire wheeling and light 80 grit flap disc. I also manage to get the roof strips off too, mine had some sort of sealant holding them in.

Once repaired, keeping the door aligned is going to be most critical in addition to the seal being in good condition. Cant do much about the environment, but making a habit of cleaning the 2 sides with maybe a wet cloth or similar and using silicone grease to impregnate the seal will be good habits.
Then, do not use the door to get into the truck or out of it , and replace the pins when the door starts to sag.

 

[Masterb4tes]

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines @AuroraGirl , there is a chance a place in Sydney has new outer weather seals and the inner door seals, so I will replace them. I know the drivers side door is sagging a little bit, so that was something I wanted to address.

I may have found someone local that can do the rust removal, but they wont be available until early next year. In the meantime I am going to strip things back as much as I can and get a real good idea of what I am in for

 

[AuroraGirl]

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines @AuroraGirl , there is a chance a place in Sydney has new outer weather seals and the inner door seals, so I will replace them. I know the drivers side door is sagging a little bit, so that was something I wanted to address.

I may have found someone local that can do the rust removal, but they wont be available until early next year. In the meantime I am going to strip things back as much as I can and get a real good idea of what I am in for

Do you have dry climate normally? and do you experience any winters with freezing/snow conditions? Im not up on australia weather but just figured Id ask. a rust converter from a higher end paint company may be able to be found which is meant for blind cavity spraying id think. (I think thats one of your concerns?) and if you have overall dry weather then i wouldnt be worried as long as you did that kinda thing.

 

[Masterb4tes]

I'm in the far north east region, so my weather is a little bit like Florida or California. I'm about 30 miles inland and it is drier here but the humidity can spike if the weather is coastal. Temperature range is about 65-110 Fahrenheit. We get big rains here, but the vehicle will be stored under cover. Definitely no snow.
For road legal vehicles in Australia rust is a red flag, most states will not issue registration for a vehicle with rust. Queensland is a bit more lenient, but if they saw the rust here then the vehicle would not pass roadworthy. Sitting in the shed the truck is costing me nothing and I dont need in running anytime soon... Or at all really. So I kind of figured if I am gonna do this, I may as well do it properly. How hard is it to pull a cab? From what I have read it seems deceptively easy....