Fixing up a hunting vehicle

[carley6]

I am redoing an old geo tracker to make into a hunting rig for camp. My first task if to patch the rust and redo the whole body. My question is what is the best way to fix rust spots? Do i need to have someone weld a new piece of steel in or should I use some sort of fiberglass patch? I need it to be durable enough to hold up to the wear and tear of hunting camp.

[wbyfireman]

Why would you fix the body if its just going to be used as a hunting truck? The body is probably going to take a beating from the back roads and driving through overgrown roads. I would spend my money on the engine. Make sure that you dont have to worry about braking down in the middle of no where........ Just my thoughts

[jnd1959]

It depends on the size of the rust spot. If it is small a fiberglass patch can cover it. If it is larger, take a piece of sheet metal (20 guage should do) cut to be large enough to cover the rust area, trace the sheet metal on the body and cut out the traced area. Have someone mig weld the replacement piece. You can do this with an inexpensive mig wire welder (mig uses gas to shield the weld and this will provide the least warpage). I would be sure to disconnect the electronic on the car before you do this. There is another method but the welder is more expensive and you are not as likely to find someone with the equipment, unless you go to a pro. Once it is welded you can grind down the welds to make it smooth. I would do this regardless of what you care about looks because depending on where the weld bead is it could collect water and rust. Be sure to prime it.

If you dont want to weld it you can cut out the rusted area and, if it is a flat area, you can place a patch behind the cut out area and rivet it in place.

If it is a compound area with difficult curves, find an old body of the same type with a good section of the same area and cut it out and follow directions from above.

Last note. I restored a 53 willys jeep. Spent a year doing so and parked it at my lease. One week later a range fire took the jeep, the cabin, two boats, a four wheeler and about 3,000 acres of prime hunting area that we had spent 10 years upgrading. The only thing that survived was our tractor that had a flat in a dove field and we were getting it fixed and my stand.

[rooster52]

I am doind about the same thing. 1992 S-10 Blazer , replaceing some body parts ,giving it a new paint job,puting on a home made roof rack to pack my tent in and installing a Reese type hitch to install my hitch-haul rack for my 150 qt. cooler for my trip out west this year.
Completely redoing the brakes.
Came with a reuilt motor installed and trany was rebuilt a year ago.
I put new tires on it already.Added a new set of shocks.
This vehecle should hold everything I need for a muzzleloader hunt for elk and I get a 4X4 that still gets 20 MPG.
Buy the time I get it finished,I will have arround $2000 invested .

[HounDawger]

If you watch yard sales. swap meets. I have seen alot of migs that sold for under a 100.00 watch construction jod site dumpsters they alwayes have scrap metal in then. If you use inter shield wire you don;t need iny argone gas. pretty cheap way to fix up the old rig. little primer good to go
I 'am not sure if you weld If you need iny tips just ask I wood be glad to help. Been welding along time