Mar 2006

I only got the driver's side steering knuckle done before the bed sides came back from the sand blaster and I needed to could get them into a primer coat of paint before new rust could form.

I started by tracing the patch I would need and cutting a pattern from butcher paper. I transferred this to 16-gage steel and cut the patch to fit.

The patch was held in place with magnets and I used a MIG welder to tack welded around the patch. I would weld a spot every couple inches to keep the heat even, then weld a spot between the fist set of spots and so on until the patch was firmly in place with these little spot welds every ½ inch or so.

I ground off the high spots and it turned out pretty well for "Amateur Hour" welding.

There were still little holes between the welds, but I planned to use fiberglass based bondo to fill these in. The fiberglass shouldn't allow moisture in, so no rust issues.