Thread: Tree Crushed 2500HD Silverado Crew Repair

I'm just sayin', I think a few plastic wire ties woulda held that top right down good. But that's me. Just kidding, you're doing it right. I'm also sayin', my jeeps ain't never gonna be so lucky. They just gonna get some Ospho, some Rust Reformer, some tractor paint, and finally some Fluid Film just to be sure.

Originally Posted by Slab

I'm just sayin', I think a few plastic wire ties woulda held that top right down good. But that's me. Just kidding, you're doing it right. I'm also sayin', my jeeps ain't never gonna be so lucky. They just gonna get some Ospho, some Rust Reformer, some tractor paint, and finally some Fluid Film just to be sure.

Too funny. The Push has come. I went thru last hurricane season without my tow vehicle. I plan on having the roof welded in place within the next two weeks. Then work the back of the cab. If nothing else replace the axle bearings & seals and the pinion seal in the rearend and let it ride till fall. If we have a hurricane hit I need to be able to move my camper either here or to my step-son's house depending on severity. The ARE Z-Series Camper cap prevented the tree from totally destroying my truck so I'm not all that concerned about the rollover protection I will just put lots more bolts between the camper cap and the truck bed. I plan on painting the roof before the middle of next week and start repairing and painting the cap the following week. Push, push, push.

BTW, thanks for providing a place to blog all my activities. I hope it brings you cross traffic to CDC.

I had a member from BassBoatCentral PM me about helping with replacing the Transom on his 1991 Champion Bass Boat. Since he lived so close I told him to bring his boat over for me to survey and layout a gameplan of attack. We chewed the fat so long then went to lunch where I ate too much. TexMex gets me to over eat every time.

Anyway I prepped the truck roof further by grinding out all the rust and prepped the filler plate to shave off the 3rd Brake Light.



This is after grinding out the rust and coating with weld-thru primer both the roof and the backside of the filler plate to prevent future rust thru.



Everything is sitting in front of my bodyshop MIG machine. It runs tiny filler wire. Cranked up on the amps and just a touch weld tack and hardly no heat is absorbed into the roof. More tomorrow.

I got up and went straight to prepping and welding the blank plate for the 3rd brake light this morning.



After I finished welding and grinding I skimmed twice with Metal Glaze knocking down the high spots between coats.



I went all the way around spraying an extra coat of epoxy on all bare metal and bodywork before spraying out the roof.



Here I have 2 coats of Epoxy all over the roof and 4 coats on the body work to seal it up real good.



Spraying the first coat of Topcoat 2K Urethane PPG Shopline in my truck's color code.



3 coats in I sprayed my first "Flow-Coat" and before I could shoot the last rain came pouring down. The second flow-coat would have glassed it up even more but knats came with the rain along with a few water droplets splashed all the way to the roof. So what you see is what I get. It's fine, as good as OEM but 2K Urethane loves a second flow-coat.



No more 3rd Brake Light. The ARE Z-Series Cap has one and I plan on running the wire from the OEM wiring back to the Cap 3rd Brake Light.



Now the waiting game starts. I will wait a week before welding the roof on to the truck. I don't want to damage the paint except where I have to remove it for welding. I didn't get one piece of dirt or one knat in the paint but I wasn't going to push my luck either.

Looks good. Not many if any will see the top anyway.

Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Looks good. Not many if any will see the top anyway.

Bud you are fantastic for moral support......

Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Looks good. Not many if any will see the top anyway.

Hey now, us tall folks will see it! That's funny, when I roller painted the jeep that's exactly what wifey said when I pointed out flaws on it's roof! lol

Looks great Rojo, great shine and no orange peel, love it. Way way way better than my rolled on paint job on my Jeep!

Originally Posted by Slab

Looks great Rojo, great shine and no orange peel, love it. Way way way better than my rolled on paint job on my Jeep!

So all my spray guns are HVLP so all my plumbing is HVLP too. Sharpe HVLP fittings on everything. HVLP is High Volume - Low Pressure. Many people try to use HVLP equipment with standard air fittings and the fittings choke down the air volume. They crank up the air pressure to the cap to compensate. That creates air pressure that will blow "Orange Peel" right into the paint job. I thin to the right viscosity, time my re-coats so the paint has fully flashed, and with 2K Urethane "Flow Coat" the final 2 coats with double the "Flash Time" allowed. Also I sprayed the two Epoxy Undercoats ultra slick, if you don't, what imperfections that are in your Sealer will show thru to the Topcoat.