Some tub advice...

[Bob_C]

Alrighty...

I'm making great progress with my tub. Just the other day, I was looking at the tub where the front and rear floorboards are welded to that support. I was taking a close look at it, and I noticed that there was what appeared to be some purposly bent 90 degree metal there epoxied to the main support. Is this standard? I dont really have a plan for replacing it anyway, as itll be a pain in the arse to get it out. However, how do you recommend going abount fixing that corrosion hole where the red circle is? I was thinking about just welding a little sheetmetal there right over top of it. Im just hoping the heat that gets pumped into it by the welder doesnt screw up the epoxy.



Thanks
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Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

[OKCM38CDN]

That sheet metal appears to be a repair from a past time. If you have a grinder with a cut off wheel cut it and the other corosion out and patch it with a piece of steel.

My 2 cents worth...

Applying heat to the epoxy will burn it or the weld will not take properly.

[Bob_C]

I dont know if it was a repair before...because theres one on the passenger side as well.....looks almost like it was there since Toledo. Anyone else have M38A1 bodies that have this?
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Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

[Ryan_Miller]

Bob,

You may be right. I would wait to see if anyone else on the board has an M38A1 they can look at to confirm your suspicions.

Are you sure it is attached with epoxy or is it just sealed to keep moisture out of the seams?
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Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010

[Bob_C]

Looks like it was totally glued with epoxy. There is corrosion on the opposite side of that whole that is circled red.....which will be a fun repair.

If it gets to the point where I'm going to have to essentially destroy the epoxy to reweld some stuff, Im going to just cut the darn thing out and weld a new L shaped support to it.
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Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

[Ryan_Miller]

Bob,

If it is attached with epoxy, I would treat it with suspicion. I would still wait and see if others have this same on thier tubs.

Factory stuff is usually spot welded.

Glad to see you are still making progress!

I try to do something every week, even if it is something small, it is still progress and adds up over time.
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Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010

[Bob_C]

Hi Ryan,

Its a good thing I didnt start working on it, because I've found out more stuff. First off, it actually doesnt look to be epoxy now, but rather some undercoat that a previous owner may have done. It has gone through to the other side of the metal, which is totally corroded. And looking closer, the brackets do look spot welded in some places.


View from the missing gas tank sump looking back...(yes I do not have a back panel - cut most of it out as it looked like heck...and no that yellowish stuff isnt rust, but rather a zinc / sulfuric acid mix)

Now Scott from m38a1.com pointed to me that those were quite possibly a repair since the sheetmetal might have ripped. So Hal, you were correct!
Now looking closer with more information, I am able to note that the sheetmetal has ripped -- both in the first picture, and in this one:


Thats the passenger side.

Now, theres another issue. The drivers side bracket has 2 bolt holes side by side...maybe an inch spaced apart. Thbe passengers side is overlapped by that ripped piece of metal...however feeling underneath, you can notice that the bracket had another hole underneath. Gonna peal up that sheetmetal tommorrow and see if theres a hole underneath. But Scott's M38A1 has 1 hole per side....

Any other guys have 2 holes per side...or was this another repair that was done to my jeep? Would prefer if someone that had a late model jeep let me know....as Im not sure if this was a difference between early / late production runs. Or if you happen to know off hand, thats fine too. Definitally interested in everyone's opion.
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Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

[Ryan_Miller]

Bob,

Great work! Keep up the persistence and I know you will get to the bottom of this.

I don't have any M38A1's around to look at, so I am not much help (sorry!).

But I really admire your tenacity in going after the information you need.
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Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010