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Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Frame Restoration:
Frame Restoration: [message #148246] Mon, 31 October 2011 00:17 Go to next message
noi is currently offline  noi   United States
Messages: 293
Registered: October 2010
Location: South of Fremont
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Greetings:

Finally got my frame out for a little R&R – Whoo Hooo

For the most part, overall, it looks fairly good….

The area directly behind the bogies looks pretty good and there is only a little corrosion – The areas between the front lateral support and rear support are fairly decent – And the area between the frame rails and inner support, mostly lower half, had a fair amount of corrosion but it didn’t appear to be very deep upon closer inspection – Some quick scraping revealed it was not very deep and appeared to be rust mixed with dirt.

I’ll post more pictures after I finish the initial “rust scraping”

The only area of concern I found, left rail about 2ft back from frame/front clip junction, was what I can only describe as a “small impact bulge&dent” in the lower (~1/3) section/bottom of the frame - I have posted some pictures, using a straight edge and placed bottom/middle/top from two different angles, of this “bulge”.

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=41381&title=169&cat=5942

I have no idea if this is a show stopper or not and would be most appreciative of any input anyone would be kind enough to give/share.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Carl P.
76 Birchaven
South of Fremont
Re: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration: [message #148249 is a reply to message #148246] Mon, 31 October 2011 06:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mr ERFisher is currently offline  Mr ERFisher   United States
Messages: 7117
Registered: August 2005
Karma: 2
Senior Member
WOW , great looking frame, no rust,

are you located in Fremont , CA?
gene


>
> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=41381&title=169&cat=5942
>
> I have no idea if this is a show stopper or not and would be most
> appreciative of any input anyone would be kind enough to give/share.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give.
>
> Carl P.
> 76 Birchaven
> South of Fremont
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>



--
Gene Fisher -- 74-23,77PB/ore/ca
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today --- give him a URL and
-------
http://gmcmotorhome.info/
Alternator Protection Cable
http://gmcmotorhome.info/APC.html
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Re: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration: [message #148253 is a reply to message #148246] Mon, 31 October 2011 07:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Carleton Douglas[1] is currently offline  Carleton Douglas[1]   United States
Messages: 174
Registered: March 2006
Karma: 0
Senior Member
That bulge is from someone using a floor jack to raise the unit as the
frame in that area is only made out of 1/8" steel. Most of the GMC
will have that same thing.

Carleton

On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 10:17 PM, noi <v76_Birchaven@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> Greetings:
>
> Finally got my frame out for a little R&R – Whoo Hooo
>
> For the most part, overall, it looks fairly good….
>
> The area directly behind the bogies looks pretty good and there is only a little corrosion – The areas between the front lateral support and rear support are fairly decent – And the area between the frame rails and inner support, mostly lower half, had a fair amount of corrosion but it didn’t appear to be very deep upon closer inspection – Some quick scraping revealed it was not very deep and appeared to be rust mixed with dirt.
>
> I’ll post more pictures after I finish the initial “rust scraping”
>
> The only area of concern I found, left rail about 2ft back from frame/front clip junction, was what I can only describe as a “small impact bulge&dent” in the lower (~1/3) section/bottom of the frame - I have posted some pictures, using a straight edge and placed bottom/middle/top from two different angles, of this “bulge”.
>
> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=41381&title=169&cat=5942
>
> I have no idea if this is a show stopper or not and would be most appreciative of any input anyone would be kind enough to give/share.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give.
>
> Carl P.
> 76 Birchaven
> South of Fremont
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>



--
Carleton Douglas
73 custom, by myself
Prescott, AZ
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Re: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration: [message #148263 is a reply to message #148246] Mon, 31 October 2011 10:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
sgltrac is currently offline  sgltrac   United States
Messages: 2797
Registered: April 2011
Karma: 1
Senior Member
Straighten the bulged area with a couple of 5 pound sledge hammers and a couple of adjustable wrenches for the horizontal flange. You'll be surprised how easily it bends

Sully
77 royale
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: noi <v76_Birchaven@yahoo.com>
Sender: gmclist-bounces@temp.gmcnet.org
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:17:51
To: <gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org>
Reply-To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Subject: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration:



Greetings:

Finally got my frame out for a little R&R &#8211; Whoo Hooo

For the most part, overall, it looks fairly good&#8230;.

The area directly behind the bogies looks pretty good and there is only a little corrosion &#8211; The areas between the front lateral support and rear support are fairly decent &#8211; And the area between the frame rails and inner support, mostly lower half, had a fair amount of corrosion but it didn&#8217;t appear to be very deep upon closer inspection &#8211; Some quick scraping revealed it was not very deep and appeared to be rust mixed with dirt.

I&#8217;ll post more pictures after I finish the initial &#8220;rust scraping&#8221;

The only area of concern I found, left rail about 2ft back from frame/front clip junction, was what I can only describe as a &#8220;small impact bulge&dent&#8221; in the lower (~1/3) section/bottom of the frame - I have posted some pictures, using a straight edge and placed bottom/middle/top from two different angles, of this &#8220;bulge&#8221;.

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=41381&title=169&cat=5942

I have no idea if this is a show stopper or not and would be most appreciative of any input anyone would be kind enough to give/share.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Carl P.
76 Birchaven
South of Fremont

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Sully 77 Royale basket case. Future motorhome land speed record holder(bucket list) Seattle, Wa.
Re: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration: [message #148318 is a reply to message #148263] Mon, 31 October 2011 19:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
USAussie is currently offline  USAussie   United States
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
Senior Member
G'day,

I believe Sully is correct, however, I found the front a bit harder to bend.

I am in the process of modifying the front current battery tray to copy Mark B's battery mount for The Blue Streak. It is on the RHD
passenger side. It is designed to carry four 6VDC deep discharge batteries, There are existing bracket mounts welded to the frame
which I want to use. To do so and get the 1 x 1 steel tubes that will attach to the brackets that attach to the frame I had to
"dimple" the top of the front frame where it forms a "Y." I tried doing so with a sledge as Sully notes be low and no joy. I wound
up heating it with an acetylene torch then smacking it with the sledge. Even then it wasn't easy.

They don't make 'em like they used to! ;-)

Regards,
Rob M.


-----Original Message-----
From: sgltrac@gmail.com

Straighten the bulged area with a couple of 5 pound sledge hammers and a couple of adjustable wrenches for the horizontal flange.
You'll be surprised how easily it bends

Sully

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Regards, Rob M. (USAussie) The Pedantic Mechanic Sydney, Australia '75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428 '75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
Re: [GMCnet] Frame Restoration: [message #148360 is a reply to message #148246] Tue, 01 November 2011 07:40 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Steven Ferguson is currently offline  Steven Ferguson   United States
Messages: 3447
Registered: May 2006
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Carl,
They don't get much better than that.

On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 10:17 PM, noi <v76_Birchaven@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> Greetings:
>
> Finally got my frame out for a little R&R – Whoo Hooo
>
> For the most part, overall, it looks fairly good….
>
> The area directly behind the bogies looks pretty good and there is only a
> little corrosion – The areas between the front lateral support and rear
> support are fairly decent – And the area between the frame rails and inner
> support, mostly lower half, had a fair amount of corrosion but it didn’t
> appear to be very deep upon closer inspection – Some quick scraping
> revealed it was not very deep and appeared to be rust mixed with dirt.
>
> I’ll post more pictures after I finish the initial “rust scraping”
>
> The only area of concern I found, left rail about 2ft back from
> frame/front clip junction, was what I can only describe as a “small impact
> bulge&dent” in the lower (~1/3) section/bottom of the frame - I have posted
> some pictures, using a straight edge and placed bottom/middle/top from two
> different angles, of this “bulge”.
>
>
> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=41381&title=169&cat=5942
>
> I have no idea if this is a show stopper or not and would be most
> appreciative of any input anyone would be kind enough to give/share.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give.
>
> Carl P.
> 76 Birchaven
> South of Fremont
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>



--
Steve Ferguson
Sierra Vista, AZ
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Re: Frame Restoration: [message #148383 is a reply to message #148246] Tue, 01 November 2011 10:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Larry C   United States
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Now that the frame is out and accessable, clean it up and give it a coat of POR15. Por15 will seal any rust that is left after the clean up and prevents the rust from oxydizing and getting any worse. after you POR15 the metal, paint it with Rustoleum or any paint of choice. This you do because the POR15 can be affected by the UV rays from the sun and in time may deteriorate.

I have used POR15 on rusted metal and stopped the rust until I got rid of the car, over 10 years.

I have also used it to prevent rust on new metal as I said above.

WORD OF CAUTION

wear gloves, you get POR15 on your hands, it has to wear off. Wipe off what you can asap but the rest has to come off by wear and tear.

Keep the can capped, use what you need. Por15 reacts to moisture in the air and if the can gets enough moisture, it can render a can of product "sealed". If you get a skin over the product in the can, this happens during storage normally, you can break through to access what remains.

POR15 is really an incredible product, just search POR15 and read the web site.

They also have a product for polishing the aluminum wheels that makes that bad job a lot easier.


My thoughts


Gatsbys' CRUISER 08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" /> http://www.gmceast.com/travel
_
Re: Frame Restoration: [message #148427 is a reply to message #148246] Tue, 01 November 2011 17:49 Go to previous message
noi is currently offline  noi   United States
Messages: 293
Registered: October 2010
Location: South of Fremont
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Greetings:

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions:

Gene – “are you located in Fremont, CA?” – Yup, just 15min drive away from JimK and the MAJOR reason I had the confidence to embark on a GMC restoration project – And icing on the cake is the accumulated wisdom and help on the forum – So far, I have found little that has not been asked&answered or had pictures posted.

Carleton – Thanks for the info on how the “bulge” might have gotten there – I haven’t looked at that many GMC frames, so had little idea of how it got there.

Sully – First thought was, what will a couple of adj/wrenches…. “LIGHT BULB”…. Oh yah, opposing forces – Keep straight, straight and bend as needed – Thanks for the most excellent suggestion/tip!

Sully/Rob – I’ll try the sledge hammer route first – If that doesn’t work well, will try suggestion from here at work to use HUGE machinist clamp, with block backing, and try to “squish” it flat – If either doesn’t work, and from feedback it is not a structural issue, will just leave it as is.

Steve – My thoughts as well, overall looked pretty good – Though I did have a bit of trepidation before I pulled the frame apart, as I had seen many pictures of “horror stories”!

Larry – Thanks for the POR 15 suggestion – Have read much about it (good/bad) and the common thread of “keep it off you” – But so far, I am tending towards Rust Converter as suggested by Ken H. – Less stringent storage/resealing requirements and water based – Haven’t settled on a top coat yet.

Thanks again for all the input.

Carl P.
76 Birchaven
South of Fremont
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