Bed seam question??

[Ozblitz]

What's the best way to treat and duplicate the seam on the bed of our bumpsides?

I was thinking of sand blasting seam. Then treat it with rust neutralizer then epoxy and lay down a bead of 3M beige firm seam sealer. I'm not sure I can duplicate laying the sealer down though?? I usually run my finger over the sealer in the seams and that's not how it looks factory. Anyone have any ideas??

[Lone Ranger]

It might not look factory but it would look good just using your finger. Maybe something smaller diameter than your finger would make it look more factory.

[DuckRyder]

I need to do this as well.

How does it look from the factory?

[jamesdfo]

Back in my bodyshop days, when seam sealers were all air dry products, if we wanted to get real fussy with the seam sealer, we would leave it dry several days, then sand it with 100g to get in smoothed the way we wanted, then carry on with high solids primer over top (assuming we hadn't cut through to bare metal anywhere, in which case, it would get epoxy before the high solids)
These days, with the 2K seam sealers (ie: catylized) that are now available, it should be much easier to do this, and waiting several days shouldn't be necessary........

If you want to get carried away, you could take two engine stands and build a quick & dirty rotisserie to mount the box on, then rotate it so that one of the box panels is horizontal. Then, if you use the "self leveling" seam sealer, it will flow out all on it's own, without any subsequent messing about required:) Later that day, or the next day, roll it over and repeat on the other side:)

[jzjames]

Rust in the seams happens from the backside of the seam. Re-doing the seams with new seam sealer will probably not last as long as new from factory. It would be good if you could somehow coat the backside of the seams with some good waterproof sealer - like tar!

[Lone Ranger]

On my old truck I left the seam open and would just squirt oil in a few times a year and wipe off the excess.

[hdman90]

What I don't understand, is why didn't they just weld the seams? I think that would have prevented so many of the problems we have today... But I could be wrong.

[cep62]

What I don't understand, is why didn't they just weld the seams? I think that would have prevented so many of the problems we have today... But I could be wrong.

50 years ago they were just spotting them together and shipping them out the door .
They had no idea that people would be concerned in the distant future.

Back then a five year old car was considered old .

In 1985 I re did a 1960 F100 ,it was rare to see another truck of that vintage on the road. (in Michigan)
Today my dd is a 93 F150 , same age truck , but now they're everywhere (some probably shouldn't be on the road anymore.)
People expect more from a vehicle now days.

[Jacksdad]

On my old truck I left the seam open and would just squirt oil in a few times a year and wipe off the excess.

Off topic, but I remember a friend of my Dad's would paint the underside of his car with the oil he'd just changed. Apparently it wasn't much fun to work on right after, but it kept the chassis and floorpans in perfect condition.

[jzjames]

Yes, think outside the box when you are thinking preservation and rust-proofing.

You want to prevent moisture from contacting steel.

[speed bump]

I did mine by sandblasting it and applying seam sealer followed by primer. When I redo them I will sandblast, spray epoxy primer, and then apply 3m 2 part seam sealer.