body strength

[William M Wisser <wmw@domain.elided>]

Hi all,

I am looking into some relatively major body improvements and was curious
how to proceed.  Let me describe the rust on my rig.  It has the usual
rust on the quarterpanels in front of the wheels and above the wheel
wells. There are galvanized patches between the door and the wheels.  I 
replaced the front cab mounts and the floors under the driver's and
passenger's feet. The middle cab mount (under the step) is chewed, and the
cross braces underneath are all twisted and deformed.  The step is pretty
much eaten through, and there are several holes in the bed, most noticeably
under the rear bench.  The rockers are rusty, but appear solid.

I am looking into removing the traveltop and putting a cab top on and
replacing the quarterpanels.  My questions revolve around where the stress
points are once the top is removed, and how to guard against buckling (and
making sure the doors will all fit once the new top is on).

The inner walls of the quarterpanels (the sides of the tub) have broken
most of their welds to the bed.  Can this be replaced, and is this a major
problem?  

I have a feeling that I should attend to all the underside supports before
I start messing with the things that hang onto them, but I am not sure
what is important and what can wait.  Money is my biggest concern and I
found a pretty cheap cab top so I may be jumping the gun.


I think Joel was the guy who was talking about the front axle engaged
light.  Mine never worked until I let the scout sit for about three weeks.
After that, it would flicker for about five-ten minutes before it was
truly warmed up.  This happened on two different occasions.  I never
thought of oil pressure being the culprit (who would?), but that actually
sounds plausible in my situation if the oil got all clammy and thick from
sitting so long. 


As always, thanks for any comments,


Bill Wisser
(75SII if that matters)