Great Stuff! (Spray Foam Product)

[Matt Bachand]

Just to put it in your heads as another tool to use, the spray foam Great Stuff works great for mending rot. Its temporary fix of course, but it will buy you alot of time.

I had a 88 Bronco (patooie), and the rear quarters were falling off, I foamed the badboys up from behind, using duct tape as a loose backer, and when the foam expands (wait till tomorrow), Sanded it down and painted it. Believe it or not, it took a quarter that was about to fall off by hand movement, to solid as a rock. (Even went through car washes after).

Doors were rotted out at bottom, duct taped bottoms tight, removed door panel, poured an entire can in each door. Shut door, came back tomorrow and had a PERFECTLY shaped door bottom that was solid as a rock.

I had the only bronco around that would FLOAT! Good tool to use to save rotted corners/body. It seems to bond to ANYTHING, even rot. Also good for making things air tight.

Remember it expands 2-3 times. For controlled foaming, use DOOR and WINDOW foam. It doewsn't expand so if your sealing up airduct leaks, use the non expandable foam (door and window).

This came to me as I am 'fixin' up some rot on my Utilty body.

Like I said, its not a fix, it can just prolong the problem for years while at the same time making it look decent, (at least WAY better than rot looks). Can even get you an inspection with major body rot.

Here are some pix in progress...

I also included a shot of the utilty body so people don't think i'm hacking, I'm merely making the best of what I have for 5 bux a can of foam, i'm making this body last another few years.... When those bottom compartments get really bad, i'm going to replace them with nice aluminum Diamondplate boxes and attach them to tops and sides which are still very solid. Until then, foam

BTW, if you can get to the rot from the backside, taping the front, like the 1st picture shows, makes it a nice finish after it dries, remove the tape, paint. Done. (for a few years anyhow)

 

[Gunner0812]

Soundslike great stuff!

 

[Turbine Doc]

I used it in my pool, a crack developed in the fiberglass steps, & dirt under them washed out, leaving a void and flex would cause the crack to split open again after I repaired it, so I drilled holes in the steps filled them with foam under the steps and glassed the crack again, knock on wood 4 years and steps haven't cracked out again.

When I lived in Gitmo Cuba we used to use expanding foam (great stuff) to make pontoons with, fill 55 gal drums welded end to end with it, put on a platform and made the 1st party barges before there was such a thing, we callled them "pontoon boats"

also good for packing up fragile stuff, wrap item needing shipped in plastic, fill bottom of box with foam, press into place let it get hard, lay in another sheet of plastic so you can separate 2 halves, and fill in remaing top half of box with foam, so item is protected.

 

[Turbine Doc]

Matt if you covered/sealed it with Herculiner or Rhino I'll bet it would be about as permanent repair as a bondo glass or filler job would be

 

[Matt Bachand]

Matt if you covered/sealed it with Herculiner or Rhino I'll bet it would be about as permanent repair as a bondo glass or filler job would be

Never even thought of that. I assume its bedliner stuff, i've never worked with it before, But since I painted my body black, I assume so is that stuff. Great Idea Tim, thanks.


Here are some results of foam after I took backing tape off.

 

[chrisk1500]

This is too funny.

This is the exact advice I got from a well respected body guy when I told him I wanted to fix it el cheapo

 

[Matt Bachand]

And finished, after buying some rubberundercoat

 

[Turbine Doc]

Never even thought of that. I assume its bedliner stuff, i've never worked with it before, But since I painted my body black, I assume so is that stuff. Great Idea Tim, thanks.


Here are some results of foam after I took backing tape off.

Yes bedliner stuff, I'm thinking about applying it to underside of my bush hog deck and my field and brush mower deck so rocks/ sand, and other hard stuff doesn't wear out the steel deck

 

[BudTX]

That is a great idea! I have used it to fill viods in walls and stuff, but never even thought about the potential as body filler.

 

[Jasonsmack]

Been there and done that. I have a 1970 GMC factory Holmes wrecker. We painted it many years ago and used expandifoam to fill the rocker panels. Added a bit of rocker guard and paint and it worked for many years. I could post a picture of what it looks like after it has disintigrated if you want. It is pretty spooky.

 

[davo727]

I feel bad for you guys up there in the rust zone. I used to live in N Illinois so I know all about it. In Texas now and have 92, 93 and 95 chevy trucks and not a bit of rust. Would bum me out if they were rusting away.

 

[Idle_Chatter]

I bought a used 1973 Olds Omega cheap back in Michigan in 1990 off a "buy it/finance it here" lot. It looked pretty clean, but I kept finding dirt and dust in the trunk. One day, I saw wet cardboard hanging down on the rear quarter and thought I had run over it on the road - nope, it was the "backing" for the bondo on the reconstructed rear quarters. If I stuck my head in the trunk and into the rear fenders, I could look down and see daylight (and where the dirt was getting in). I took it to a carwash and wanded out both lower fenders and then shot them full of great stuff window and door (didn't want to push out and break away the bondo!) It sealed them up, made them strong, and I drove the car for another 2 years and 60,000 miles before selling it to another happy owner.

 

[Jasonsmack]

Michigan, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois have it way worse than us here. I have even seen license plates rusting on cars driving down the road in Wisconsin. The absolute worst place to buy a used vehicle from is Ontario and Quebec. I was looking to buy a dually last year and everything that I liked that I could find in this area was rusty, did a search on every one and they were lease returns from Ontario or Quebec. I am talking 2004 and newer trucks with no paint left on anything underneath, rust everywhere. I decided to keep my rust free Alberta/Sask 96 3/4 ton.

 

[teroma25]

Michigan, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois have it way worse than us here. I have even seen license plates rusting on cars driving down the road in Wisconsin. The absolute worst place to buy a used vehicle from is Ontario and Quebec. I was looking to buy a dually last year and everything that I liked that I could find in this area was rusty, did a search on every one and they were lease returns from Ontario or Quebec. I am talking 2004 and newer trucks with no paint left on anything underneath, rust everywhere. I decided to keep my rust free Alberta/Sask 96 3/4 ton.

If you find a car or truck here w/o rust, the first thing everyone thinks is either, it's a southern vehicle or a western vehicle. There is no such thing as a rust free vehicle in Ontario!

 

[Matt Bachand]

I feel bad for you guys up there in the rust zone. I used to live in N Illinois so I know all about it. In Texas now and have 92, 93 and 95 chevy trucks and not a bit of rust. Would bum me out if they were rusting away.

It makes wrenching on these things really fun, especcially things that might possibly get hit with road splatter. That winter salt gets EVERYWHERE.

 

[Jasonsmack]

We can land a guy on the moon but cant find a better way to melt ice.