01 DRW total bed sheetmetal failure

[JeepBuilder]

2001 24 valve dual rear wheel quad cab. I bought the truck from a friends nephew in Seattle about a month ago. I knew the drivers side bed metal had cracked and you could push the whole bed side back and forth with a single finger. So I stuffed a piece of rubber between the tailgate and bed side and tightened it with a ratchet strap till I could fix it. Well 2 weeks ago I drove to town to get out and find my tail light bucket hanging there with broken mounts and scratching the heck out of the paint swinging back and forth. My long dirt road on the last leg to get home had completely trashed even more metal. Time for some repairs. I have been restoring older fullsize jeeps and the 70 I am almost done with prepped me for this super thin metal repair. I replaced most of the Jeep panels and filled dozens of rust holes with new hand made panels. I have a TIG welder that if I am careful and don't consume to much coffee, I have successfully fused two razor blades together once. I probably could not do it again if I tried. I have read that these trucks have had body bed failures. Especially with campers tied to the bed. This truck had a camper in it two owners ago, but he used frame tie downs and air bags. Still under there.

The upper tail light bucket cracks. This crack went all the way up to the far end of the stake pocket.

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The lower bucket hole. This crack went all the way down under towards the support rearward of the mud flap

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The support and body fender droop. Broken spot welds.

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Everything was cracked. The hat channels under the bed. The rear mount. Here is the core support in the tailgate door frame. The previous owner had someone weld it and it was way out of position. You can see their old weld on the side there way above the gap.

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After slowly putting it all back and light tacks with cooling air. Here it all is all welded back together. It took 5 days. The upper light bucket opening.

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The lower opening and down under the whole panel.

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The top.

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Since the previous welder welded it up with a 1/4 inch gap inside the core support for the tailgate frame. I made a stainless steel patch and using Structural panel adhesive tied the whole fractured area together. That SS piece goes inside and you would see it looking through the tail light bucket hole down low at the bed floor area. The mount on the right is the rear bed mount under the bed. It was broken in half and all spot welds were broken. I made this new piece and using the same panel adhesive filled the round tube around the nut to secure the nut in place. I did not want to weld it in and change the metal properties and strength of the nut. Two light tacks and a moat of adhesive. That is way stronger than a weld would be. I made sure the 3M panel adhesive was stress rated and structural. Stronger than the standard panel adhesive I have used in the past.

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Had to fill and patch huge holes here. Also added missing core support metal in several places.

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The whole deal.

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I went and saw it today at the body shop. It is getting a fresh coat and several small dents fixed on the entire drivers side and the tailgate. I took them a new rear bumper and all related parts that I could find that needed replacing.
I am really looking forward to getting it back. The bed wall is as solid as ever now. I hope it all holds up to our roads.

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More...

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I should have it by the end of next week. Almost everything is fixed on the truck now. I wondered if I would be able to fix this. Or try and find a replacement bed. I think it worked..

 

[Ozymandias]

Good work, you are a talented welder and tin worker.
*thumbs-up*

 

[JR]

Looks like some good craftsmanship. Most people would have just scrapped the bed, good on you for making it work.

On the rough roads, one of the best things you can do is air your tires down. Makes a world of difference.

 

[Joe Mc]

Scuff and undercoat the inside of the new rear bumper to help ward off future rust issues. Nice work!

 

[JeepBuilder]

I put some clear coat on the back side of the bumper. That was why I was replacing it. It had rusted through on one side. They don't make stuff like they used to.
I just got new tires for the truck since the ones it came with were pretty much bald. They were master coursers from Les schwab. The shook the whole truck so badly at 65 I had to take them back. It was pretty smooth with the old tires on. They put the tires on that you can see in the body shop photo. I asked them to not go above 50 PSI on the back. They tend to inflated to max specs every time. Well I saw that the shoulders were still not touching in the body shop. Lots of floor dust in the centers but not the edges.
So I will try the suggestion of airing down even more. Thank you for that.
One thing I noticed while realigning all the body cracks. Dodge made the bed with really hard 90 degree bends around corners. I was taught to have a very slight radius in your corners as that will help the sheetmetal to stay intact and not tend to crack as I saw everywhere on the truck bed. I hope this is the last big repair. The paint work is out of pocket. I told my wife what a great deal this truck was. I will keep trying to convince her.......

 

[JR]

I am pretty confident you could knock another 10psi off the rears without batting an eye, i run my SRW at 45 empty. The fronts likely have to be close to full pressure due to the weight of the engine and trans. Maybe a DRW guy will chime in

Would love to see some pictures of the finished product! There are days when I really miss my gen 2.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I will post pictures when it is back. Hopefully our road won't be to muddy. I suspect no washing for a while for the fresh clear coat. It was the chunky ice that really did in the last of the cracking. The road is bad anyway and each year is a memory test of where the new pot holes are.
One thing I wanted to mention is that I am looking for a rubber tailgate bumper. I looked everywhere and could not find a new one. There are a couple 2nd gen trucks down in Spokane at wrecking yards I need to go see. But if anyone has one to spare I would sure buy it if I could. I did post a wanted ad.
On this Jeep rebuild I have been casting up some of the rubber parts. Using flexane. I suppose I could cast one but it takes a ton of time to make anything that way.

 

[JeepBuilder]

The truck is not done yet. They said one week. This is the start of week 3. That is OK though. Good things take time. I have my Dads Toyota tundra to drive. I ended up with it after he passed last year. Funny I found a pretty decent dually bed 3 hours away for 350 bucks. It would have required more paint and costs so I suppose it worked out well so far. I just hope our long dirt road does not do in any more sheet metal elsewhere on the truck.
And thanks to a member Joe MC I found new tailgate stop bumpers at LMC. They should be here any time. Thank you very much!

With the deer and moose here and accidental hits, I have been looking at heavy duty front bumpers. Buckstop makes nice ones. The only other one I like is Throttle down customs if they would sell one with no holes so I could cut my own. These bumpers are upwards of 2 grand. That is a lot of money. I wish I had time to make one.
I will post pictures of the truck when I go pick it up. I actually miss it.

 

[gtwitch]

I have a 99 2500 with terrible cancer both front fenders are mostly transparent, so I am looking and found new replacement inner and outer front fenders but they are a PIA to replace as they are spot welded together and you have to cut/grind them apart to replace (my son is a body man by trade) I will just find a new/used box in better shape, a lot of the 2500s in our part of the country have flat beds put on them and there are many truck boxes sitting around even the right color (silver/grey)
gtwitch in wyoming

 

[JeepBuilder]

Well you are definitely related to the right person. Lots of flatbeds here too. So that helps when a guy is looking to replace one. When you get everything replaced, get some good paint on followed by a quality undercoating. I have been looking at different undercoatings for both my wifes pristine 06 4runner we just got, and my 01 3500. 3M products always seem to work just super. They make a body shutze (sp?) that I am considering. The undercoating out of a spray can just seems to light and thin for me.
The body shop owner just told me they use our 45 mile long hiway here for experimental de-icers. Just great and no wonder stuff gets so rusty here. I was wondering if Wyoming uses salts. My dads Tundra looks terrible underneath only after 1 year. Fluid Film has worked pretty well for localized spraying. Like in wheel wells and such. But it wears off after a season of friction and splashing from slush. I want something asphalt based and stout.

Here it is as of an hour ago. I wish they would close my windows.

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When I get it back it is going to get the 5th gear lock that splines on the mainshaft and engages the nut. That seemed to be the only true and solid method of locking that nut down. Nothing else seemed like it would be a for sure thing. Some fresh correct oils in the gear boxes and hopefully I can leave well enough alone for a bit and enjoy driving it.

I talked with the shop owner who's dad invented the 5th gear repair. He said they paid a fortune to the US patent office and they won't take it out of pending status for several years now. Since it arrived on the market fakes have shown up on ebay and they are cheap inferior metal that is soft and gets wear and slop quickly. Their original product is chromoly and very strong. All they could do was lower the price to try and keep the sales going out the door. If any readers are considering this method. Make sure it is an authentic part from the Colorado shop that invented them.
Ebay and Amazon are a sea of fakes and deceptive products now. That is no good and buyer beware.
Here is a link for it.

http://fifthgearrepair.com/nv4500repair.html

 

[DonFitzwater]

My truck was repainted a couple years ago...................body shops rarely work to schedule, at least in my experience!

 

[GAmes]

I hate to bust your bubble but the fully splined shaft and gear is the only true fix I have heard of. It isn't a lock nut issue, it is a gear wobbling on the splines issue. I've even heard of people putting a small spot weld on the shaft and the gear still managed to work itself off. I went through a dozen NV4500s before I did the G56 upgrade. They all had fully splined shafts and not one of them had a 5th gear come off. The lock is much easier to install though and it could buy you some time. There is also a good chance it would never be a problem without doing anything at all. They don't all come off.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I had read about your NV4500 issues. It does not sound like a fun experience. I spent many a late night reading I have tried to learn as much as possible on this issue with the NV4500. The one thing I was hoping to achieve was keeping the tension and support on the nut so gear movement on the shaft was hopefully reduced by keeping the clamping force up. So it looked like there were actually two issues with 5th gear. The nut backing off and the wear or failure caused by partial splines between the gear and shaft. Keeping the nut tight and drive with care while in 5th is all I am going to be able to do for now. When I talked with the shop that made the lock nut part, he said the NV4500 was a good transmission. Yes this issue is there and some do it more than others and some don't do it at all, like you mentioned. I asked the man about just doing a rebuild now at 163K that the truck has. He said no that the parts available were not as high quality than what I would be taking out. That if I was not having issues that I should just run it. With the lock nut part installed of course. Essentially what I have been reading is the replacement fully splined shafts are china made and the good ones like Torque King made were discontinued. There are comments on why on their site. So what a conundrum. Everything I have worked on or with lately with a made in china label has failed or not lived up to reasonable expectations. My transmission does not make any noise or have any glaring issues. It is a little stiff going into gear and I suspect the wrong oil may have been put in or it is just ready for a replacement. . So when I put the 5th gear repair part in, I will fill it with the correct oil already sitting out in the shop waiting. Then cross my fingers and hope that I get good results and several thousand more miles out of it. It is more of a preventative thing and by design, the part should retain it better than many of the solutions I have looked at. Your repeated failures must have been pretty frustrating and expensive. I hope I don't have even half that experience. I appreciate the input. It is good to know.

 

[GAmes]

A quick call to Standard Transmission in Ft. Worth could determine where the fully splined shafts are made. To my knowledge they were the inventors and did all the rebuilds/replacements I needed. The NV4500 is a good transmission behind a stock engine. Just like the automatics they do not last long behind a high increase in engine torque. I don't believe they were designed to work commercially either as the G56 was.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I will call Standard Transmission and inquire about the shaft. Someday my trans will need a rebuild. And that would be the time for a fully splined shaft. I have a bad and expensive habit of shelving parts with high hopes of installing them in due time. I guess in fear of them being discontinued. Nothing I own is very new. So maybe that makes sense especially if you plan on keeping a rig long term. I will read up on the G56. Sounds like it was a problem solver. And thanks for the info!

 

[JeepBuilder]

Talked to Standard today. They did not know who came up with the fully splined shaft. He said their shop had been installing them for 22 years now with no issues. I expressed my concerns about imported stuff failing on me lately. He said the USA has to many EPA regulations in place for a US based manufacturing plant to make these here. Honestly I wonder if it is just to expensive here and the profit margin was just to small. To bad manufacturing standards and quality control flew right out the window when manufacturing migrated overseas. I always joke (sort of) "it looks like a pen, but it doesn't write!" Anyway... I asked what a rebuild would run. About 1450.00 not including shipping costs. I may do it myself or send it out. Till then, may the smooth shifting continue.

 

[Matt42]

I've seen the G56 transmissions put into the 2wd trucks. Have they been put into the 4x4 trucks?

 

[GAmes]

I've seen the G56 transmissions put into the 2wd trucks. Have they been put into the 4x4 trucks?

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/what-was-a-5spd-is-now-only-a-4spd.222813/?highlight=G56

 

[Matt42]

Thank you, Gary. I had this tiny speck of a memory . . .
edit: The tiny speck is actually embarrassing. It turns out that I had asked an almost identical question in your original 2010 post.

But that's right when I got talked out of retiring the first time, then work & surgical matters just plumb ate up all my working hours.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I finally got the "your truck is ready" call from the body shop. I will get it tomorrow. I am jazzed about it. I will have to post a picture. At least the drivers side.