Replacing Cut Rear Quarters

[broncbusted]

Hey, after seeing all the pics of the uncut Broncos, I decided to buy new lower quarters and take mine from cut to uncut! I ordered them from Jeffs and have them in hand. All that was the easy part!!! I have been looking at the task of removing the old quarters and it ain't gonna be easy!! For those who have tackled this I have a few questions:

1. My door jamb and my taillight housing are in good shape, it looks like the rear quarters are sandwiched in between these two items! Question, do I have to remove these from the truck to replace the quarters? Tips would be appreciated.

2. I have marked the gas tank filler holes and the side marker light cutout on the new quarter. Question, should I cut the holes before or after mounting the new quarter?

3. Looks like a lOOOOOOt of spot welds on these pieces!! Please pass any helpful tips and tricks as to the removal and the reinstallation.

I may have overloaded my wagon with this, I am not a body man!!

Thanks and help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zillacon]

Drill the spot weld in the door jamb. For the rest of the quarter cut most of it out of the way and leave about an inch towards the top seam and taillight housing so you can get to those spot welds more easily. I personally would use panel adhesive on the top seam with a few spot welds, rivets or stainless screws to hold into place until the adhesive dries to help with rust down the road and spot weld the back by the tailight housing and door jamb.

 

[KyleQ]

Subscribed - I've eventually got to do this...

 

[broncbusted]

Drill the spot weld in the door jamb. For the rest of the quarter cut most of it out of the way and leave about an inch towards the top seam and taillight housing so you can get to those spot welds more easily. I personally would use panel adhesive on the top seam with a few spot welds, rivets or stainless screws to hold into place until the adhesive dries to help with rust down the road and spot weld the back by the tailight housing and door jamb.

Thanks Zillicon, that sounds like some good info. I just hope I don't screw up any more panels getting these out! Thanks for the info!

 

[Gerbow]

Search the tech threads. Some great info and pics in there. Someone may chime in here with more info as well. Just take your time, when your done, you'll say how easy it was.
Good luck and take pics of your progress.

 

[1crazypony]

Hi to all I'm new to the site but have been following you all for a long time. I have alot of sheet metal work to do on my 72. I am close to getting her off the frame, probably by Saturday. It sounds like alot of you have been working through alot of these issues.. I need to replace both the upper and lower rear quarter panels. It seems pretty straight forward. Alot of spot welds to drill. I have not bought my sheet metal yet. It seems that there is some issue with replacement panels and body lines. I hope to have a pretty nice truck when its done.. Any Advice other then send it to nick.

 

[HGM]

Really nothing to it.. Cut it out with a sawsall and use an airhammer to cut the remaining metal off.. Spot weld bit will help in a few areas, not to damage the attaching pannels, but not needed for most of it.. I've got more pics on the last page or two of my build thread (post #68 and 72)..

 

[broncbusted]

Really nothing to it.. Cut it out with a sawsall and use an airhammer to cut the remaining metal off.. Spot weld bit will help in a few areas, not to damage the attaching pannels, but not needed for most of it.. I've got more pics on the last page or two of my build thread (post #68 and 72)..

Thanks HGM for the pics! I will be starting this soon and need this kind of input get the confidence up to attempt it! Thanks I will be looking at all the pics.

 

[mp]

How do the replacement quarters fit? I saw one once, and it seemed it was much light guage than the original body panel. Is there a preferred manufacturer fot the quarter panel--Dyncorn perhaps?

 

[HGM]

How do the replacement quarters fit? I saw one once, and it seemed it was much light guage than the original body panel. Is there a preferred manufacturer fot the quarter panel--Dyncorn perhaps?

I used Dynacorn, from Jeff's, because the overall opinions seemed to be the best.. OVERALL, I'm happy with them. They fit pretty well. But, dont expect to bolt a new pannel up to a 40yr old vehicle and think it will be perfect.. I was a bit disapointed that I had to cut the new pannel in order to make it fit to my liking. But, I'm being a bit particular on this build..

A little more info.. Drill holes in the upper quarter flange and anywhere else you need, before installing. Also, sand the e-coat where you intend to weld.. I used sheet metal screws to line it all up then welded..

 

[Mark]

Removal was easy,
Installation was the bitch.

Not the best pictures of the process...
http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87857

 

[KyleQ]

Very nice - it seems obvious how to attach it at the door jamb, but what is back by the tail light housing? Did you just tack weld the panel all the way along the top of the body line or did you glue it?

I have not seen anyone use sheetmetal screws to hold the panels together, that is a great trick!

 

[1crazypony]

Thanks for posting the pics. does anyone have pics of removing the upper quarter panel?

 

[73azbronco]

As an aside to this process of complete panel replacment; for any of you metal workers on here, if your "cut" rear panels are good shape no rust, can it be easily done or is it advisable to graft the piece to make it uncut or is it better to replace the whole panel?

 

[HGM]

Very nice - it seems obvious how to attach it at the door jamb, but what is back by the tail light housing? Did you just tack weld the panel all the way along the top of the body line or did you glue it?

I have not seen anyone use sheetmetal screws to hold the panels together, that is a great trick!

I'd have to take some pic's of it later, maybe I can get it sometime this weekend. But, there are no face welds. I drilled the new quarter on the door post, think that makes sense.. Drilled the upper on the top seam as I mentioned. The rear that you are asking about was a combination.. The upper portion of the seam between the tail light pannel and quarter can be accessed with the tail light removed.. So, with the quarter off, I drilled the tail light pannel as many places as I could access through the lamp hole and drilled the quarter from there downward. This allowed me to get the top part through the tail lamp hole and the bottom half from the wheel well..

Cant take credit for the screws, I learned most of it from reading Tito's thread a while back. I think he did it all about the same, but flipped the tub to weld. I was able to weld down from inside the tub on the upper seam..

One last thing, the instalation can be a bit tricky as mentioned, but I was able to "hang" the pannels on the body at the door post and used vice grips in the rear while I screwed it together. No help, other than that.. When pulling it all tight with the screws, pre-drill it to avoid the screw slipping.. I'm not a body guy by any means, but this was one of the easier things I've done..I dreaded it and tried to talk myself out of doing it at all, but got frustrated with a lack of progress and got to it with the saw and chissel.. Glad I did..

 

[HGM]

Thanks for posting the pics. does anyone have pics of removing the upper quarter panel?

Upper is part of the inner.. In my pic's above, with the lower removed, the upper and the rusty part belowe it are all one stamping.. I'm not sure how the uppers you see in the catalog would work..

 

[HGM]

As an aside to this process of complete panel replacment; for any of you metal workers on here, if your "cut" rear panels are good shape no rust, can it be easily done or is it advisable to graft the piece to make it uncut or is it better to replace the whole panel?

Havent gotten there myself, but I plan to graft front wheel well openings in my rears.. Need to start gathering cut outs..

 

[Gerbow]

Havent gotten there myself, but I plan to graft front wheel well openings in my rears.. Need to start gathering cut outs..

This is what I would like to do to mine as well, but not sure how man rear qtrs I'd go thru before I got it right.

 

[broncbusted]

Ok I Got Them Out, Now a Problem

I removed the lower quarter and found bad places in the upper so I am replacing it also But!I tried to install the lower panel and found that the panel fit tight against the rear taillight housing at the bottom but I had a 1/4" gap at the top? This was noticed before I removed the upper quarter. Has anyone had this problem with the quarters from JBG? I decided to replace the upper quarter and ordered it. Today I tried to fit these panels and its a PITA! I was able to close the 1/4" gap by pulling the panels with the aid of a long bar clamp and screws. I am not sure if this will cause other fitment problems in the future. I did weld braces in to try to hold the remaining pieces as they were. I have some pics and will try to post them. Take a look and see if you think what I did will be a problem.

 

[Tito]

Looks great, good job! I replaced mine, it was a bit of a pain but better than I expected. I am going to be taking another back to uncut and contemplating just cutting a rectangular section out and replacing only that with new panel as the rest is really in good shape. Will use a flanger to make a flange to spot weld to and then seem seal real well.

I dont think you will have any fitment issues by pulling the tail light panel in, it was probably flexed like that from a previous rear end or something.