Major rust repair 91 burban 1500

[Urbanburban22]

Heya all! I've got some advanced rust on the Ole suburban. All the rust is in the rear quarters, and the wheel wells. The wheel wells are 75% just gone at this point. I cut the not savable parts of the rear quarter skins out of the truck and stripped the interior to see just how bad it really was. Like always, it's worse than you think, but better than you thought. So, due to price of panels and shipping, and the parts I need I'm looking for possible donor options. One of my thoughts was, could I possibly cut up a and old long bed off a C10 (or whatever square really) and graft in the wheel well to the floors of the Ole burban? Then use the skins from the body line on down? I would be taking the entire bedside/support structure and grafting it into the suburban. Body line to pinch welds on the bottom. I haven't gone and taken measurements yet, bit I'm curious as to if anyone has attempted this. I'll upload some pictures of what I'm dealing with the next time I'm out at the shop.
Any advice?
Things to look for?
Not going for show quality, but I'm going for looking half way decent, and longevity.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

That's what I was gonna do. My burb has bondo and rust. Was just gonna cut what I needed out of a pickup panel. But my inner metal on the burb is good so I was gonna fix what needed to be.

I'm pretty sure the wheel wells are bolt in so I probably wouldn't use them, or all of them anyways. The suburbans have some kind of inner bracing.

 

[Urbanburban22]

I'll pull it all out and find out I suppose. Hoping I get lucky and find a nice roller. However I'm very curious to see if a truck bed would to the trick. Since it has to potential to be much cheaper. I've heard tale that the long bed wheel wells can be grafted into the suburbans with some trimming. The only reason I've thought of using the whole pickup bed was because the fabricator across the street mentioned it when I was asking him the best way to go about this all. (he also dose full vehicle restorations currently he is building a 56 chevy)

 

[bucket]

The Suburban bed floor and inner wheel tubs are actually very very different from those of a pickup. Basically every dimension is different by a substantial amount.

Imho, you would be better off starting from scratch to build a floor and wheel tubs. Flat sheet for the floor, box tube for the floor supports and trailer fenders for wheel tubs.

 

[1STLS1]

Having been born and raised back in the rust belt, then living in central TX and AZ for the past 25 years, I am spoiled. New sheetmetal is nice but when you begin factoring buying it, shipping it in, installing it with all the body work, rust proofing and painting, etc, I would seriously consider just swapping the tub with a rust free one. If the VIN on the dash and all the wiring scares you, clip it at the windshield pillars and a seam across the floor. I have seen tubs for less than a $1000 here.

 

[R Carnella]

I used new wheel tubs for the pickup on my 1990 v2500 burb they are just slightly longer and shaped slightly different towards the rear.
I made them fit nice

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with a little work.

 

[R Carnella]

No one will ever know lol

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[Urbanburban22]

No one will ever know lol

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That's awesome! How was attaching the new tubs to the rear quarter skins? Any major or minor problems along the way to look out for? Still haven't been out to the shop to get pictures for everyone, but I will here in the next few days. Your finished product is amazing!

 

[R Carnella]

They fit to the inside of the panel great. And met up against the floor pan no problem. The toughest part for me was inside towards the back spare tire well,mine was nonexistent so I had to get a little creative.
Hopefully your rust won't be as bad. I sectioned a third tub for the spare tire well.
I tried to keep the factory contours as much as possible. These pics where the test fitting phase.

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[bucket]

They fit to the inside of the panel great. And met up against the floor pan no problem. The toughest part for me was inside towards the back spare tire well,mine was nonexistent so I had to get a little creative.
Hopefully your rust won't be as bad. I sectioned a third tub for the spare tire well.
I tried to keep the factory contours as much as possible. These pics where the test fitting phase.

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Does the third seat still fit over those?

 

[SquareRoot]

Does the third seat still fit over those?

Who cares? Look at that beauty!

 

[R Carnella]

3 row seat and seat belt retractor's fit fine. The 3rd row arm rests might/might not fit,I haven't tried putting them on. There's about an inch clearance on both sides of the seat cushion.

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[bucket]

3 row seat and seat belt retractor's fit fine. The 3rd row arm rests might/might not fit,I haven't tried putting them on. There's about an inch clearance on both sides of the seat cushion.

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Yeah, the arm rests clearing was my concern. I like having them because they are usually what I use the most when getting the seat in and out of the truck. Rear passengers of course lean on them too, but maybe I shouldn't be so concerned with that.

 

[R Carnella]

If I find time, I'll dig out my arm rests and put'em on and see if they fit. Remember It's only metal after all. shape,weld,grind until It does what you want.
I only went this route because it was the only viable option I could find.
How bad is your rust?
Need some pics already lol

 

[Urbanburban22]

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