How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

I made some great progress today. First I had to beef up the metal brake. Ill post more on that in another thread.

I finished cutting the tail gate panel by putting in the tail light holes and the foot step holes. For the tail light holes I used a 1-3\4" hole saw. It tends to wobble a bit while drilling with a hand drill. I then used a hand file to finish the edges out to the proper diameter. For the straight lines I used my trusty angle grinder with a zip disk and some steady hands. The foot holes were also cut out with the zip disk and then I finished them with a combination of a flap disk and a hand file. They took a bit of time but I really couldn't think of any other way to cut them out with the tools I have.

I had Metal Supermarket cut out all the sheet metal more on their shear. This saved me considerable time and ensured I had perfectly straight cuts and square corners. I bent all of the channels myself on the princess auto brake. The long channel had to be made in three pieces as the brake can only do 36" Even with the modifications, it was still stressing it quite a bit doing 16ga over 36" In the end it worked out well enough and I was able to tighten up the bends in the vise.

Before I do any welding, ill be cutting in the channels on the original tailgate to check for any reinforcing. I believe the hinges run the entire height of the tailgate.

When I first decided to rebuild the sides and the tailgate of the box, I didn't realize I would be doing the most difficult one first. However with how well it is going the sides should be pretty straight forward. (knock on wood)

[Wayne Hingley]

Looks great Jordan! You did good bending that metal on the PA brake. I tried using one my friend has, to bend some 16ga sheet metal, and anything longer than ~20" kept slipping on me. I was kind of nervous that I would brake it if I tightened it down any more.

Cant wait to see the finished product.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks for the compliments. Ive created another thread in the restoration forum on the modifications I did to the Princess Auto brake. They really do make a huge difference in what you can do.

[Lynn Eades]

Here's a hint Jordan;
My mandrel doesn't have a drill bit in it. I have a bit of plain round tool steel in it.
I drill a clearance center hole with an ordinary drill bit. I then put a bit of oil on the plain pilot, poke it in the pre drilled hole and cut away with the hole saw. It dont wobble at all.
The reason why I did this was that I had trouble buying the correct pilot drill and most of them leave the clearing flutes of the drill bit at the same height as the teeth of the hole saw, which allows the hole saw to move sideways.

[Jordan Baker]

Lynn, thanks for the tip. I modified mine the same way. However sometimes the hole saw binds up. Last time when it did I bent the plain pilot. Hence the wobble. Plus I'd rather drill undersize and then file to finish size.

[Jordan Baker]

Well today I spent a few hours back working on the truck, specifically the tailgate hinges. The big hold up had been mostly winter and my lack of enthusiasm for being damp and cold. Anyway back to the truck. Last fall I made up a bending jig to roll the end of the metal into a hing. One of my uncles was able to help me out today by using the torch to heat up the flat stock. All in all it worked out really well. I made up the two long and two medium length ones for the tailgate. Only one of small ones on the box frame needed replacing.

[Jordan Baker]

With bending them hot we found the edges tended to curl out a bit. So I used my bend belt sander to slowly sand them down. Next up will be reeming them out so that the hinge pin slides freely.

[Jordan Baker]

I tack welded on the hinge straps and did a trial fitting on the box. All is good and it fit really well. It truly is amazing all of the work that went into making these for the army back in the day.

[Robert Bergeron]

Amazing workmanship Jordan . You are very dedicated and talented. Thanks for posting your progress. It is inspiring and motivating. Robert