chassis rust

[billygoat22]

HI, new here on forum.

I have an '86 702 PU. few manths ago had a wreck which crinkled the front pretty good.

when I was preparing for repairs to the body yesterday found a hole rusted in chassis by gas tank. I've even looked over the chassis when it was on lift after accident, and couldn't see the rust.

the chassis was not twisted or damaged by the collision, (checked by alignment guy,) which spun the truck around 90 degrees on the road, so there must still be some strength left to chassis.

I have some parts trucks, can you "graft" in a section of good chassis off another vehicle? Thanks

[Tom]

You mean like welding a piece of chassis from another car onto the original chassis of your truck? I don't see it shouldn't work. It will help strengthen it. It's kind of a ghetto rig, but should work effectively. Try and use a welding torch to melt that sucker onto it and let it cool. Reminds me of soldering two pieces together, but now you're dealing with stronger metal.

[billygoat22]

I was thinking more of cutting out the bad and replacing w/ good parts. I'm afraid that adding a piece on to fix it may create voids to catch and hold water.

Also. in Va., you can't do ANYTHING it seems w/ a car. no neon (has to be covered when on the road),no tinting (except for back windows, but not too dark), no colored headlights, nothing on rearview mirror. All that neat stuff they do on Ca is likely illegal here.

If its legal, I'll go ahead an fix it. Otherwise new truck to be bought.