blackolive (Ste)
Member
- Messages
- 1,349
- Location
- Chorley
Shortly after taking on two Horses, I decided that our trusty Zafira whilst handy for carting hay etc was going to get killed doing the yard run twice a day and I "needed" a truck.
One rainy saturday afternoon I was browsing ebay and decided to go have a look at Tonka, and ended up coming home in it. so far its been the best motor Ive ever owned, and is proving to be ideal for towing horseboxes, carting stuff about, and supporting antennas for my hilltop radio exploits.
Ive already done a couple of chassis repairs and given it a clean up and a blasting with rustproofer underneath, and for its age its quite solid.
Onto the rear tub, its had a replacement tub fitted at some point, but
Id noticed rust bubbling around the arch extensions and fuel filler flap, and along the front corner of the tub.
As Im intending keeping the truck for a long time, Id already thought of getting hold of a better tub, so it can be fettled up and swapped over in the summer. thought Id take the nearside arch extension off and have a poke about, and it confirmed that this is the right course of action.
the design is brilliant for an off road vehicle in a wet climate in there are no inner arches, instead two pressed steel splashguards open at the front and rear serve to collect any muddy water splashed up rom the wheels, and hold it for just long enough for the silt to settle and sit on top of the splashguard, and behind the fuel filler flap. the fuel filler pipe shield on the offside also serves a similar purpose enabling wet silt to be held against the steel fuel pipe.
Anyway, after poking about at the nearside, and finding that most of the holes for the arch flare retaining plugs were actually much larger than the plugs, and removing a cubic foot of earth, and most of the inner splashguard from the nearside I decided to gaffer tape it all back together and look for a replacement tub.
found a black one on Ebay and took a punt on it. was £145 delivered, I think the poor bloke had understimated the faff of getting a body tub onto a pallet though and it took a while for him to find a courier that would take it.
its duly arrived, and had a power wash. the offside splash guard is confetti, but part of the plan is to cut these out anyway so I can get behind them and do a proper rustproofing job, and if I can, either design out the mud traps, I dont think I can do a fully sealed rear arch on the offside as the fuel filler pipe has to go through it, but I think I can fully box the nearside in, and maybe build in a row of drain holes on the offside one ( which will also let me get the power washer into it- any ideas gratefully accepted here )
Its also looking in a lot better condition than mine round the plastic arch flare plugs which Im quite relieved about
the nearside splash guard's good and solid too.
just need some decent weather now to crack on as Ill have to work outside on it.
One rainy saturday afternoon I was browsing ebay and decided to go have a look at Tonka, and ended up coming home in it. so far its been the best motor Ive ever owned, and is proving to be ideal for towing horseboxes, carting stuff about, and supporting antennas for my hilltop radio exploits.
Ive already done a couple of chassis repairs and given it a clean up and a blasting with rustproofer underneath, and for its age its quite solid.
Onto the rear tub, its had a replacement tub fitted at some point, but
Id noticed rust bubbling around the arch extensions and fuel filler flap, and along the front corner of the tub.
As Im intending keeping the truck for a long time, Id already thought of getting hold of a better tub, so it can be fettled up and swapped over in the summer. thought Id take the nearside arch extension off and have a poke about, and it confirmed that this is the right course of action.
the design is brilliant for an off road vehicle in a wet climate in there are no inner arches, instead two pressed steel splashguards open at the front and rear serve to collect any muddy water splashed up rom the wheels, and hold it for just long enough for the silt to settle and sit on top of the splashguard, and behind the fuel filler flap. the fuel filler pipe shield on the offside also serves a similar purpose enabling wet silt to be held against the steel fuel pipe.
Anyway, after poking about at the nearside, and finding that most of the holes for the arch flare retaining plugs were actually much larger than the plugs, and removing a cubic foot of earth, and most of the inner splashguard from the nearside I decided to gaffer tape it all back together and look for a replacement tub.
found a black one on Ebay and took a punt on it. was £145 delivered, I think the poor bloke had understimated the faff of getting a body tub onto a pallet though and it took a while for him to find a courier that would take it.
its duly arrived, and had a power wash. the offside splash guard is confetti, but part of the plan is to cut these out anyway so I can get behind them and do a proper rustproofing job, and if I can, either design out the mud traps, I dont think I can do a fully sealed rear arch on the offside as the fuel filler pipe has to go through it, but I think I can fully box the nearside in, and maybe build in a row of drain holes on the offside one ( which will also let me get the power washer into it- any ideas gratefully accepted here )
Its also looking in a lot better condition than mine round the plastic arch flare plugs which Im quite relieved about
the nearside splash guard's good and solid too.
just need some decent weather now to crack on as Ill have to work outside on it.
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