Battery acid ate through battery tray and inner fender. repair or replace?

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It appears my truck suffered a battery leak at some point. The inner fender and one foot of the forward battery tray corroded through. My question to the group is whether I should repair or replace. I have basic welding skills and tools.

This all started with a very slow coolant leak, which I traced to the lower radiator hose where the lower alternator belt had rubbed a hole. In order to get access to the hose, I removed the forward battery and mount. The forward inner bolt broke, after escalating from wrench to impact wrench to breaker bar. I guess that's why they call it a breaker bar... It turns out, that bolt held a foot that was no longer connected to the leg.

Here is the battery tray, with close-up. The top left hand corner of the picture shows the leg missing its foot.

The lower part of the left-hand image shows where rust got between sandwiched layers of steel. I think this renders this tray irreparable, unless someone cares to share a trick for fixing this.

And here is the foot, complete with snapped-off bolt.


Here you can see daylight through the inner fender. The corrosion is limited to that immediate area. The rest of the fender is solid. Hence the theory that battery acid was the culprit. A piece of cardboard from a filter box had covered the area, and was undercoated in place, hiding the crack. You can see from the non-undercoated area where the cardboard was. I'm also not thrilled with the way the red wire from the lower alternator was pinched beneath the battery tray. You can see this to the right of the hole in the inner fender. How should this wire be routed?


My immediate problem is getting the radiator hose to no longer rub the lower alternator belt. Then I need to repair or replace the fender and battery mount, to get the truck back together. This is new territory for me. I'd appreciate any advice.

If anyone has a spare front battery tray gathering dust, please let me know. I'll give it a good home. I cleaned the rust off mine as best I could, but rust got between sandwiched layers of steel, so I have little hope of getting it all. I can make it work, temporarily, but I need to replace it eventually.

And I thought all I'd need to do was tighten a hose clamp to stop a very slow coolant leak...

 

[dependable]

On the radiator hose problem, there is usually a sheet metal guard attached with the hose clamp to protect hose from belt. See picture.

It would be easier and neater to replace battery tray. I would check with the regular vendors here that deal with CUCVs.

 

[cucvrus]

Repair it. I will repair it for you. Send me the battery tray with the return shipping ticket. I will repair it for you. Last one I needed I paid $100. for it. The trays are getting hard to find. NICE ones.

 

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On the radiator hose problem, there is usually a sheet metal guard attached with the hose clamp to protect hose from belt. See picture.

It would be easier and neater to replace battery tray. I would check with the regular vendors here that deal with CUCVs.

The lower radiator hose shield is no longer available through the normal parts vendors, including NAPA, AutoZone, Pep Boys, and GM. Is your photo of the upper or lower shield?

I'm not sure how the lower shield would work. It would have to be quite contorted to follow the hose to the point where it crosses the belt. As you can see in the before & after pictures above, the hose visibly deflected the belt before. Now there is an inch of daylight between them. (I followed SS advice and cut 2 inches off the radiator end of the hose.)

Now that they don't rub, I'd be happy to buy a shield to protect the hose in case occasional momentary forces cause the belt to contact the hose. But I can't believe the shield was intended to prevent constant rubbing like I had with the stock hose.

 

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Repair it. I will repair it for you. Send me the battery tray with the return shipping ticket. I will repair it for you. Last one I needed I paid $100. for it. The trays are getting hard to find. NICE ones.

Thanks. I may take you up on that.

How should I repair the inner fender? I presume I weld in a patch. What gauge steel should I use there?

 

[cucvrus]

The inner fender is what I call retired. It needs to go on the pile.I think I see it up top. I am looking thru my crystal ball into the future. It will relive as a Chinese toy or a lawn mower. If it is lucky it may be an MV again.