Rear wing panel replacement

As I am about to replace the rear wing panels (skins) on my series III SWB pickup I have noticed that they are spot welded quite a lot along the forward end where they connect to the cap.

What is the best way of seperating the parts? - do I drill them, or simply try to wriggle them appart?

If anyone has knowledge of suppliers of front and rear wings that would be great as the usual suppliers all seem to be out of stock these days.

Cheers,

Jakob

why do you want to replace it? the spot weld would need drilling with a spot weld drill

Most of the rear wing panel (outer) seems to be hold in place by rivets but at the front end it is spot welded in 16-18 places (guessing) vertical along the front end of the panel. After drilling the rivets I expect the panel to remain attached to the cab by the spot welding. Maybe I am mistaken?

Hi Jacob.

There are many spot welds to drill out when replacing a rear wing panel. It has been many years since I last did one but I just replaced every spot weld with a pop rivet.
I believe the army used extra body strengtheners pop riveted into place as well so the method is sound.

I need new rear wings on my new rebuild and yes most are out of stock currently.

Bucklet Brothers say they might be getting some but to date I still dont have a supplier.

If you find any for sale would you be kind enough to pass on the contact?

I wont dismantle my rear tub untl I get the wing skins in my hands.

Cheers in advance.

Had to replace both rear quarters on my tub. Not actually a bad job to do - and it's that kind of thing that seperates an ok rebuild with a good rebuild..to have nice clean edges at the bottom above the rear cross member is lovely!

To get the spot welds, drill through them, I drilled through each with a small pilot hole, then increased to about a mm bigger than the spot weld itself. Then the panel will come away. When attaching the new ones, I just rivetted in top and bottom corners loosely to get the position I wanted, then rivetted where required and then spot weld (if wanted - but can get away with just adding more rivets if needs be). Vice grips to grip panel in place..and jobs a good one.

Make sure you line up the bottom lines of each panel with the floor rear crossmember - so that it all looks straight and parrarel - not wonky.

Matt