Replacement Rocker Panels?

[JFitzgerald]

Just did a search and found nothing on it. I'd like to get a set of quality rockers to weld in. Mine are getting rusty on an otherwise decent looking truck. The township used to put calcium chloride on my gravel road, but they finally tarred & chipped it this year.



Anyone know of any sources? A guy tried to order some Keystone(?) brand for me and they back ordered them, then just dropped the order. I have asked for a Rayburn catalog, and looked at JCWhitney, but I'm not sure of the quality from either place.



Help, I need to save my truck from the horrors of the rust belt. :{ The challenge may be in making the body last as long as the engine.

 

[Philip]

I have not used a set of repo rockers on a Dodge.



But I have used them on a Chevy and ford. (The ford was a friends before someone starts on me). The rockers did not fit worth a D#^&. They are also of thinner metal. If you have to go bending them to get a fit. I would rather have a set of OEM.



If you do go with repo parts. The ones from Italy are better fitting than the ones from China



I checked price last week from Dodge just by chance. The one section under the door is $88. The cab corner was the same price. I didn't get the numbers on them. This is for a project next spring on my truck. The way Dodge changes part numbers around. They would probably be out dated by then.

 

[ETOBICOKE]

Replacement Pannels

Back in the mid 80's you could get them from the dealer for a very reasonable price. Don't know if they are still offered. Be advised that if the rockers are rusted out badly enough to require replacement, then the inners are gone too and most likely a fair chunk of the floor.



Neil

 

[jdurham]

I've restored a lot of old musclecars, and the best bet was always factory metal. On the occasions oem metal couldn't be found, we used Sherman.



Try http://www.shermanparts.com/store.shtml



Hope this helps... .



Jim

 

[BCaldwell]

JF another source for body parts may be www.autobodypartswholesale.com I also believe I ran across a thread in the conversion forum with an adress for our gen parts hope this will help Bill

 

[JFitzgerald]

Thanks for all the replies. Had the day off today, and I stopped at a stealer, Taylor Dodge in Kankakee, IL. They want $95 each for the replacements. From there, I went to talk to a guy I know who owns a body shop. He said "whoever told you Keystone parts were good doesn't know their stuff", and said the dealer's price wasn't bad and that I'd spend a lot more time trying to get cheap parts to fit. He also said the factory parts usually have some good rust protection already on them. He convinced me it's worth the money to get Dodge parts and do this right. I'll check out those links you guys posted though.



For welding them in, I have two stick welders - a Honda portable and a regular old buzz box - neither is good for sheet metal. I considered buying a welder from my neighbor, it's a 120 volt wire feed, but no gas setup, so flux core wire has to be used. My body shop friend says MIG is the way to go. A buddy said I could borrow his Miller 120 volt MIG welder.



The rockers are the only place I can see any rust. There is no rust on the floors, at least underneath. The back sides of the rockers are solid with only a little surface rust. There is a surface spot on the bottom of one front fender that I hope to just clean up and repaint with the rockers.



Anyone been down this road before? Any tips?

 

[Philip]

There are three ways you can install the rockers. Welding you already know about. Mig is the fastest way.



You could use a torch and braze them on. This is a little slower. You also get a little more warpage this way.



There is also soldering them on. This takes the most prep time of all three methods. You would need to pop rivet the panel down every 3/8' the whole length. Everything would have to be clean. Then apply solder paste and solder into position. This way will have the least warpage of all three methods. But if done properly. It will require the least amount of filler to be applied.

(This is called leading in a panel).



I use the third method myself. I like the less distortion.



I have done Chevy rocker and cab corners. One Ford for cab corners. I haven't done a Dodge yet. Mine is next spring.

 

[JFitzgerald]

Questions on soldering body parts...

Thanks Philip, I remember my grandfather talking about when he had his old '69 Caddy re-done and painted, that he had the body man "lead" the bodywork, since he felt this the best way.



Is that true? Will soldered joints hold up to the pounding and vibration of our trucks? How do you hide the rivets from showing? I've soldered radiators and sweated copper plumbing, so it should be no problem.

 

[Philip]

Yes solder will work with no problem. If solder can hold up to 600 psi burst strength that 1/2 copper pipe is rated for. It will hold very good on body panels with out internal pressure.



You grind the rivets off. Then use a small solder gun and fill in the hole from the rivets. Or leave the holes and let the body filler use them for extra grip.



A friend of mine who has done body work all his life thought me this trick.



Propane torch cost $30. (for a good one)

Acetylene torch $300.

 

[Matt S]

Beware

As this isn't a unibody vehicle, you maybe able to get away with not welding them in. Don't ever use the brazing or soldering method on a unibody vehicle. We aren't talking burst strength but shearing strength. When you solder/braze you are holding two pieces of metal together with another metal the will melt at a lower temperature. When you weld, you actually bond the two pieces together. If all things were equal, I would weld them in.

 

[JFitzgerald]

Thanks Matt. That's why I was questioning strength. When I think about solder, lead, etc. , I don't think of high strength. If I was to use the solder method, what type of solder - rosin core, acid core, or?

 

[Philip]

Good point Matt S This is type of repair is for full framed vehicles only. For anything unibody use a different means of attachment.



Just use a 50/50 lead/tin alloy like you would for plumbing. I use a liquid flux. But good old paste type flux will work also.



Matt if you look at the rocker panel on a first gen truck. You see there is a seam at the rear of the door. If you properly remove the old panel by drilling out the old spot welds. When you reinstall the new panel. If you weld in the seam at this point. Then the factory seam line will be lost. So from any distance the replacement panel will be spotted by anyone that knows 1st gen trucks. This repair would take a solder job better to make the repair look closer to original.

 

[RGT]

I dug this up to see how you made out, I have a little rot on the pass side rocker, I have a mig welder but worry about burning off any paint/rustproofing behind the panel, that I can't get to when done to repaint... . has anyone just cleaned up the existing panel and epoxied a new panel over it. I realize I would have to trim the new panel so that it would just be a surface patch panel. I hate to dig into the seams when the rot seems to only be in the middle of the panel

 

[Underdog]

This suggestion has nothing to do with the rocker panels but,

with rust. Most of you will consider this as "snake oil" but,here

is something that some farmers use on their equipment

that gets rusted up. I've used it and it seems to work.

Gemplers Rust Converter

www.gemplers.com

1-800-382-8473

What it does is change rust into a dark protective polymeric

coating.

I am in no way affiliated with them.

 

[JFitzgerald]

RGT, haven't done a darn thing yet. I'm not happy about this not being done yet, but I have excuses. I broke my foot, which is healed now, and xmas caused a big leak in my wallet.



I have the same concern you do on burning off the rustproofing behind the panel. The plan is still to buy the parts from DC.



Underdog, Eastwood has some similar rust killing products that I've been looking at.