dbsoundman

Hi all, I've got some serious rust issues on my driver's side rocker panel. There's not much keeping it in place anymore, it's rusted all along the top edge and most of the sides...

Untitled by dbsound06, on Flickr

Untitled by dbsound06, on Flickr

I see that I can order replacement rocker panels online but I'm not sure if that will be enough, or if that's intended to replace this entire section. Would I be better off cutting out a bigger section at a junk yard? I also contemplated having someone fabricate a custom piece instead.

I'd appreciate your ideas and suggestions...Thanks!

-Dan

EDIT: Just wanted to add, I'm not looking for a pretty solution, just an effective one. The whole truck is not pretty overall and I only paid $500 for it!

hashamhk

Is the rust on the other side too I am assuming yes but was just curious? Depending on if you plan on keeping this truck for a few more years then I would getting a custom fabricated piece. If not and just want to drive till it dies I would cut off the extreme rust areas, sand down and use some rust removal remedy then put some POR-15 on it.

dbsoundman

Actually the passenger side is not bad, I'm guessing the driver's side got bad because of accumulated gunk from the driver getting in and out. I don't know if this truck has ever been washed, and now it has enough rust holes I don't think washing it would be such a good idea!

I kind of plan on doing both if I can: keeping it for a few years, and driving it until it dies. I don't get any impressions that it's going to give up on me anytime soon, but I may get to the break-even point sooner than I think where the effort required is more than it's really worth doing. Right now it has all the typical issues for a 250k mile truck: minor exhaust leaks (probably manifold, most noticeable when you take your foot off the gas while in gear), transmission axle shaft seal leaking some, power steering leaks, takes 2 cranks to get it started (fuel system? I know the pump is newer but that's it), tie rods need work...I could go on.

Mostly I want to fix the holes in the floor and this piece on the door so it doesn't turn into the outdoors when I drive in winter!

hashamhk

Sorry I meant has the rust visible on the under carriage of the drivers side panel? But from what you described about the truck its safe to say yes. Rust is such a pain to deal with, just looking at your pictures have made me want to put some POR on my truck as a precaution.

Is the truck your daily?

dbsoundman

Ahh yes, that whole piece is one good stomp away from falling off right now. I'm not sure I could fully replace the piece because there may not be enough to weld onto in certain spots, but I think I could come up with something at least slightly better, seal it up as best as I can, and try not to step on it much...

And yes, the whole thing is "rusty but trusty". The frame is rusty but solid, front suspension is covered in rust but doesn't look to be failure-prone (although as I said, I may end up doing some work on the front steering related components anyway, there's definitely some play in the steering). The bed had one of those plastic liners in it which I just took out as it was full of dirt top and bottom, and fortunately there are only a couple little holes in the actual bed...

I'm kind of treating this truck as an experiment...right now I have a much nicer DD, but I'm thinking about trading it along with my wife's car so we can get what she wants, I don't drive too much now that I work from home and I just don't want a monthly payment at the moment. So for the moment I'm cautiously seeing how far I can get with my $500 truck. I'm totally willing to do what it takes to make it safer and dependable, but if I run into a "safer or dependable" item that's going to cost me a lot of money, I'll probably part it out if I can and move on.

4x91

Little bit a wd40 itll be fine

dbsoundman

Took a closer look today, I'm not sure how to tackle this as even if I got a new rocker panel or found a good used one, pretty much everything around it is rusty so I don't have much to attach to. I think the best I could do is tack it on once I clean up the remaining rust, and maybe put in some reinforcing steel stock...thoughts?

hashamhk

I personally don't have any experience with dealing with that extreme case of rust, hopefully someone else can provide better insight on that. But it seems like you have no other choice if your handy with a welder go for it. And order yourself some POR-15 just got mine in the mail a couple of days ago will be applying on my truck tomorrow, will post pictures on my build thread.

JJJELLO

What is POR-15 and its use?

Snaggletooth

can't tell you what it is we don't have it here but the use is to protect metal from rust, keep it from rusting. At least that is my understanding of it.