First post here. Bought a 2001 Supercrew a few months ago, and am finally starting to get my hands dirty with it.

The truck is my backup/bad weather/haul stuff mobile. It mostly sits in the driveway. Overall, it's in pretty decent shape. Runs well, drives well. It has the typical rocker panel rust, and those are pretty bad. The running boards are just barely hanging on, and I was planning on getting the the rockers replaced this spring.

I'm in the process of replacing headlights and fog lights, and I have two issues. First issue is that the bolts the hold the foglight bracket and rusted and rounded off. Do I need to drop the bumper to do this? Any better ideas?

Second question: There is a pretty significant amount of rust that I discovered behind the drivers head light, right above the body mount. This is a bad place to have rust, right? Is this repairable? Will try to post a picture.

 

Here is a pic

 

Yea, just cut it off complete, to good metal. I'd use 16 gauge and fab up a new tower from scratch. It's actually pretty easy if you have a good Mig. If you don't do this often you must grind all welds down and use a planishing Hammer body hammer or finish nailer if that's all you have on hand and smack the welded area. Pulse weld again the fractures, chances are you'll get it the second time. Do the same welding procedure fastening the new tower to the truck. Can't usually get it one shot, even if your good at it. Pulse welding is sort of like spot welding, except the practice is to go and inch then skip. Keeps you on line, steers you clear from them flaming holes as well.

You might aughta check your lower radiator supports as well. Welding panels is different if you decide to fix those. So this is just for what you pointed out.

 

Thanks for the info. Not much of a welder personally, but good to know it's replaceable. Will have to have that addressed at the same time as the rockers. I'm going to have more into repairs than I have into the price of the truck before long! That's ok. The truck fits my needs perfectly, and I'm planning on keeping it around for awhile. Still a lot cheaper than newer truck/truck payment!

 

What about the fog lights? How tough is it to drop the bumper by myself? How heavy is it?

 

It's not heavy at all, i use a knee to brace one side and my hand to brace the other as I took the bolts out and put them back in. It's like maybe 25lbs

 

My brush guard is heavier than the bumper

 

Yes , these fixes in particular will add in cost quickly. Cheaper to acquire a gas Mig that runs on household current and getting a crash course on welding. Directions don't help much I afraid. Really need that crash course from someone w/experience welding auto metal. So after you price everything out and it's a little too steep, resort back to this post and get started. I thought I wasn't far from expert at one time, until I started welding on this thin shiii.. Yea, a crash course, few tricks from a person that don't mind sharing is priceless. Something to keep in mind if forced to have an interested with it lol

Good luck! - With the other stuff as well..some good people here.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to try to tackle more of these repairs on my own, but I'm just too short on time. Finally reached that magical point where I have more money than time, and I'm not sure that's such a great thing now that I'm here...a friend quoted me $350-400 to repair that piece, and I'm happy to let him do it for that price. Anyway, thanks again for the advice.