Thanx merc, after I posted that I went on amazon and they do have tinted liner. And I looked at my service van and Ford put it on there from the factory.

 

That would be another opt rocker or gravel guard.

 

I'd look for a deal at the local Maaco. I had them do mine about 6 years ago (1996 Ram) after the roof started to peel real bad. They were able to match the OEM colors by number.


I did some sanding and prep to the roof, but it now is starting to peel again. In prep for them painting it, I pulled the grille, headlights, and turn signals, along with the tail lights. I pulled the toolbox as well. For under $500, I had absolutely no complaints and will likely go back next spring for another job.


I use this truck as a daily driver and with some good PM and a tranny rebuild last year, have every intention of keeping it going. It's at 216,000 miles now.

 

Well, what I did... (speaking of wordy)

Have had my '98 1/2 ton Ram since new off the lot. Always took real good care of it and we decommissioned it to the back property when 2008 hit, economy tanked, gas kept going up etc. We drove the other vehicles and it sat to be started every so often etc.

So today we drive it only to pull the little camper here and there. Dedicated tow vehicle as it were. Having said that, the body, the paint was a bit rough. Dent here, dent there, rear bed sorta bashed in some due to idiot employees a while back.

But since I plan to keep it and it runs like a champ with 120K miles, I thought to put some of my old skills to use and get the body work done for someone to shoot the color. I got a cheap stud welder to pull dents. Took the DA sander to it. Shot the direct to metal epoxy, skinned the plastic then shot the 2K high build. Blocked that, skinned again, final 2K primer, and then wet sanded the living devil out of it with 400. Of course I stripped off every part that could be stripped off too. A lot like work, but kinda fun too.

Once I had it done I went on a search for a good body shop to shot the two stage paint, base/clear. Every shop I went to said..."we don't do that kind of work". WTF? Why not? Well, because they can't warranty someone elses body work and other such nonsense. Hey, I used the right primers, it's sanded perfect. Anyway...couldn't, wouldn't go to the butchers at Maaco. I wanted a paint job that would last and last after busting my butt on the body work like I did.

Finally, found a real nice guy at a good shop that didn't want to do it either but when I waved the C notes in his face, he broke down and agreed. He made me take all the bed bolts out but two before I brought it in so he could pull the bed to get behind all that. He laid two coats of base and two coats of clear and the issues in the body I missed well...thank gawd for white is all I can say LOL

After about a month of letting it cure, I pin stripped it, then rubbed in two coats of polymer sealer. (not wax) I repainted the wheels with wheel paint and it now looks just great. I was inspired after this and I shot our pop up camper with single stage Dodge Ram white and now they match. It all looks great and I'm glad I did a good job on the Ram. This sucka will never peel or fail for many years to come. Cost? Gotta be floating around 2K for the whole production I want to say. To much money for such an old basic truck? Likely however, I enjoyed doing the body work and it's done now for friggin ever...

 

Looks good, kinda surprised you went with the black on the steelies not white or silver.

 

Funny you mention that, I sure debated on this one. Rims were OEM silver originally. At first I was going to go white but then I see all the black rims around these days. Couple of fellows also suggested black. So I kept visualizing it over and over to finally land on black. I like how it makes the chrome pop so to speak.