So I've finally got back into my 2000 ram 3/4 ton regular cab. Initially I bought it as a beater, but found that the floor had rotted bad from the inside. Didn't have a way to swap cabs, so I decided to patch the floor. I cut out a donor part from a 99 1500, and bought a full rocker from fixmyrust.com

So I have since installed the floor, it went well - I was able to get it tight enough to just butt weld it in. The rocker, not the same story. I've found that it is out of spec in a few ways. I will post pics later. This truck was meant to be a beater... But I like to practice quality work, so I was not too happy with this rocker panel. I've already man handled it with a hydraulic jack, and will need to slice it in two places to make it fit in the front, as well as man handle the rear to get it to line up.

Anyone else have feedback on standard cab rocker patch panels? I think I'm probably another couple hours from making this thing fit properly, so doubt I want to delay for another part... but would like to hear other's experiences.

 

I promised pics, here they are...

Very sporadically working on this... outside, in the weather... next time, the beater truck is coming from the SOUTH!

1. started tearing into it...
2. started cutting it all apart...
3. junkyard donor outer floor, that required two patches on its own.
4. donor ready to butt weld in.
5. just for grins, dress the outer side of the floor to show how smooth it can be w/o any body filler
6. starting to fit the rocker
7. rocker butt welded in and a coat of polyester filler to remove tooling marks
8. quick epoxy prime job, since it was going to rain the next day....

 

Looks like good work. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Need to do this on my truck.

 

oh man, I hope you don't have to replace what I had to... that was a job. i had found a replacement cab, but w/o truck running and no way to lift it... caused me to go the hard route.

body work outdoors is no fun.... it started to spit rain right at the end, had to think fast !

Next, the inner floor ... should be easy compared to this job.

 

No, you're repair job is a lot bigger than what mine will be. I'm just looking at the outer rockers. Luckily, I have a garage I can do my work in.

 

Thanks for the pictures. Ours eventually needs this done. Hoping to build a garage first. Nice work, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

We got parts from LMC for my daughters Chevy. They fit pretty good. The outer rocker needed a little work to match perfectly. I read that TABCO tabcoparts.com are very good, but I haven't tried them yet. We have to do the right side rockers and cab corners on the Chevy and might try them.

 

So the patch for the inner wasn't too great either. Manufacturer is KeyParts. I used my nylon hammer and beat the living crap out of the back of this thing to get the right contour in it. I got it right, but what a waste of time. I still need to tailor the fit, I thought I would just lap it in... but after getting it close, I just couldn't bring myself to take the short cut, so I started cutting it for butt weld. Lost light and energy to continue today.... probably another couple hours to cut it to size and weld it home.

 

Where did you order your rocker panel from? How is the overall fit? I've been looking at ordering parts from Browns of two rivers. They're about an hour from me so I'll save quite a bit on shipping.

 

Rocker came from www.fixmyrust.com I made quite a few modifications to get it close, could have spent more time with a blunt chisel - but I just got tired of messing with it.