Has anyone used them from a place like LMC truck? My lower door seems are rusting....i welded in new rockers about 2 years ago and those are doing just fine. Wondering if anyone has had good luck with welding in the lower door skins.

Dave

 

I patched mine a couple times rather than do the whole lower skin, but the rust got back in there and its going to need the whole thing done this time.
Im hoping to replace it with a new lower panel and weld it on with a strip tacked in behind the seam. Might buy the flange tool and crimp a lowered edge on it instead.. works better.
Ill need to fold the edges over of course. I have no practice with hammer and dolly so I bought one of those nylon door skinner tools you put on an impact gun. Hopefully it doesnt mangle the panel too badly.
Dont forget to prep everything and get all the rust off. I like treating bare metal with phosphoric acid before I paint it.
Theres seam sealer thats supposed to go around the door sill. Supposedly the two part stuff is recommended but then you need to buy the mixing gun too. I think im going to get some name brand one part sealer and try that.

 

I'll be doing the same job this year.
Check www.raybuck.com . They carry those panels also, and seem a to be a bit less expensive than LMC.

Kawi600......where did you get that door-skinning tool?

 

This is the door skinning tool, its just a 3-angled nylon bush on a stick really. But it looks like it has a good chance of doing the job neatly, verus pliers or hammer and dolly if youre not experienced

http://www.eastwood.com/skin-zipper-...ning-tool.html

youll also need a flange tool to make a recessed edge with holes to weld through. Make sure you give the panel and the welded joint a really good soak with phosphoric acid before you paint.

http://www.eastwood.com/flanger-and-...tion-tool.html

They have single and two-part seam sealer, phosphoric acid treatment and a pile of other stuff that makes the job easier. I bought a couple of those spray-tool things with compressed air cans so I can do a quick job with a half-pint of paint rather than breaking out all the spray guns and cleaning everything. My lower panels are black so I could just buy paint in spray cans, but the rattle can black paint is pure junk, you need to paint with quality stuff to match the original surface. Even with urethane clear on top Ive had problems with it.

 

So, I have never done body work but those panels from raybuck have my attention. I have a pretty good rust hole on the rocker panel at the back of the cab on the driver's side. If I understand correctly, I could cut out the cancerous area, clean it up really well, use the flange tool to create a recessed lip and then use the mig welder to weld on the new panel from raybuck. Once done that, pull it into the barn and paint 'er up. Did I miss anything?

 

If you have rot showing through the cab corner you probably have rockers that are toast too. the rockers are a big job. drilling out the spot welds and saving the inner body sheet metal isnt hard, but you will also need to take off the bed and the front fenders to access the front and back areas, unless you shortcut the process by leaving some of the cab corners and the front edge of the rockers intact. This is what I ended up doing. I used a sandblaster to remove all the rust and treated the area with phosphoric acid before I painted and welded the new parts in place.

 

I will see if I can post a picture of the truck cancer tomorrow - see how bad a job it will be.

 

Good info on this thread! I've got rot/rust galore from front fenders, rockers (inner and outter!), one front cab mount, 3/4 door bottoms, and bed sides. I hate New England.

As soon as the weather warms up I'll start cutting out the bad and putting in the new sheetmetal. I did a bit with my old 1500, mostly because of impact damage though, and I learned that body work really is an art, but it is nice to see fresh paint go on. Good to know the right tools for scabbing in new metal.

kawi600: Where do you get phosphoric acid?

 

You can get the phosphoric acid all over the place. 'must for rust', 'metal-ready'.. theres a pile of different companies that sell it. Eastwood has some if you search there.
ID also recommend a sandblaster, preferably a pressurized type. Then you can clean up rust in metal you want to save and weld to.

 

Here is the rust I am trying to deal with. It is the rear of the cab, driver side.

 

youre going to need the cab corner and the rockers like I did =(
I drilled out all the spot welds and used a cutoff wheel to make straight cuts in the front and back sections, keeping the edges which were impossible to reach without removing the bed and fenders.
Taking those off would make the job a lot easier and leave less chance for rust to hide.