LD50 1st gen Rusty rocker panel bodywork - rockerpanel replacement

Hello fellow explorer enthusiasts!

Got some questions asked while doing my driver`s side rocker panel repair so I decided to write-up the other side. Hope I can help anyone out..

FIRST:

-Disconnect your battery, do not do any welding with your battery connected. Yes you might get away with it, but some components in your electrical system can be damaged by welding voltages. (plus you avoid any battery drain) Some people also disconnect their ECU and Alternator, I have never done this myself and have done quite a bit of welding on the Ex (You make the call)
-Take your doors off, they need to be well out of the way.
-Remove the trim from the lower areas of your door openings and pull the door seals out of the way
-Get some poly (plastic sheet) or your interior will get dirty. Tuck it in your trim where ya can, tape it in, whatever you decide is best.
-Throw a tarp at least over your front window to avoid getting sparks burns on it!

If you got your mojo goin` and you are following along, about an hour has passed and you should now see something like this in your garage:

 

[ld50]

Hmm, I would guess that the doglegs are the same then. You would need # 6 and #9 . (?)

Mine would have been 8 and 9 for my application. I don't see anything for the inside of the rockers in there either.

 

[Watchman]

93 Ex sport rocker help

Hey LD50 - can you give me your opinion on these rocker parts to repair my 93 2 door Sport ? I am looking to see if there is a local high school who might do this - but I may end up doing this my self. I have never welded - do not have a welder or air tools (but may make investment). I have done mechanical work - replaced head gasket 1 1/2 years ago. The passenger side is going to need roughly same body repair.

Here is the link I posted in the main 1 gen forum (didn't even realize this was on the forum !! Great stuff !!)

Please see link with pictures (you will see picture of rocker parts from Tabco)

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431785

Thank you - I appreciate it !

John

 

[ld50]

Hi Jon, very cool that you found sport panels, thery always seemed hard to find.
I would say you need all three of the pieces you showed in the photo. Your rust is extensive, and you should have a good look to ensure the panels will get it all.
I am concerned about your body mount points too. It could be a problem if yours are rusted out, because they should be repaired as well.
If you want to tackle the welding I am sure you could find a rental welder, rather than invest in something you might not have further use for. Good luck!

 

[Kjhadfield]

Ld50- is there any cause for concern to cut the rockers (the rust) for the time being until you could weld new metal? Maybe a question I should of gotten an answer to prior but I have actually started to cut the rust out spending a couple hrs here and there. I can't just replace them at once but I also didn't want it to get worse either. basicly how much can I cut relatively safely and continue on the road. I'll post a couple pictures for reference

Also I thought the rockers had an outer/ inner and a back but I been seeing a lot that the rockers have an outer and inner (which is the back) but what is the piece in the middle?

Also your previous post about body mount points- I have a bad one on the passenger. How would you fix this, add metal to kind of box it in. I'll have to get a picture of mine tomorrow to better explain.

I have started cutting here (I do plan on cutting more out) but want to be sure how much would be OK to still drive. I also wanted to keep certain sections/bends so I have something to form to metal to- since the st doesn't have any rockers available (unless someone tells me I can cut/fab from an ex rocker to fit)

Here you can see the metal to the far right is passenger outer rocker then that middle piece and behind that I guess is technically the inner rocker. You can see the lip near where the bottom of door lip meets (maybe up to the sill) needs to go on the outer, much of the middle piece needs to go and a couple inches up the back need to go

And this is the back portion

I plan to do as much I can without the required tools (welder) or knowledge, may try to form the patch panels myself and just have someone (if I can find) to weld then I'll grind/seal the welds etc. it's not really an option to junk this truck

 

[Watchman]

Hey Jim - On those body mount points - Could you help to understand those better ? in detail - can you describe with a picture ? Thank you for your help and feedback.

John

 

[Mike65]

LD50, seeing this thread & the work you did on your 4 dr Explorer I used it as a reference to repair both rocker panels inner & outer on our 99 Sport. I got the rockers from Rock Auto & cut them to fit. As far as the metal for the inner rocker I used sheet stock the same gauge as the sheet metal which I ordered on line.
Before l/s;

After l/s;

Before r/s;

After r/s;

 

[jwrezz]

Nice work! It may have inspired me enough to do my own now!

 

[Devan]

Waking up an oldie but goodie thread here. I have been searching for official rocker panel replacements for my 01 BoostedXPLR Sport since I got my truck 11 years ago. I can find official rocker panel replacements for just about every Explorer except for the 01 to 03 2dr sport. And I always just simply disregarded the slip-on ones until today when I saw your post. I've also been trying to figure out if the 2nd gen Explorer two-door or four-door official rocker panels are a viable option for the 01 to 03 2dr sports. I've also been calling junk yards all over the country mostly down south because of the dryer weather to see if anybody has any Explorer sports or Sport Tracs in the yard with the rocker panels intact. Most of the time the explorer sport/sport tracs on the lot dont have the rocker panels intact or they don't want to cut them out the way I want them to or they don't want to ship body panels. The 01 to 03 2dr Sports came from the factory with running boards as a standard option if I'm not mistaken. If you see an 01 to 03 2-door sport on the road chances are 99.9% of the time the running boards are no longer going to be on the vehicle because they've fallen off due to rust. And if you actually do by some kind of Miracle see an 01 to 03 two-door sport that has the factory running boards still on it then it's a good bet it's been repaired or garaged it's whole life lol or the running boards could be wobbly as hell and then they fall off when you step on them and then you bust your ass LOL ( no I didn't do that ) or Worse while you're driving the front part of the running board becomes detached and digs into a pothole and sends the back end of the running board into the truck LMAO( no I didn't do that either ). The plastic side skirts that they put on the truck from the factory collects water moisture and dirt and really takes a toll on the crappily prepped metal under the plastic side skirts.
But long story short I have been searching for a way to repair my rockers for a very long time and I'm kicking myself in the ass that I didn't think of this. I would consider my welding skills to be intermediate so I know what I'm doing when it comes to a welder. I've been messing with welders for 15 years and I still don't consider myself an expert LOL. Although I do consider myself an expert mechanic or engineer and wiring is one of my specialties and I'm still kicking myself in the ass for not thinking of this years ago. The rust has eaten so much metal in the time it took for me to come up with a repair I hope there's still some metal left to work with LMAO.
My truck is supercharged with a thunderbird supercoupe Eaton M90 on the original motor which has 305k. I also recently just did dual battery and dual alternator conversion. I do have a second Transmission in it. I am currently rebuilding the original and throwing a bunch of performance parts in there ,it'll probably be one of the best 5r55e trannies around. I also replaced the rear axle with one out of a sport trac that had the same gear ratio but it is a limited slip. My original rear axle was not a limited-slip. Before I installed the rear axle I took the entire thing down to bare metal and painted it up real nice and put a performance diff cover on it. It's one of those diff covers that has bolts that tighten down on to the differential bearing caps for added strength. I also installed some leather power seats from a Sport Trac into my sport. Originally my front seats weren't leather and the seat frame on the driver's side was all broken up. The original passenger seat didn't have power. Now both my front seats are leather powered and heated. But I haven't really done anything to my Explorer in a while because I have been worried about the rocker panels I wasn't really trying to invest more money if I wasn't going to be able to repair the rocker panels. I was thinking about getting one of the 02 3rd gen 4DRs with the 4.6 SOHC. 02 because they have the cable throttle body in that year, no ETB. Tuning with electronic throttle bodies can be a pain in the butt sometimes and I don't want the computer to have control over my throttle LOL. But now that I'm repairing my rocker panels maybe I can go back to an idea that I had a long time ago with swapping in a 4.6 DOHC and a T56 I could probably make it fit or go with the 4.6 SOHC or 5.0 push rod. But most likely I'm just going to build a 4.0 SOHC and port my blower and put a smaller pulley on it.

Lol I'm really sorry I wrote so much some of it is irrelevant I know. But I would like to thank ld50 in a big way. Hopefully I can get this done. And if anybody knows where to find dog bones that'll fit the 01 to 03 2 door Sports please let me know.