2nd Gen Explorer Rocker Panels considered Structural?

[Live Free or Die]

Hey everybody,
<rant>
The Explorer Forum was nice enough to send me a "Happy Birthday" email. Although that message was automated, I appreciate it. It was a much better gift than I received from the "Live Free or Die" "State of New Hampshire".

For my birthday, I received a $150 invoice for vehicle registration, and I had to go get my truck inspected, yay! (I don't know why, but NH makes everything expire on your birthday: Drivers License, Vehicle Registration, Inspection Sticker, CCW Permit, etc.) I guess it's the gubmint's way of saying "Happy Birthday".

So, yesterday, I went over everything on my truck, check the suspension, lights, horn, etc. make sure there are no surprises when I went to go get my inspection sticker and Took my tools out of my truck so theres nothing to steal.

Side note to my rant: If you live in NH, ask your state rep's to support HB540, to make inspections every 2 years, instead of every year.
</rant>


Well... Surprise! My Explorer failed inspection!

When I bought this truck, It came with running boards. Which I found annoying and took off, when I took them off, there was a ton of rust on the rocker panels where they were bolted on. They are saying that the rocker panels lost structural integrity because of the rust, and that if they just weld some sheet metal over it, it will magically pass inspection.

Sounds all sounds like major league bullshit to me:

First of all, the Explorer is a Body-On-Frame truck. The strength of the vehicle comes from it's well built chassis. Not the sheet metal body panels.

If the rocker panels had any structural significance, don't you think Ford would have made them out of something thicker than <1/8" sheet metal?

Third: Last year, I got my truck inspected at the same place, just after I took the running boards off my truck, the same amount of rust was there last time.

So, am I wrong to believe that the rocker panels have very little structural significance to worry about?

 

[Live Free or Die]

Nobody has an opinion on this? Whether or not Rocker Panels are considered "structural"?

 

[gmanpaint]

Maybe they are worried about people stepping on that area getting in/out and if it collapse's under their weight, they might harm themselves when flesh meets rusted metal.

 

[Live Free or Die]

Maybe they are worried about people stepping on that area getting in/out and if it collapse's under their weight, they might harm themselves when flesh meets rusted metal.

Yeah, but this is only rusted where the running boards were bolted, on the inside. Theres nothing visible from the outside of the truck, so it's not like somebody is gonna cut their leg.

 

[Live Free or Die]

That rust was there less than a year ago last time I got it inspected at the same place. This time, the guy took over 45 minutes to inspect it, jacked the truck up above his head on the lift, and was looking in every nook and cranny he could with a maglite, poking at stuff. This guy was just LOOKING for something to fail me on. When I talked to the manager pointing out "hey, it's a body-on-frame truck, rocker panels arn't structural" he said "take it up with the state".

 

[gmanpaint]

So just apply rust convertor liquid on all of it. It will turn the rust to black primer. Then say..."What Rust?"

Maybe they got busted by the state for passing vehicles that shouldn't have, and had a nice fat fine to pay off, and are more crucial with the inspections now.

Take it somewhere else for inspections next time.

 

[Live Free or Die]

So just apply rust convertor liquid on all of it. It will turn the rust to black primer. Then say..."What Rust?"

Maybe they got busted by the state for passing vehicles that shouldn't have, and had a nice fat fine to pay off, and are more crucial with the inspections now.

Take it somewhere else for inspections next time.

I could fix it, and bring it back there, and then they would approve it free. (I guess thats the way it works, I've never had a vehicle fail inspection before)

I don't have time to do this right now, I won't have time to fix this (the right way) until the summer, or maybe around Christmas.

Yeah, I could slap some bondo over it, but I DO want to fix it correctly, especially now that this jerk poked at it with a maglite to make the problem worst, and so now all the road salt is getting in it because it just snowed a ton here.

 

[98 5oh XLT]

use some POR 15 call it a day.

 

[Live Free or Die]

use some POR 15 call it a day.

Yeah, I'm actually gonna cut out all the rusty parts and weld it all back up, then cover it with something like POR 15... I've actually been wanting to buy a huge quantity of it, and do the entire undercarriage of both my explorer and ranger.