Rear Rocker Rust Repair

[Mark5767]

Read a few accounts of rocker replacement on this model, but also would appreciate some feedback on what to do in this specific case. I've owned this vehicle since late 2006 (2d owner) and it's has been and is a great car so I would like to keep it going for another 50k miles or 4-5 years let's say. Currently has 207k miles and everything seems to work fine on it and overall seems to be in pretty good/great shape considering its age and miles.

My kids are the main drivers of this car these days, but I also find it useful for hauling things with great cargo capacity and a V8 so not in a hurry to replace it. Even though the car is worth maybe $5k or so I would be willing to spend up to $3k to fix the rusty rockers. It's mainly the rear rockers, but there probably unseen rust farther forward once the running boards are removed etc.

So the question for the forum is should I just leave the rust to run its course at this point or have it repaired? This is a Minnesota car so winters are super harsh, I am actually very surprised there is not more rust showing, the underside looks pretty clean and the floors are rock solid. If repairing the rust now extends the life of the car another 4 years or so I think that's worth it to me. I would not do the repair myself, I would have a local body shop do it.

Thanks for reading!

Mark

 

[Trainmaster]

Replacing both rocker panels would probably cost you $1800 if you found someone to work with you. Doing it or not depends on your financial situation, your future plans for the truck and your maintenance philosophy. You also have to carefully assess other vehicle rust and see how far advanced it may be.

Although the truck looks great, with your mileage, I probably wouldn't do the repair. It's 19 years old. If it is a 4.0 V-6 I definitely would not do the repair. Just my thoughts.