well if any of you have seen some of my other post, what started off by me putting fog lights into my steel stock 98 bumper, has now turned into a complete paint job, thankfully i know how to do bodywork (don't do it for a living, just do it on the side), and that's what has saved me a ton of $$$
this kinda started off last year when a deer wanted to customize the side of my truck (they had to replace the fender, door, mirror, and fix the rear quarter panel. the little bugger almost wrote it off). i asked how much to paint the truck, they told me i should come and take a look at what they found under the ground effects. there was a rust hole there. not too bad, but there. i didn't bother with it, and said i would fix it later. well that day came. i parted out a 4 door in the spring, and cut the rockers off it knowing one day i would need them. when i finished my bumpers, i was going to paint them the same color of the truck, and pull the ground effects off and do the same until i saw this
this is the good side
the bad side
two words came to mind. for sale, and controlled fire!
so, i grabbed the rockers that i had saved and started.
i don't have pictures of how to prep them. all you have to do is find the factory spot welds, drill it with a 1/8 drill bit, then a 1/4 bit (and trust me, it seems like there was a million of them). you don't need a bunch of fancy tools for this part. just a drill, drill bits, a hammer, and a chisel. the reason for the hammer and chisel is that when you are done drilling the spot welds out, you will have to separate the two metals that are joined. if you do it right, you will hardly have to use a hammer, you can just pry them apart.
once they are prepped, you now walk up to your truck with you favorite cutting tool (mine was a sexy 1/2 angle grinder with a zippy cut disk) and start cutting.
because i wanted to make sure i got all the rust out, i cut just below the pinch weld, where the floor, and inner rocker met.
after that, i took the inner from my parts truck, cut it to fit, then used sheet metal screws to hold it in place. the reason why you don't start welding is this. you want to make sure anything else you put on after it will line up. it is easier to take out a few screws, rather then grind out welds. that and, when you do go to weld, the screws will hold it nice and close to the metal that you are welding to.
because the rockers i had are from a four door, i had plenty of room for error. i purposely set the inner back by about half inch so when i went to weld the outer rocker on, the factory spot welds would be staggered, and i could make my plug welds with ease. also, because the rockers from a two door, and a four door are different, i did have to some small modification to make them fit. i had to weld the back part of the rocker to the front ( if you open your rear doors on a four door, the seam is there, on a two door, the seam is further up the rocker, no big deal).
i now took the outer rocker panel, and fit it on. it looked good, so i put a few screws in as a reference point, pulled it back off, and started welding on the inner, then put the outer back on, and started welding it. if you have a four door, you can skip this step. if you have a two door, you may need to put a small filler in to take up some of the gap left behind due to where the rear doors would have been.
when you are done welding, grab your grinder once again, and grind all your welds down.
i had to do the same for the passengers side. here's the pictures
so there you have it. a crash coarse on how to replace rocker panels. if you are looking for a idea on how long both side took to do, you can count on it taking maybe about 10 to 16 hours depending on how bad they are.
this kinda started off last year when a deer wanted to customize the side of my truck (they had to replace the fender, door, mirror, and fix the rear quarter panel. the little bugger almost wrote it off). i asked how much to paint the truck, they told me i should come and take a look at what they found under the ground effects. there was a rust hole there. not too bad, but there. i didn't bother with it, and said i would fix it later. well that day came. i parted out a 4 door in the spring, and cut the rockers off it knowing one day i would need them. when i finished my bumpers, i was going to paint them the same color of the truck, and pull the ground effects off and do the same until i saw this
this is the good side
the bad side
two words came to mind. for sale, and controlled fire!
so, i grabbed the rockers that i had saved and started.
i don't have pictures of how to prep them. all you have to do is find the factory spot welds, drill it with a 1/8 drill bit, then a 1/4 bit (and trust me, it seems like there was a million of them). you don't need a bunch of fancy tools for this part. just a drill, drill bits, a hammer, and a chisel. the reason for the hammer and chisel is that when you are done drilling the spot welds out, you will have to separate the two metals that are joined. if you do it right, you will hardly have to use a hammer, you can just pry them apart.
once they are prepped, you now walk up to your truck with you favorite cutting tool (mine was a sexy 1/2 angle grinder with a zippy cut disk) and start cutting.
because i wanted to make sure i got all the rust out, i cut just below the pinch weld, where the floor, and inner rocker met.
after that, i took the inner from my parts truck, cut it to fit, then used sheet metal screws to hold it in place. the reason why you don't start welding is this. you want to make sure anything else you put on after it will line up. it is easier to take out a few screws, rather then grind out welds. that and, when you do go to weld, the screws will hold it nice and close to the metal that you are welding to.
because the rockers i had are from a four door, i had plenty of room for error. i purposely set the inner back by about half inch so when i went to weld the outer rocker on, the factory spot welds would be staggered, and i could make my plug welds with ease. also, because the rockers from a two door, and a four door are different, i did have to some small modification to make them fit. i had to weld the back part of the rocker to the front ( if you open your rear doors on a four door, the seam is there, on a two door, the seam is further up the rocker, no big deal).
i now took the outer rocker panel, and fit it on. it looked good, so i put a few screws in as a reference point, pulled it back off, and started welding on the inner, then put the outer back on, and started welding it. if you have a four door, you can skip this step. if you have a two door, you may need to put a small filler in to take up some of the gap left behind due to where the rear doors would have been.
when you are done welding, grab your grinder once again, and grind all your welds down.
i had to do the same for the passengers side. here's the pictures
so there you have it. a crash coarse on how to replace rocker panels. if you are looking for a idea on how long both side took to do, you can count on it taking maybe about 10 to 16 hours depending on how bad they are.
