Rocker Panel Replacement - No Welding, No Bondo

Like many people, I had to do this project in my driveway with some basic tools. I have about $300 in the whole project, not including the tools. I bought full panels at $125 each on amazon. I have another $50 in paint, primer, rustproofing, undercoating (all aerosol spray cans). You can use something like duplicolor to match your paint color, but I chose to use a 2K epoxy aero primer with black chassis paint. It actually looks pretty good with the black plastic trim and its hard as nails.

Angle Grinder w/Cutting Wheel
Cordless Drill w/Wire Brush Attachments
Demo Bar, Chisel
Clamps, Vice Grips
Rivet Tool and Rivets
Rust Encapsulater
Rustproofing or Undercoating
Wet/Dry Sandpaper and Scuff Pads
Paint and Primer


Before

After

Remove The Doors

Use cutting wheel to remove most of the panels. Wire brush all loose rust. Wash with degreaser, let dry, wipe down with prep all or paint prep degreaser. Note: I clamped the new panel in place and marked it so I didn't cut too much out.

I used a rubberized rust encapsulater from Eastwood on everything. I taped it off and sprayed right up to the marks I made. Be careful not to go too thick on the remaining out rocker. The new panel will go on top of this. You could use an encapsulater and then an undercoating, or POR15 or whatever you like. While I had everything apart, I also used rustproofing inside the doors, quarter panels, etc.

The panels came with an EDP coating which I left on, wet sanded, scuffed, 2 coats of epoxy primer, 2 coats of black satin chassis paint. The 2-part epoxy primer is a bit pricey at $15-$20 a can. I only needed 1 can. If you don't use an epoxy primer, you might need to use an etching primer on any bare metal (the panels usually have some scratches through the EDP). Just follow the directions for whatever system you choose.

Clamp panel in place and rivet under the weather stripping and plastic kick plates. I was able to rivet the underside to the existing inner rockers. If they're in bad shape, you could replace them or add a little sheet metal where needed.

That's it. Put everything back together and its finished. Oh, I was able to reuse the old weather strip on the rocker. I lined it up, marked the holes, and used some stainless screws to re-attach it.

I've found a lot of great information on this site, so I thought I'd share this project. Hope this helps somebody!

 

[mrnextel]

I'm kind of fortunate having access to a friend's body shop and some experience. Bonding adhesive would be great with a few spot welds. The body shop supply is awesome for advice on adhesives, there are ALOT of various formulas than any sane individual would ever dream, all the way up to structural bonding agents. Make sure there is good water drainage (drain slots at the pinch weld on these) as they often clog. I also recommend Eastwood internal frame coating, it's an awesome product, 1 can per rocker is my policy.

PS: check your lower restraint bolts/studs for the second row seatbelts, if they are really rusty you may have a more serious safety issue. I do see these get into structural dogleg repairs. But a job done right is worth it, preserve these vehicles, you will NEVER see anything resembling them in build quality ever again.

 

[Mbrooks420]

But a job done right is worth it, preserve these vehicles, you will NEVER see anything resembling them in build quality ever again.

There are surely vehicles that match the build quality of a second gen Explorer.

 

[mrnextel]

There are surely vehicles that match the build quality of a second gen Explorer.

Like what? Maybe a Toyota sequoia? Which is a dying breed.... As were really talking 3rd and 4th gen explorers.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I wouldn’t use the term build quality with anything that came equipped with the 4.0 SOHC.

I’m sure the highlander, land cruiser, and Honda Pilot match the Explorer in build quality. I’m sure many older vehicles do as well.

 

[mrnextel]

That's why they built the 4.6. The
Land cruiser is the only one that's close as it actually has a body on frame design. Even today's pickups are a joke. And GM lineup is a joke, hence my lemon law escalade with 14k miles.

 

[Mbrooks420]

No one mentioned any garbage GM products. There was also not a mention of a body on frame being a requirement for superior “unrivaled build quality”.

The Land Cruiser is absolutely an equal, or better(not just coming close by any means) than a third gen Explorer. Factory lockers available, superior off road product support, stout reliability. The same with is true of older Troopers.

The 4.6 was in maybe 25% of the Explorers so the majority of them have several crap design flaws ignored by Ford in attempt to save $$$ on engineering and production updates.

 

[mrnextel]

my next one is a sequoia

 

[Devan]

I wouldn’t use the term build quality with anything that came equipped with the 4.0 SOHC.

I’m sure the highlander, land cruiser, and Honda Pilot match the Explorer in build quality. I’m sure many older vehicles do as well.

The 4.0 SOHC is a quality motor, that is why you still see plenty of 2nd 3rd and 4th gen explorers on the road most of them 4.0 equipped not to mention rangers and sport tracs(granted you take extra care of the motor). Ive got 295,000 on my original motor, never had to open the motor, haven't even replaced any of the timing drive yet. Ive only had to replace most of my engine gaskets with the exception of head gaskets and block cradle gasket. I supercharged it around 200,000 and its still runnin strong and I am currently working on building a 4.0 to 4.3 or 4.4 stroked and m112 blown V6 and also building a performance 5R55E. Id like to see somebody with a highlander or land cruiser say the same. I wont include Honda pilot in that because I know that thing wont make it that far. Although I will say based on the quick bit of research I just did the land cruiser does seem to have a beefier chassis frame. but the highlander and land cruiser and pilot are unfubugly. Explorers look so much better. Plus if you wanna talk vehicles outside the ones mentioned Ford alone definatly takes the cake in build quality compared to Toyota and Honda.

But as far as this rocker panel build goes he did do a decent job even though its not structurally sound but its prolly not worse then some of the rusted to hell rocker panels ive seen on our explorers. He still does have the option to do some spot welds. He could go to harbor freight and grab their cheap spot welder and do his spot welds. If it were me I would definatly adhere it to the forward section of the front door jamb and the rear section of the rear door jamb and the B-pillar and most likely even the bottom of the door jambs and then spot weld to the underside pinch weld and spot weld under the sill plates. I really really wish I could find rocker panel replacements like this for my 2001 explorer sport 2dr. All I can find are the stupid slip on knockoffs. If anybody knows where I can get the official rocker panel replacements I would greatly appreciate it. Or even if somebody down south is willing to go to a junkyard and cut out rockers for me from an 01 to 03 sport Id pay decent money. I'm looking to have the full rockers cut at the floorpan up to the bottom of the door jambs. Ill post a picture illustrating kind of what I'm looking for.

Rocker Panel Cutout

• Devan
• February 9, 2018

 

[Mbrooks420]

Sometimes you get lucky with a SOHC, is all. Doesn’t make it a quality engineered motor. There’s been long term engineering failures with just about every generation of the Explorer.

Pretty sure the same can’t be said of any of the models I mentioned. I’m sure there are plenty of land cruisers more modified than your explorer, as well as more past the 300k mark. They are also much heavier duty, capable, and would make it much further off road entirely stock.

 

[Devan]

IMO luck has nothing to do with it. If were talking modified vehicles then you can make any vehicle better then the other. However the newer land cruisers look like their mostly geared towards on road use not so much off road. But the older land cruisers are cool. And the 4.0 SOHC is definatly a quality product. Most of the failures in the 4.0 SOHC result from already existing problems in the motor that a person doesn't know of or doesn't care to take care of. If people were simply able to monitor oil pressures in the bottom end and in the cylinder heads and stop the motor once oil pressures aren't right then that would prevent a lot of the 4.0 failures. But like I said at least 80% of 4.0 failures result from a non maintained motor or a pre existing problem that's not being taken care of or somebody that just doesn't care or doesn't know.

And if you really wanna talk about long term engineering problems just take a look at Toyotas gas pedal recall that affected over 18 different models of Toyota (2009–11 Toyota vehicle recalls - Wikipedia) Now I call that a Big Time Long Term Engineering problem, none of the explorers, rangers or sport tracs have anything that comes even remotely close to that kind of engineering failure aside from maybe air bag inflator recalls on the older explorers, rangers and sport tracs and that recall really depends on what region of the US you live in because of climate. And perhaps the caliper bracket recall on the saleen XP8s. O and maybe perhaps the SCDS (Speed Control Deactivation Switch) recall but you gotta be an idiot to actually have your vehicle burn up because of that. O and I forgot to mention the Firestone Tire situation where ford and firestone basically accused each other but it really boils to being firestones fault IMO. But as for Toyota's gas pedal recall hundreds maybe thousands of cars were totaled because of the most basic idiotic engineering failure not to mention many many people injured sometimes fatally and tons of property damage. I'm also now reading about an ABS module software issue recall for Toyota as well which affected 3 Toyota models but did result in a decent amount of injuries. So in conclusion if you wanna talk about long term engineering failures that have been bad enough to actually harm people or property I think Toyota takes the cake on that one and that includes the highlander.

Now I'm not talking modern day Fords because in my opinion they are ****, Ive worked at a Ford dealership as a tech now for 3+ yrs and ive never seen so many wiring problems or trans problems with brand new off the car carrier vehicles like in the focus and fiesta with clutch shudder problems, the Ford SYNC system is total crap especially for ppl with iphones and trust me I know that for fact because I'm the main SYNC guy and wiring guy in the shop. their are so many recalls and problems for new fords that I could just go on because I know just about all of them lol. And theyre putting wayy too many modules in these new vehicles. My truck has like 3 maybe 4 programmable modules and like 6 or 7 modules total, thas plenty and one of the main reasons why 1st to 4th gen explorers are much more reliable. The only Toyotas I would ever buy would be the supra of course or a celica all-trac (had one once) or Top Gears Toyboata Hi-Lux Diesel(and I hate pickups) that they tried to destroy numerous times but couldn't, it started every time.

I don't see a Supercharged Land cruiser makin it to 300k without doing timing drive work or some other reason to open the motor or trans or some other drivetrain work.

 

[Devan]

I just read most of that Toyota gas pedal recall on wiki and saw this and thought it was pretty funny: The Camry's braking distances with a purposely stuck accelerator were also shorter than that of the Ford Taurus' regular stopping distance. LMFAO

 

[Mbrooks420]

I think a supercharged land cruiser motor would be just as likely, if not more likely to get to high mileage markers than a SOHC. The SOHC failures isn’t always about maintenance.

 

[Devan]

Ok can you tell me what you think some common failures are on a 4.0 SOHC that's runnin tip top?

And a supercharged land cruiser 4.7 will not make it 300,000 miles with out doing timing belts and since its a belt and not a chain its more likely to break and since that motor is an interference motor I would say that motor is more prone to grenade then a 4.0 V6 because it has belts and not chains especially if the 4.7 did make it to 300,000 miles without a timing belt change because even if it did miraculously make it to 300,000 without a timing belt change, chances are its not going to last much longer and if the motor was supercharged and you put full load on that supercharged 4.7 motor with 300,000 mile old timing belts they would surely snap. The 4.0 has chains and chain guides that are constantly lubricated and can last a long time when properly maintained. The 4.7 timing belt has pretty much a set lifespan, its just gets worse and worse, it doesn't maintain itself. Not only that but that 4.7 V8 only makes a measily 228 horse at 4,800 rpm but it does have decent torque at 302 lb ft at 3,400 rpm. The 4.0 makes about 205 horse and 250 torque so the V6 is right there with that 4.7 V8 as far as power. My current setup is making 335 horse and 300 lb ft. and wait till I finish building my 4.3-4.4 stroked and blown motor with a bigger blower then I have now.

From 01 to 03 Ford made 1,222,886 explorers for the us and Toyota made 21,014 land cruisers for the US. Yes I know their are a lot of trims of the Explorer but obviously the 4.0 V6 is far more popular then the 4.7 V8 land cruiser and it has nothing to do with the fact that it may have been a cheaper vehicle.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Timing guides and tensioner are the problems. Who said it wouldn’t need belt changes? Those are maintenance items, EXPECTED to wear and be replaced. How often does your trusty Ford book say to replace the tenisoners? The SOHC motor has timing component failure at a much higher rate than the average timing chain motor, of any manufacturer.

I’m done hijacking this thread. If you would like, start a new thread on it, and we can argue until you are blue in the face. I’m sure you will see you are in the vast minority who thinks the SOHC isn’t a piece of trash.

 

[dcstang67]

Where did you get the replacement rocker panel from? I have searched everywhere and i cant find anyone who sells them for my 2006

 

[BBQgreg]

Where did you get the replacement rocker panel from? I have searched everywhere and i cant find anyone who sells them for my 2006

I assume you are looking for the full rocker and not the slip on? Mine were Keystone "OE Style" and they matched up perfect. I had better luck using "02-05" in my search. I think your body style might be 06-10. So maybe try "2006-2010" or "2006-10" or "06-10". I used rock auto to find the part number, then found them much cheaper on ebay and amazon. You might also ask your local repair shop where to look. I used to own a bar and the guys would come in after work... a shot and a beer go a long way! Haha!

 

[Devan]

I'm looking for rockers for the 01 to 03 two-door sport. Non slip on of course, official rocker panel replacements. I've looked high and low and I can't find them anywhere. But what I'm thinking about doing is getting rockers from an 01 to 05 Explorer Sport Trac 4 door and cutting them in half and just using the forward section of the rocker panel replacement. Because the sport trac and the sport are basically twins from the back of the front doors forward. But I'm not 100% sure this is a viable option. I've been looking for somebody to confirm this for me. Then I would get a 01 to 03 sport dog legs or dog bones whatever they call them and then weld it all in place. If somebody can confirm that the front door half of the replacement rocker panels for the sport trac can be utilized for the 2-door sport please let me know.

 

[Mike65]

I used these. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3496413&cc=1354542&jsn=12

 

[RickOTR]

I just noticed some rust under the rocker panel about three inches in length. I have the gray trim piece that runs the length of the door and I can't fasten the last body clip because the hole is rusted out. However, the dog leg and the rest of the panel is rock solid. Is there a way to patch this?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Weld in a new piece of steel.

Use fiberglass and resin.

Glue in a piece of steel.

Rivet a piece in.