Rockers

[Highway Maintainer]

My son and I are about to begin replacing the rusted cab portions of our 67 F-100 SWB. Most of it is pretty straight forward cut out the old and weld in the new. We have a question about replacement rocker panels and front lower pillars. The factory door pillar has a location to mount bolt the front fender underneath of it. I can't figure out if this is actually the rocker panel and the door post fitting over top. The only rustout area on either rockers is at front of each rocker and bottom of each pillar. When I buy either the rocker and lower door replacement can I count on this tab being on either one? Or will we have to fabricate it? I hope I have made this understandable.

HM

[fordman]

so its rusted all the way up to the fender bolt?

[FORDification]

I can't say for sure, since I've never had to replace rockers, but I seriously doubt the aftermarket replacements are going to have that tab for the lower fender mount. However, since you'd be cutting the old rocker out, you could then simply drill through the spotwelds holding that tab onto the old rocker, and then weld it back onto the replacement.

[fordman]

oops. i thought you were talking abut the upper fender bolt. or the mid way fender bolt i should say. if the new part doesnt come with it. and your old one is trashed. you could just make a new piece to put on it. basically it is just a u shaped piece of metal with a hole in it for the j nut to fit over.

[Highway Maintainer]

Thanks for the replies,

The rockers are not atually all that bad. The only place it is rusted through is in the area where it meets the bottom of the front pillar. The mounting tab on the passenger side is gone. The rest of the rocker from there back to the rear pillar is solid. We ordered new rockers but I imagine we will only be using enough to repair the rusted section at front. Welding in a new tab should not be difficult.

HM

[layedout72]

take pictures!!! I will be replacing mine, along with the floor.

[The_Eman]

yea pleae take pics. I don't even know what a rocker panel is

[Nick]

hi, im highway maintainers son. like he siad, the rockers them selves are not that bad for the most part, its just the front where the pillars are located. we have new door pillers,cab corners, and floor pans coming in this week. I may just end up making my own rockers in the end though. here are some pics

[fordman]

yea pleae take pics. I don't even know what a rocker panel is

you can see part of the rocker panel in his pic there . its the part under the door of the cab. the aluminum carpet bar and rubberholder sit just aboove the rocker. and partly on top of it.

[The_Eman]

thanks. I'm now one pc of information closer to knowing everything there is to know about bumps.

[Highway Maintainer]

Okay we hit a snag in our project. We have all of the sheet metal to replace and repair all of the rust in the above pictures except the rusted out and totally gone door hinge pillar bottoms. The rocker panels are acutally sound except where they meet the the front door pillar bottoms. Having checked with several replacement parts suppliers, I am beginning to believe they are not available. Mac's Antique Auto parts discontinued the ones that they offered. Everyone else's products are advertised to fit the 67 through 79. We found out the hard way that they don't The dent side pillar bottoms are different and cannot be modified to work. It will probably be easier to fabricate new ones from sheet metal although the compound curves will be tough.
Anyone out there have a parts truck with good pillar bottoms that they would be willing to cut out and sell. Back east here in MD most all of the dentside trucks we have looked at have the same rusted out pillars.

HM

[fordman]

i have a 72 i had offer up in your sons project post. is that the one you need from a 72? yeah it should fit. i can get pics tomorrow and post them tomoorw night if you want.