Used door skins?

[jellybean]

Here is my situation. The doors on my highboy need help. The shell is solid, but the lower 10 inches of the outer skin are full of rust. I have another set of doors, however the lower inside part of the shell is rotten. I am wondering which of the following is the best option. I do have a welder and know how to use it.

1) Use the original doors (something I would like to do) and carefully remove the skin from the parts door and replace the entire skin on the original door.

2) Use the parts doors and replace the bottom of the inside shell with a piece of the original door.

3) Use the original doors and cut the skin, 10 inches of the bottom of the parts door, and graft it on the original door.

I am leaning towards option #1, as this would have the factory weld seam. Has anyone ever removed a door skin without ruining it? Can it be done?

[fordman]

i havent done it. but i wouldnt see why it couldnt be done one way or another.i would start cutting the parts door past the seam on the inside of the door leaving the skin alone and the seam still attached to the skin. once it was removed from the parts door you could grind down the cut off part down to acceptable weldind or mounting surface. then i would cut the skin off leaving extra metalto attach the new skin to. say cut out the center of the skin and leave the seam on the door and that could be ground down to something acceptable.

i would imagine that it would take considerable work to do this. the easiest option would be to repair the old skin with a patch panel from the parts door. you could weld it on and then use some putty to smoth out any seams. thats probably the way i would do it.

puting a new skin on would require lots of line up details to get it done right. patching can leave more room for error.

[4x4x4crewcab]

I had a similar situation when tackling the repair on my rear doors. I used a set of good clean front doors and cut the bottoms off. Then took a small grinder and ground the factory spot welds holding the skin on. This worked great and the skin will come off but some of the folded over tabs with the now removed spot welds may be a little rough and or a bit smaller than original.
I do suggest removing the door skin if possible as there will in most cases be some rust in the seam. The doors I used I thought were excellent but after looking inside of them they did need a bit of attention.
I will try to attach a photo of the panels I ended up using.

[frankc67]

I have to do this myself. Are the patch panels from DC or LMC any good ?

[jellybean]

Thank you. The picture will help. How hard was it to weld the inner panel and line it all up to the door frame? Is the seam noticable? Do you think it is possible for me to remove the whole skin without damage?

[4x4x4crewcab]

How hard was it to weld the inner panel and line it all up to the door frame? Is the seam noticable? Do you think it is possible for me to remove the whole skin without damage?

I left the actual welding to a professional (additional photos attached)
As for the seam he managed to line it up perfectly but not without spending a lot of time. One panel slightly overlaps the other in many places but with the magical work of fiberglass resin and body filler the final product was worth every penny. I would and did just replace the front doors with great used ones but the rears on my truck were next to impossible to find in great or decent condition. As for the outer seam the body supply places like Eastwood co. etc.. sell a crimping plires which would make the seam fit better and be less noticable.
Yes the complete skin should remove the same way as I had split the lower portion of my panels. Just be carful and take your time. A quicker way to remove the door skin would be to grind thru the edge of the skin all the way around the door . This I would do on the door you will be using and the old skin you would be trashing. Then after removal of skin you could clean up the left overs on the edge with chisel,gringer etc..
Good Luck, I couldn't have made this turn out like it did without help. I'm no body man but I do hope my past experiences and or photos help you in some way.

[johnboy72]

I think I may have some doors here...My 72 has perfect door skins but someone did some rigging to the window regulators and inside door handles. I picked up a 69 Ranger and I believe the door skins are good on that one too. Let me check this weekend and if they are in good shape and you want them, let me know....(Not looking to make money here...the truck will be scrapped)