Replacing rockers with rectangle tubing on my Silverado?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Anyone done this? My truck had some rust in the rear extended cab rocker area on the driver's side when I bought it. Well, now it is rusting through the rocker right under the door too. The passenger side rocker is smashed up too.

Rather than spend the money buying new body panels for a $4500 truck with 253k miles on it, I am thinking of cutting out the entire rocker and welding in a 2x4 or 6 piece of rectangle tubing, kind of like a rock slider but welded into the body. I wouldn't be tying it in to the frame because it is not a wheeling rig, just my daily driver/tow rig/business truck.

Would be cheap and easy and then I would spray the lower body in bedliner. The only issue I can for see is the front fenders since they bolt to the body below the rocker line. I'm sure I can come up with something.

Think this is a good cheap idea? I really want to knock out this rust, it makes my truck look terrible.
 
I did it with 2x4 on my Zj
 
If you can make em look clean enough, I say do it! Otherwise you can buy replacement rockers and weld them in, sand em smoothish, and hit em with some bedliner.
 
Blaze said:
I just don't want to pay for replacement rockers. :lol:

I blame you.

:lol: Not really.
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Why didn't you speak up, they were covered under warranty!!!! HAHAHAHA

I'd take blame, but they were like that when I bought it, and didn't get any worse while I had it.
 
Depending on whT year and style trucks we are talking about you are likely to spend as much on 2x4 tubing as you do on sheet metal. Last time I bought rockers for an 80s gm through cj Whitney I think they were 40 a side?...
 
jeepinmatt said:
I'd take blame, but they were like that when I bought it, and didn't get any worse while I had it.
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I know, I knew it was there when I bought it from you. I mean, even if it wasn't there I would have just assumed it was with how bad these things rust in those spots. :lol:
 
The gray one in my avatar pic to the left is rusted out in the rockers/cab corners too. Not sure what I want to do yet. I know I want to fix it, but not sure if I'm going to spray the bottom with something different or not. I was thinking replacement sheetmetal and spray some bedliner to get the smoothest finish. As good as this truck looks and being that it's the only one I have that I care about the body on, I figured I better keep it looking sharp.
 
Do it, but don't paint with bedliner. That looks like :poop:. Bedliner belongs in the bed, not on the exterior body.
 
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