The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop door rust

Hi, I started taking the doors apart today and the passenger door is good but the drivers door is rusted thru 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom on the inside is there a patch for this repair this area has a offset so it would be hard for Me to repair , Thanks , Pete

If this is a 52, yes they make a panel for this. They are called inner door bottoms. I can't imagine the outer skin not being affected too. They make nice lower skins for this purpose too.

it's not that hard Pete, I used a MIG welder, and they came out good, can't notice the patch at all. got mine from Jim Carter

Pete,
Different year trucks but I kept a photo journal that may help you decide what avenue is best for you. Pics starts here. And a few more here. Hope this helps. Have fun and good luck
Dan

Pete...I replaced the lower inner door skins on my 53 also. With that area, you have to be very careful of warping from the heat of the mig. I used 1" angle iron on the inside of the door to brace the inside of the door before I welded on the new patch. It really helped. My webshots shows the bracing I did if it'll help ya.

~Ron

Thanks , good pics ordered the patch and will give it a shot soon ,New to this body work , Pete

I used the angle irons to provide a reference to where the door bottom should be. Once you cut away the inside door bottom, the ouside skin is like a flap of paper. I tacked the angle iron from the top of the door and mid way down. I located the ends at the exact location of the bottom. Although there are contours in the door, I believe the top, bottom of the window opening and the bottom all line up in the vertical.

Thanks, where the outside folds over the inside around the edges am I seeing the repair right that You grind off the folded lip ,then weld or tack the two pieces back together , Pete

Well I did the outside skin too. In my case, the skin is bent over the inside structure using a hammer and dolly. I suppose that it could be welded as you say. I would imagine that the original method was probably the fastest and cheapest for the factory.

Tommorow is the day My frist shot at doing body work ,inside door skin on My 52 3100 Anyone out there just do a inside skin do you think I should try and and pull the folded metal over and then fold it back or remove it and spot weld the two together? Pete

Well, all done it took almost 5 hours , made My own tool to open the fold from a old pair of channel locks and My bench grinder did a good job of getting it open than cut rusted section out of bottom than fitted patch to door cut that than the mig weilder spot it in , butt welded of course , and scratch My frist body work project DONE!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the help, Pete