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That rocker panel repair that ate my whole Saturday
Found hidden rust inside the inner rocker on a '15 F-150, ended up cutting and fabbing way more than I planned - took 11 hours for what I figured would be a 3 hour job. Anyone else get blindsided by rot that just keeps going?
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hannahm3921d ago
And THAT is EXACTLY how it went for me too! I thought I was just patching a small spot on the passenger side, then I tapped the metal with my screwdriver and it just crumbled away like wet cardboard. Ended up chasing that rot all the way back to the cab mount bracket, had to cut out a good 14 inches of the inner rocker plus part of the pinch weld area. The worst part was finding a whole nest of leaves and mud jammed in there from some critter years ago, it was like a compost bin in my rocker panel. My Saturday turned into Sunday night real quick, and I still had to order more weld-through primer the next week.
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christopherwilson21d ago
@elliotm70 hit the nail on the head, those drain holes are always the first thing to plug up.
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elliotm7021d ago
The inner rocker on my buddy's '12 Silverado was the same way. We found about 18 inches of rot that went all the way up into the floor pan support bracket. Ended up having to cut out a section of the floor too just to get a solid spot to weld to. That 3 hour job turned into a full weekend and a half, swear the truck had been holding moisture in there for years. Your mileage may vary on the F-150 but those drain holes clog up fast, leaves and dirt just pack in there and hold water against the metal.
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