rocker panel rust?

[hugger6933]

Have any encountered rocker panel rust? I have in my shop an 02 extra cab that was hit down the left side and the rocker was bent up. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the rocker was "crunchy" all along the bottom. I also know the this truck had been in AR its whole life. I also had a truck come in for an estimate that very day and it had rust thur on the rockers. When I was at the sale talking to some others that build these trucks, they said they had not run accross this. A little later , we were getting close to a 00 model truck in the sale, that had rust in both rockers and cab corners and the bedsides were thru. I had noticed a couple with the bed rust but not the rockers . I am in the middle of changing the rocker on that first 02. Just wondering.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Mine (00 Z71) spent the first five years of it's life in Indianapolis and has been here in SC since 2005 and has made at least one week long winter trip up to NY every year since... I have some surface rust on the frame but no body panel rust.

I have a 99 S10 that spent it's whole life in SC, damn thing still looks brand new underneath.

[truckdude239]

yes its pretty common

[bighaas79]

Up around this area you would be lucky to not find one that isn't all rotted out.

[JDeere550]

yeah i had an 02 ext. cab. i accidently put a screw driver through my rocker trying to figure out if i was a surface spot or rot.... apparently it was rot lol. i wasn't puttin nearly any pressure on it either.

[Slammed67]

How hard is it to replace the rockers on these trucks? I've done them on a '67, but not on anything newer.

[kylep]

on my tahoe leaves and moisture will get in you can only see when you open the door and look forward . there is two inches or so of just empty space. i Should just put something in there to make it harder for stuff to get in. but i could defintly see rust building up in the northeast there.

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by Slammed67

How hard is it to replace the rockers on these trucks? I've done them on a '67, but not on anything newer.

I've replaced rockers & cab corners on a number of 99-06 GM trucks ... very common for them to rust out here in Maine. The procedure is pretty much the same as on the older trucks.

I've found that the "slip on" type rocker panels are usually large enough to repair the most commonly rusted lower portion. I don't install them on over the old rusty panels as the name implies though. I cut out the rusty metal first. Also be sure to check the condition of the inner rocker panels ... it's not unusual for the bottom edge of those to be rusted thin where they're spot welded to the outer rocker.

I've also noticed that the factory rockers on these trucks have a vertical butt-weld seam a few inches back from the front of the door opening (hard to see unless you really look for it). The metal forward of that seam (which extends up into the hinge pillar) is quite thick, but from there back the rockers are made of thinner metal. Most of the replacement rockers are actually made of the thicker gauge metal all the way back and should help them last longer.