Rocker Panels

[Johnc10]

Hey all, I'm the new kid othe block lol let me introduce my self first, My names Austin and I'm 17 years young. I own former what shoulda been 1985 Chevy c10. I've been searching on this forum for the last month, I've spent the last week overlooking all the post here and may I say, what a great place this is. Now onto my first thread, I'm in need of replacing the rocker panels on my truck. I need to what kind of weld to do, Im not very familiar with welding at all. I'm having a buddy come down and do the welding for me. Hes a great welder and i need to know what kinda welder to go with. Any help is appreciated, thanks and God Bless
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[riz]

I purchased a Miller 140 last year and I love it! The auto set feature really helps the beginner as well as making it easy on the novice and the pro. It has done everything I need it to do. Buy Miller and you won't regret it.

Lets see some pics when you get a chance and welcome to the forum.

RIZ

[hartbraker]

Spot welding with a mig welder is typically the most efficient way to keep heat low enough to no warp the metal so that minimal puddy is required. The key is to ONLY SPOT weld. So basically you just want a solid tac in one spot, then move to another to help disipate the heat... all the while keeping the edges aligned so that there is minimal griding and puddy work. The better you do of taking your time and not rushing the welds and lining up all your edges and pre fitting the corner, the better it will turn out and you'll have to do SO MUCH LESS body work in the end.

Good luck, post pictures of how it turns out. I'll stay tuned!

[xrcr]

Welcome to the site.
Ditto on the no rushing. You need to spot weld them to death. It's easy to figure just a few more and then it warps. I have a Hobart 210 and I love it. It is way more welder than you need if only doing sheet metal.
Good Luck

[donut]

If your buddy is doing the welding, ask him what HE recommends or likes.
Browse through the "tools" section also, recommendations by the handful, seems like this topic comes up every month or so.

Take your time, have fun, and welcome.

[Johnc10]

Thanks everyone and I will post before an after pics as soon as its done. The truck is by far not a show truck, but it's become a dependable daily driver almost. Hopefully next year ( my senior year) I will be going to a tech school to learn how to weld.
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[Johnc10]

Oh nd I need help on the dual tanks. Since I've replaced the bed on this one, it has a single fuel thingy on it lol on the left side. I don't have any money to buy a right bed side with the fuel door, I was thinking could I just run a hose connecting both tanks with a splitter of some sorts? I know when I go to fill up that it will fill both tanks, but will it be real slow? I need help on this one. All help is really appreciated
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[donut]

Rather than go that route, how about just using a single tank?

Drove a 3500HD years ago with the connected dual tanks (diesel), still had to fill both tanks separately.

[Johnc10]

Originally Posted by donut

Rather than go that route, how about just using a single tank?

Drove a 3500HD years ago with the connected dual tanks (diesel), still had to fill both tanks separately.

This truck chugs the gas at idle, I need both tanks and was looking for a cheap fix. I'll try and figure something out when I get the bed back off
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[Johnc10]

So is Mig welding very hard to learn? I need to learn this anyways figure why not now? Since I've done everything else on the truck lol
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[hartbraker]

mig isn't bad to learn... but I wouldn't want to take a rookie and start him/her out on sheet metal. Different metals warp different and it's most certainly an art to learn how to control that as best as possible and prevent it when possible. You can find quite a bit online about welder settings on different guages/types of metal. That's what's going to make your weld strongest. Having a steady hand and acquiring the correct motion of the hand is what's going to make the weld look pretty. I'd say you do A LOT of reading before trying to tackle a sheet metal job straight out of the gate. Otherwise you'll be doing A LOT of grinding!!! And that's no fun. Good luck