Door Mounting Plate is lost inside pillar!!

[HO455]

Another idea. I'm pretty sure that if you make a hole in the kick panel you can access the void where your plate is hiding. Then your magnet will be more maneuverable. Drilling a 15/16" (or is it 1") hole means you can use a factory hole plug to fill the hole when you are done. I did this when rust inhibiting my Burban. Here is a link to the plugs I am referring to. You may have to make 2 or 3 holes depending on how far the plate fell. The up side would be all the hole would be on the inside and no welding would be needed. Plus you could spray some rust inhibitor in once your plate is back where it belongs.

https://www.gmcpauls.com/pictures/do...sholeplugs.jpg

[64 K10 Stepside Guy]

I know, this is an old thread, but this kind of information does not age...
First thank you for the ideas how to handle this tricky situation. I chose the "open from above" option and got all back in place as follows:
1. cut hole

2.get out the plate and the holding bracket
3. get bracket back in shape - I assume it was tornoff and bent by the plate when I loosened the last screw
4. get an idea of where the bracket has to be welded back to the pillar (the plate needs to move in the area of the holes)
5. drill 2 holes to weld the bottom of the bracket back
6. fixate the bracket with inserted plate and weld the lower part of the bracket at the holes
7. fixate the upper part of the bracket and always check for free movement of the plate and screws (for that it is important to properly bend the bracket back in shape - see step 3 - not to squeeze the plate between bracket and pillar
8. weld upper part - I was lucky that the upper end of the bracket was almost exactly where I cut the pillar, so I did not have to drill another hole)
9. put back the cap on the a pillar and weld it on

It took about 1 hour, much less trouble than I expected, thanks to the hint to open the a pillar from above.

Please turn your monitor 180 degrees, the pictures are upside down....