Reproduction rockers,is there a difference

[PAPA KENT]

I have been looking at reproduction rockers for my 62 and i am finding a notable difference in prices from lmc,brothers and ecklers. Does anybody know if one company stamps them all or is there a difference in fit and finish?

[rideblue00]

From the little experiance i have, i think one company stamps them. I have no proof other than i have bought 4 aftermarket sets and they are all the same. I also bought GM ones with the stickers still attached and i even had to modify those as well. I bought an original floorpan from Arizona with the rockers still on them. I took them off and they fit the best obviously. Unfortunately i cant use them because they are too rusty. The problem i had with the aftermarket ones was they didnt fit the form very well where they curve up to be welded to the pillars. The form wasnt all that good. I modified mine to fit. If you dont have practice in sheetmetal work, it will be tough. Im not very good, but i made them work.

[neto]

Try www.bowtiebits.com. I got a pillar from them that was real good. Tri plus is the rockers I used and they were pretty good. I got them when I bought a truck that was being built. They seem like they were old so who knows if it was thicker gauge metal.

[derail]

I just replaced a bunch of different panels and they all seem to come from the same people. The stuff I bought at Goodmark had Triplus stickers on it and the Key Parts stuff had a Triplus number also.

[rbar]

I have bought both aftermarket and NOS. The NOS installed great. I have not installed the aftermarket on my other truck, but they don't look as good. I bought fenders from Tuckers that were terrible and they said they were Triplus.

[PAPA KENT]

hey thanks a lot! so they really hav'nt changed much over the years then.i had a feeling that one company probably stamped them all but i was'nt sure,that will take out alot of questions about what brand to buy.thanks!

[PAPA KENT]

thanks neto.i will look them up.thanks!

[skoffice]

When I was doing mine, I found that if you can get ones that are bare steel they are supposedly made here in the states. I got mine at seperate times from the same dealer and one was bare metal and one had the black paint. The bare metal one was MUCH easier to work with. I called back and asked if they could exchange the black for the other bare metal one but they had no leads, and couldn't help me with getting it. Good luck!

[PAPA KENT]

hi derail,thanks for the pictures,well that sounds about right.i purchased a right fender from ecklers and it shipped out from georgia.it had 2 dents on the top when it arrived and the box was damage free so they sent a call tag the next day and as soon as fed-ex picked it up i had a tracking number sent out within a hour of another fender being shipped so i'll be curious if this one comes from the same place.

[PAPA KENT]

hi rbar,thats what i am afraid of with aftermarket.i've heard the horror stories for a good 30 years and i was hoping that the quality (or should i say quality control)has gotten better but i guess it's one of those close your eyes,bolt it on and see.

[PAPA KENT]

hi skoffice,now that makes sense and i'll bet your right on the money with that one.good idea since i still have a month or so to find some.

[Captainfab]

When you get your next fender, check the fit of the two pieces that are spot welded together on the front. This would be next to the grill. The ones I've seen had sizeable gaps and would require removal and reassembly to satisfy my expectations.

[skoffice]

http://www.parts123.com

http://www.americanclassic.com/index.asp

http://www.grumpystruckparts.com/productCat58168.ctlg

http://www.classicparts.com/

http://www.oldchevytrucks.biz/55_66/full.asp?page=6

I didn't have the time to really check these places very well, but here are a few links that were recommended to me when I was trying to locate the good panels. Since you have some time then, I'll bet you will find 'em if you do your homework!

[PAPA KENT]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

When you get your next fender, check the fit of the two pieces that are spot welded together on the front. This would be next to the grill. The ones I've seen had sizeable gaps and would require removal and reassembly to satisfy my expectations.

thanks for the heads up in that area,the last fender was pretty decent with a small hairline gap on the lower edge that would still have to be reworked to be right.

[PAPA KENT]

Originally Posted by skoffice

http://www.parts123.com

http://www.americanclassic.com/index.asp

http://www.grumpystruckparts.com/productCat58168.ctlg

http://www.classicparts.com/

http://www.oldchevytrucks.biz/55_66/full.asp?page=6

I didn't have the time to really check these places very well, but here are a few links that were recommended to me when I was trying to locate the good panels. Since you have some time then, I'll bet you will find 'em if you do your homework!

thanks for taking the time to list these sites,i will check them out.
kent.

[derail]

Just so you know, when I bought my repro fenders, they also arrived with a little damage. I didn't really think it was a big deal, (considering the original ones were pretty shot) but if you pay for a new part, you want it to arrive in perfect condition. It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but there was a dent on the top/front and another one at the rear lip. The gap that Captainfab is talking about is a major downside to these aftermarket fenders. Most people won't notice that kind of stuff, but it still bugs me if I know it's there. For me personally, it was money well spent.

[jonzcustomshop]

when I worked at golden state, we had 2 kinds of rockers available, the black ones, from overseas, and some bare metal ones from tabco, they were from the us.

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by derail

The gap that Captainfab is talking about is a major downside to these aftermarket fenders. Most people won't notice that kind of stuff, but it still bugs me.

I bought my aftermarket fenders from Golden State when they first hit the market and were dreadful. I didn't blame the supplier, they were just poor quality fenders. The gap noted above was so deformed on one side I could shove a pencil through it. The gap in both fenders were so badly fitted they had to be eliminated. The sides where they met the door edge also had to be bent in on one fender and out on the other to get the profiles to match up with the doors. Hopefully the quality has been improved since then.

I bought NOS rockers from an eBay seller and they fit perfectly, although the shop that did the work caused a lot of damage to the truck in the process.

[iiizman]

http://www.tabcobodyparts.com/html/t...f_contents.htm