rocker replacement cost??

[riz]

How much should it cost to have rockers replaced on my 81 short box? I'm trying to get an idea how much it should cost so I don't get ripped off. Thanks in advance.

RIZ

[Shugalou]

I'd also like to know this.

Some experts will chime in soon I'm sure

[kalbert]

A couple hundred to DIY, a couple thousand at a shop. panels themselves are not expensive, but installation takes time and effort for it to turn out good plus filler, primer, and paint.

[riz]

I'm not looking for paint right now, just the rocker replacement. Paint will be late 2016 or early 2017.

I'm going to call a couple guys this weekend and will post what I find as well.

RIZ

[50seven]

How much does it cost that can only be answered by looking at the condition of your truck. Let's see some pictures of how rotten it is.

Doing the rockers requires removing the front fenders and doing cab corners requires removing the box. I wouldn't do rockers without doing cab corners at the same time. While the box and fenders are off you might as well do a whole lot more work while you are in there. It gets a little nerve racking working around the fuel tanks and if they aren't in perfect leak free condition they gotta get removed also

[65standard]

About $80 an hour plus material.

[Spinnerdunn]

I just got mine done it was $3800. It started at $2200 and once they started cutting the floor and the door frame on the right side needed work and I did front inner and out fenders because they were cheap.

[gmachinz]

Having reworked my father in laws 77 GMC where he had a "hot rod shop" guy do his rockers before, I can tell you that no (good) body guy is going to be able to tell you how much it'll cost until he has inspected the floors, kicks, lower cab mount sections up front and cab corners at the rear. The reason is because especially up front, it all has to tie in together. Keep in mind while the rust may not seem too bad, sometimes you end up cutting away more material off the truck than you first thought to get to metal good enough to weld new panels to.

In my case, I had to grind away all the damn fiberglass filler that was used to plug up a nasty gap between the cab body below the bottom hinge and the new rocker panel edge. Then, not wanting to cut away the newly tacked in rockers, (yes-they had been tacked and fillered-not stitch welded in nice and perty!) I ended up cutting a rust free cab section from another parts truck to "make" a factory style contoured filler panel to go between what was good metal on the cab and the new rocker panel edge.

Needless to say, unless you've done this dance before yourself, you have no idea how many steps can be involved. I'd say dont expect an up front estimate-look instead for a guy who builds these trucks regularly and can point out what may be required and expect to pay by the hour plus material. Just on the passenger side of this 77 GMC I've got about 22 hours into the re-work-and the front end was all stripped off to begin with!

And even though you don't plan to repaint soon, you should think about at least getting the truck jammed in the color you want-because you'll need to strip the bed and front end off anyway for new rockers....go ahead and buy a gallon of sprayable material to spray the cab back and jambs, the doors/fenders/hood and front of box. Then in the spring do the whole exterior...just make sure to use an epoxy sealer primer and you'll be OK!