Help with rust fix!

[austinleonhardt307]

Me and my brother are starting to repair the rust on my 69 c-10 longbox and we need help. Do you have to brace at any point when cutting out either the rockerpanel or the floorboards? and would it be better to start at the rocker panel and then do the floor board? or the other way around? also any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[austinleonhardt307]

[matthew20061]

First off the rust doesn't look too bad at all on your truck so that is a plus. I would start by removing the door so that when the rocker is removed the weight of the door doesn't move anything. Otherwise you shouldn't have too support the cab when you remove the rocker and the floor edge. That's how I did my truck and it worked out fine.

[treveiger]

Im not a rust expert or anything like that but wouldnt it be better to work from the inside out when reparing the floor meaning doing the rockers last? Hopefully one of the smarter people on this board will chime in because im curious

[austinleonhardt307]

i took these pictures to my parts guy and he said i needed outer rocker panels, inner rocker panels and the floor boards, so i got all of them. Do you guys think i need to replace both the driver and passenger rockers? and both fenders are off as well as the driver door

[butters_72]

when i did mine i did the outer rockers first then the floor. and everthing went fine, i did remove the doors, and i didnt have to brace anything, when i was done everything lined up perfect good luck

[Tmend]

Looks like you got some fun times ahead of you. There's a company called the truck shop I believe there on the venders section. They sell the complete floor with floor braces for around $400 just a thought. I had the same rust and it went throughout the floor including the braces,rockers and many more. Good luck
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[hippie-46]

iam in the middle of doing the same thing. i find its like a puzzle the outer rocker connected to the enter connected tothe floor and the kick panel and all to the a pillar and the floor braces. its a lot of work but make sure things line up before you weld it all in. fit and refit.

[PanelDeland]

Check your cab supports before begining.If they're bad then they may let things shift when you cut out the rusty section.They may also need replacement.

[w3lfd]

From what I see in the pics you need the full length outer floor extension (i assume that is what you mean by floorboards). The way I did mine was to remove everything, then put the outer floor extension in, then work on the rockers. Easiest way to do it, other wise it is a PITA to try to fit the floor extension with the rocker in place. Tack everything in and dry fit the doors. For some here it may have gone together fine, but you can run into issues. My only recommendation would be to weld a rod from the rear door opening to the front so make sure the gap doesn't close up when you are working on it.

[FIREBALL]

Yeah, my truck has the same issues with rust as the above, I havent gotten a chance to slow down and start it cause of parting out a 69 3/4 ton cab (lol for myself) but soon as it warms up im getting rollinon my project! Mine basically is rockers outter floor sections and some surface rust under the upper drip rails .....and basically going to be a ground up start over I guess and when it's done LOL!

[austinleonhardt307]

Thanks guys, one more question (for right now anyways), What about the seam rail that the weatherstripping goes in? any suggestions on what to use to make new ones?

[white 67]

Im just about finished with the drivers side of mine. I braced it but im not sure if i needed to or not.

[SIDS65]

I have done this same process a few times on cars and trucks and I always set all the gaps on the doors and try to get most everything lined up then brace it. I leave the door on until the rocker is tacked then you can check your gaps. You can remove the doors after bracing but I would mark all the hinge areas to be sure that it lines right back up so it all lines up when you get ready to dry fit the rockers. I find that with everything braced you can remove most of the rusted components and start building outward. Take your time and be patient. The aftermarket parts are generally close but not perfect and you may have to trim and work the panels to fit. Here is a few pics of the work I did on my 65 cab and the 57 Chevy that I made a 2 door out of from a 4 door. Anything is possible if you work at it. Good Luck.

[swamp rat]

++1 on what Sids65 says. and as also stated check the cab floor supports as well.

[Tmend]

The complete floor section sold by the truck shop comes with the front and rear cab support braces already welded to the floor my be easier to go that route
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[SIDS65]

I havent got to use a one piece floor for the trucks yet but I did one on a 57 150 sedan and as Tmend said it might be easier, I can say without a doubt that I will never patch a floor again and do floor braces and inner rockers on one of those cars unless the floor is really solid. The one piece floor is easy and in all honesty takes less time than cutting sections and repairing rusted areas. I am getting ready to start the repairs on my new big back window cab and I wish I had a one piece floor for it. Oh well time to start cutting out rust and bending metal.

[austinleonhardt307]

i checked the floor braces underneath and had a local body shop guy double check them and he said they are solid. the only kind of panel replacement we've ever done was a quarter panel on my brother 69 cutlass so we are a bit timid about this one because we're not very sure how structural these parts are...