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Mon May 02, 2016 6:09 am

Is it acceptable and/or common to weld the floorpans to the body along the bottom of the rocker panels instead of bolting?

Mon May 02, 2016 9:37 am

Would be bad if ever needed to replace again. also there is a rubber gasket between the body and pan. Would make pulling the body a pain.

Mon May 02, 2016 10:02 am

I would not weld pans to rockers. it will destroy the authenticity of the vehicle

if you were ever going to sell, it would cause concern for most buyers IMO.

pans can be done with or without body on. lot easier with off but more involved process especially if only needing to do say one side

just my thoughts

Mon May 02, 2016 10:45 am

I have the body and frame separated completely. The lower part of the rockers are in rough shape... I can get the panels and have them replaced but what about the lower channel where the pans sit?

Mon May 02, 2016 12:52 pm

maybe this can shed some light.

take a look below. hopefully I am not adding confusion

I did drivers side outer rocker panel. The rocker I am sure you noticed is in two pieces (inside & outside)

the mounting lip where the pan attaches is on the inner rocker half.

it is a project to do 1/2 not to think even both. must keep all align and square watching door openings etc.

if bottom of rockers gone, you could have patch panels say c-shaped made for that long mounting lip/bottom area where it is stitched length wise to original top half of rockers (hopefully makes sense).

or do both in and out rockers.I know EIS sells repops or obtain donors from second hand market. EIS sells them for 179 per part. if both left and right toast and opt for complete rocker replacement, multiply that by 4. pricey unfortunately. The Thing shop carries as well. They have OE outers and inners. not repops so will cost you more.

not sure what you have available or your comfort level or thoughts.

pic below, outside rocker half removed looking at inside of inner rocker. you can see body mounting tab/nuts

Mon May 02, 2016 2:06 pm

Pics are a big help. My comfort level is ZERO when it comes to anything body. I found a guy locally to do welding / fab work. I do have to provide direction though ... he's never done any Thing work. He asked me about welding in floorpans from top vs bottom of frame. I have to assume bottom is the better option but then again, I'm guessing.

The bottom of rockers are not exactly gone but the old floorpans are rusted in place so we just cut them out. There's no removing them from rockers.

Being a layman, my initial thought was to simply replace the outer panels and have him weld on some nuts to the square (rectangle) tubing between the inner and outer panels. Since there seems to be an inverted channel there now, possibly another square tube to build it up so it's flush with the bottom of rocker.

Tue May 03, 2016 7:06 am

when you say rusted in place, is there seam or sealer between pan and bottom of rocker. mine had a nasty sticky sealer that took a lot to separate. common is a rubber seal.

is it the body bolts that are rusted solid? those can be heated a lot of times. if not cut the heads off. the remaining porting could be drilled out and retapped.

if metal to metal rusted together, it needs to come out if not problems will continue. that leads you in to rebuilding lower portion of rocker assembly or doing complete rockers.

do you have any close up pics or pics from downside?

just my opinion, body is off, do it "right" like original if possible. it will keep the value and easier to resell in future.

Fri May 20, 2016 7:03 pm

getting close to welding ... not me, the welding/fab guy

i grabbed the pics you posted and sent him for reference. he seems to be confident that it won't be as difficult as i think it is

anyway, any idea on how long to get old rockers cut out and new welded in? i'm asking to get an idea of how much this is going to cost me! his rate is $65/hr ... i'm guessing it will be around $2,500 in labor but that's literally just wild guess

Sat May 21, 2016 1:38 pm

BigDaddyJ wrote: getting close to welding ... not me, the welding/fab guy

i grabbed the pics you posted and sent him for reference. he seems to be confident that it won't be as difficult as i think it is

anyway, any idea on how long to get old rockers cut out and new welded in? i'm asking to get an idea of how much this is going to cost me! his rate is $65/hr ... i'm guessing it will be around $2,500 in labor but that's literally just wild guess

With the body off like that he'll probably do the rockers faster than you think, the panels are flat it's not really too hard. It's harder to get them in the right place with bolt holes etc. than actually weld them. I welded my pan from the top and used seam sealer on the bottom. Very hard (for me, a somewhat novice) to weld upside down and I wasn't at liberty to turn it over.