Who needs sliders?

And another question who needs crushed rocker panels? I could use some sliders but I don't need the crushed rockers so I'm cutting them out and I'm going to weld in some 2"x4" - 0.125" wall steel tube. I picked up the steel tube at noon today and when I got done with work tonight I took the right front fender off and broke out the angle grinder and cut off wheel. I cut the rocker panel out and cleaned things up some tonight.

I'm not a body and fender guy so it might come out a little rougher than I would like but it's too late for that now. I would throw up some pictures but I left my camera at home (we're house sitting for my mother-in-law this week, works for me 'cause all of my tools are out here) but I should be able to get some pictures done tommorow. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Be careful, all the wiring runs in the drivers side rocker... easy to cut it all to hell... (does that sound like experience talking??  lol.. it is)

Thanks for the heads-up on the wiring.  Glad I decided to do the passenger side first.  With any luck I'll have some pictures up tonight.

Well yesterday I was able to get some more work done on the rocker replacement.  I ended up using 53" of 2" x 4" -  0.125" steel tubing.  I tapered the leading and trailing edges of the sliders at a 45* angle. 

Welding the thin sheet metal to the thick tube was a bit of a challenge but I did get it done.  I'll for sure need to have them covered with some spray on bedliner to help hide the rough welding job.  I guess that I could bondo over the welds and sand it smooth, nah - sounds like too much like body work.

I've attached some pictures of what I did.  The first is a shot of the driver's side rocker to give an idea of what I had to begin with on the passenger side.

Let me know what you guys think.

Here are two more picture for your viewing enjoyment.

Nice, I like that

Thanks for the compliments.

Last night I shot the tube with some satin black paint and got a couple of pictures. No cracks about the welding please. Definitly not the best looking job but I think it will hold up.

On to the pictures:

that is exactly what i want to do how much did the metal cost you if you dont' mind telling.....it looks sweet and the welding is not bad if i can do that good i will be showing it off to every one. go test it for me soon ....[please}  how far under does it cover....all of the original panel or close.?

The steel tube cost me about $44.00 after taxes for a 10' long stick of 2" X 4" - 0.120" tubing.

The tubing goes back to the pinch weld under the doors.  I cut straight up along the pinch weld on the bottom.  On the side I took a straight edge and marked a line connecting the tops of the openings for the plastic rocker cover retainers (the square holes in the sheet metal).  It took a little massage work to get the sheet metal straight and fitted to the tube.  I used a bottle jack to hold the tube up tight to the body and a couple of pipe clamps to tighten the tube in against the pinch weld.

I'll try and remember to get some pictures of this when I do the driver's side this weekend.

Well I got back to work on the rockers saturday.  First picture shows the passenger side with the new fender mounted in place.  The second picture shows the wiring harness that runs down the driver side of the rig.  The third picture shows just how bad the rust was on the driver's side.  Not a lot of fun to weld to.  I had to re-use some of the sheet metal that I cut of as fill material for some of the larger holes.

These are just some shot of how the driver's side turned out.

the hole factor is going to be a bad one for me since my rust actually goes up into the door seal area!! but i will have to figure it out like you did with fill pieces.