Has anyone came across a good quality rocker panel replacement USA made for 56 Ford F-100? Mid Fifty has them but the guy doing it seems to be having "committment to the project issues". Mid Fifty has one side in but is still waiting on the other side. I have been waiting months for made in USA.

If there is another source of USA made rockers, I would love to support them.

 

It looks like NPD has them listed:
Floor & Rocker Panel

I had that problem with a battery box for my '50 F2. I had been waiting for 6 months. I found out who made them when I visited the local NPD warehouse. Luckily it was a local supplier (Northern Classic Truck) so I went over and asked when I could get one. The guy said something like "Oh yeah, I have had a lot of people asking for those. I guess I ought to make some up." I had one directly from them in 2 weeks.

 

Thanks Pete!

Do you know what guage of metal they use to fabricate the panels? Were you happy with the reporductions they did?

Darrell Howard
Whitefish, MT

 

I assume that you mean Northern Classic Trucks? 16 gauge on the front cab corners. Significantly heavier on the battery box. It is built like a brick S"""house. These guys are good. Their shop is in Stirling Hts, MI near several OEM assembly plants. They do piece work for the OEMs (i.e. oops we ran out of something). They know how to maintain dies so replacement panel contours match original panels. I don't think that they are the ones supplying your '56 rocker panels to NPD as those parts are not listed on the NTC website.

If you meant NPD they buy from several suppliers so I don't know. Usually the guys on the phone are pretty helpful as they are the same as the ones that wait on you at the warehouse counter. You can call and ask.

 

Early Ford

Those guys have them, they are American made. Be prepared to do a little fine tuning.........

 

Ill call them Monday morning. The last USA pair I installed went in pretty flawlessly from what I remember. Everything fit really well. They were made by a guy that was doing them for Mid Fifty but he passed away. The guy who is doing it now is not doing a very good job of keeping them supplied and cant meet his estimated production dates.

 

I just got an email response from "Barb" at Northern Classic Trucks. They do not make rockers for 56 Ford F series trucks. They referred me to Mid-Fifty. The guy who assumed the new production for Mid Fifty had sent Mid Fifty the passenger side but not the driver side. Still on hold, its been three months now. My options are China made, Tiawan made, or wait for made in the USA.

 

I would press Mid-Fifty for either a delivery date or the name of their U.S. supplier so you can call him.

 

He gave them a delivery date and it has long since expired. I did find another source, but they guy said the off shore ones fit better.

Several of the issues regarding this replacemant part:

1. They come in both a "cover up" that installs over the stock (rusted) rocker.

2. The stock rocker was thinner metal, which required the reinforcement piece which doubled up the thickness behind the front door pillar. If the replacement panels are heavy enough, you do not need the reinforcement piece which the stock application had. Its kind of an eye sore on any of these trucks that have been around awhile. The weld comes loose and there is often a lot of rust and rust out when a reinforcement piece is used over the top of the rocker.

3. Having a set of both, I can definitely agree the off shore ones are a better fit, but thinner metal. That means if you can find an off shore fit with thicker metal, you may be able to get away without using the reinforcement section. If not, its going to be awful thin metal in that area without the reinforcement.

 

I just replaced rockers and complete floor with made in Tiawan pieces, the only problem I ran into was with the pieces made in USA which was the reinforcement pieces behind the front cowl panels they had Midfity stickers on them.

 

Who were you referring to when you said "those guys have them, they are American made". I called northern classics and they dont make them.

 

John, I hear the Tiawan pieces are a good fit, but do they need the reinforcement pieces like the stock truck had? Mid Fifty says they just cant get the guy who was making them in the USA to provide them. So they are offering an off shore option. If you look in their catalog, they also offer a USA made reinforcement panel which they say is needed for the Tiawan patch panel. So now we have a Tiawian patch panel with a USA reiforcement panel under the front cowling? How do they match up? This is what you used I assume?

I called Northern Classics and they do not offer the USA made rocker for 56 F-100.

 

Mid Fifty told me today its just not going to happen. The guy just is not comming thru.

 

The rocker panels I purchased were made in Tiawan, the reinforcement pieces I got were front LMC Trucks but when I peeled back the LMC label it had a Midfifty label under it. The rockers fit very well but the reinforcement pieces needed some reworking however one side was better than the other. I'm replacing the outer rear corners now with Tiawan pieces and have the left done and fit well, the right side is a corner I had purchased a few years ago and doesn't fit as well but maybe the newer ones have improved in the last couple years. I haven't started the front cowl corners yet and I still need to install the rear cab mount hardware as well and the holes don't seem to be lining up for those.
Back to your original question the rockers have the indentation for the reinforcement pieces. The reinforcement pieces I got didn't fit over the rockers and weren't shaped as nice as the rockers. I should have taken pictures to show how bad things fit before I got them all finished.

 

Early midwest ford