Any advise on replacing the door skin on an 86?

 

Where did you get the skin? I thought they sold the whole complete door.

 

Or is it just the lower part of the skin shown here the silver panel

installed

Dave ----

 

I haven't bought anything yet. I was looking at the lower door skin on NPD. It replaces the bottom 23". I was looking at the complete shell but shipping is more than the part. My door is in good shape except for dents. Pretty much rust free. I was wondering how hard it would be to just replace the lower skin. It seems it would be harder to buy the shell and transfer all the other parts. Is a door shell complete or just the outside part?

 

FoMoCo sold door shells and also (beginning 1968 F100/750) door skins.

F1TZ-1520200-A (replaced EOTZ-1020200-A) Right & F1TZ-1520201-A (replaced EOTZ-1020201-A) Left .. Door Skins / Obsolete ~ Available NOS

1980/83 F100; 1980/96 F150/350 & Bronco; 1988/97 F(Super Duty); 1997 F250 H/D & F350.

 

My parts are from https://tabcoparts.com/
I replaced inner & outer lower half because of rust.
Because I was trained to do body work before high school (class of 1978) and have replaced door skins before it was not hard for me to replace even the inner part.


How bad are your dents and how far up do they come?
Do you think the lower skin will cover (remove) the dented part of your door?
Have you done anything like this before, welded sheet metal and have the tools to do this?


I find when someone else started work that did not know what they were doing it made it 2 times as hard to now fix it right.
Have you had a shop look at this dent and asked if they would pull it using a stud welded kit & puller or replace the lower skin?
If they say replace the skin then you buy it and if you feel you can pull the door and take it to the shop with the part and have them do the work.
World they be doing the body & paint work to the door before you pick it up?
When done you pick up and install back on the truck as this could save you $$.


What I am getting at is if you don't have the skill/tools it might be best not to do this yourself.


For parts you can see you can get the lower part(s) of the door.
I don't know if you can get the full skin but know it goes all the way to the top of the door frame and could be a pain to replace the full skin.
A full door, again if you can get new, would be bare nothing in it so all your door parts would need to be moved over to it.


Dave ----

 

Hopefully here are pictures off the door. I think it would be easier to replace the panel than to use body filler. The replacement panel is only $110 with shipping. Worst case scenario would be if it doesn't work out, look for a used door.

 

Ok from the 2nd picture the patch panel does not look like it will go up high enough.


Now it is hard to tell just how bad it is but if the door is rust free I would fix it.
For Xmass Santa brought me a Motor Guard stud welder kit like this
It beats the old way of drilling holes and screwing in the puller to pull dents.
After the dent is pulled, don't pull it out too far, cut the studs off, grind smooth and a little filler, sand smooth, prim & paint.


Picture of the dent I pulled on the better fender of 2 I had.

Also did a little dent on the other fender a good size dent in the hood and a lot of dents on the roof. It paid for it's self.


Beside who doesn't like more tools
Dave ----

 

Oh forgot have you pulled the inside door panel off to see how much of the door dents you can get to from inside? The doors do not have crash beams.
Might need a helper but I am sure you can use a hammer & dolly to get them out.
Dave ----

 

Hard to believe that door is rust free looking at the cab corner and where it's been repaired. Unless someone swapped the door out. Usually the cab corners go, and the bottoms of the doors are not far behind. I would get a weak refrigerator magnet, you may be surprised to find your door already has bondo in it, even with the dents which might have come later.

 

I know it's hard to believe that I don't have a rust issue. Pulled the door panel off and was able to hammer out enough of the dents to finish with bondo. That repair you refer to in the corner was just a poor dent repair from the previous owner. Took the inner trim loose and there's no sign that the corner has rusted. I took another members advise and bought a fender dolly set. Worked well on straitening dents on the bed.

 

Original seam sealer cracking on the rain gutter is how the rain water dribbles down inside the wall to the cab corner.
Worn window felts (and even when new) causes the door bottoms to rust from inside the pinch-weld out.

Garages are a wonderful thing......

 

Water will get into the doors even with new rubbers. There are 3 drain slots on the bottom of the doors some times they get plugged and water will sit in there.


The real reason it rusts at the pinch seams is they are not treated before or after they are folded over and water does get in there.


Also after you wash the truck it is best to drive it. This blows air into places like doors, cab corners, lower fenders, etc. that you don't get dry with a towel on the body.


BTW I pulled the skin off my hood frame and there was rust around the pinch also. How much water gets up there? Also 1 of the hoods has rot by 1 of the hinge mounts, this is because the under side of the hood & frame are not coated.


There are products that you can use to convert the rust. There is a post about "A little hole in fender" or something like that I list products I have used to fight rust.
I have it saved https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...st-repair.html
Dave ----

 

Another reason they rust; The insides of the doors and the body are raw uncoated untreated steel. Ford did this on purpose, they want you to buy another truck in a few years.

I had an old Dodge Caravan, could not keep head gaskets on that thing, but that body did not have one rust hole or rust through anywhere. I believe they galvanized the lower parts of the body on the inside and the outside.