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I am replacing lots of sheet metal in my 53 F100! I have noticed that all of the replacement rocker panels that are available have a "step down" area near the front where it connects to the front door jam.
I looked through some build threads and see that many of the restored cabs have this "step down" visible. The original rocker panels did not have this, did they? I do not recall seeing it on my original rockers.
I guess it is normal to just put the replacement rockers on and live with the step down look?
It seems they may be the only one to offer the rockers without the steps in them. I will call to see how much they are and if they have any in stock. All of the other parts suppliers only have the ones with the steps and claim they are 53-56 rockers. I guess they have probably been installed on 53-55's many times.
I called MidFifty and they do not have those rockers at this time and didn't seem to act like they would be getting them anytime soon. I will just use what I have.
Same here. Got mine from LMC and was disappointed to see that. Just doesn't look right. I made a flat plate out of 16 gauge to fit the contour and welded it in to fill this area. I managed to not take any pics during. Just made it long enough to fit under where the door post attaches.
I have a 56 and it looks like there was a piece of sheet metal that attached the rocker to the bottom of the a pillar. I assumed it was a reinforcement since the only real means of attachment in that critical area was a handful of spot welds. Not to mention it was probably a difficult area to spot weld.
The last few rockers I replaced had the indent but I use the lower reinforcement panel (Midfifty p/n 7719) to fill the indent. I routinely smooth the rockers so that section gets filled as well as the indent in the center for the floor crossmember brace mount. Here is a pic showing what it looks like before paint.
Well, just looked up on MidFifty,com and 7719 is out of stock and they have a waiting list for it! I know right after the F100 Supernationals last fall I talked to them about sheet metal and I was told the person or company that was supplying them with most of their sheet metal went out of business. So I bet they are still trying to line up another source for some of their parts.
I also looked at a few of the others and no one has that piece!
