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I have two slightly different door panels from my '78 F250 2WD, Ranger XLT, Styleside PU with it's 460 & C6. Could one of you experts please tell me which door panel is the correct one for my truck?
I expect to order a pair or new door panels from DC soon, but wonder what else I need to know before I order something that I might regret having paid for/shipped!
Thank you very much for your experience/expertise/input!!!
Seeing how Ford used the SAME molds for the right and left door panels from 1973 -1979,
The only difference between your two is ( Are you ready ) the driverside is missing the XLT insert
I don't believe they are reproduced for any year. you see used ones on ebay often.
If you're trying to do a nice restoration those panels are pretty whipped, none of those screw holes are factory. they do reproduce the door panels even the XLT style , they're nice and not that expensive.
I haven't been able to find it. I need to replace my driver side panel, and it looks like I'll have reuse the insert. The XLT has chrome highlights also. Anybody know the correct way to attach the insert?
XLT trucks get the one with the faux wood grain vinyl overlay. Is your outer chrome piece plastic or metal? Yes those door panels have been hammered on with lots of none OEM screws to attach them to the door. I see BOTH arm rest pads are there. And yes the dvrs side is missing the vinyl overlay. See all the holes for the vinyl overlay mount studs?
X2 on door panels WITH the vinyl insert are NOT reproduced. The vinyl insert itself is NOT reproduced either. They are held on by a number of very fragile plastic studs that goes thru the door panel, and then a star washer is pressed on that.
When removing the star washer (even cutting it with a Dremel) to attempt to remove and save the vinyl overlay (to reuse) the studs can break very easy. Especially when you try to reinstall them on the new door panel even if you use a new star washer.
Now some door panels have just a metal trim ring (see red panel) like the plastic one used with the wood grain (and those are reproduced) and they are held on with a metal bendable tab on the back side. Maybe an option for you?
Here you can see the small washer/stud (the white piece by the main mount buttons) and the metal trim and tab.
I use double sided tape to reattach the insert to the door panel. As was mentioned, the posts on the back of the panels are super fragile & break off. The double sided tape holds up fine, no problems.
Great information that I need.
Yes, I broke a couple of the small tabs getting the star washers off. I don't like star washers, at least when it comes to removal! I'll likely try to reproduce the vinyl insert, though not sure yet how I'll attach. Where would I find the plastic chrome strips?
Thank you gentlemen!!!
Try using a dremel to cut the washer off. Double sided 3M tape to help make it stay? There are a couple of FTE members that repop them on their own. I'll try to locate their username's. You will not find the plastic chrome strip reproduced anywhere. So ebay or FTE classifieds is it. Like I said, the metal one is reproduced.
And sorry to say NO the cast/pot metal studs (you just press in the letter, the studs go in a plastic barrel insert) that are used to mount the FORD letters are not really repairable. The letters are reproduced by a lot of vendors.
Which one is it?
reproduced by who?
