As above, there are four screws that screw in right where the junction of the doors are in the roof line. after removing the roof liner, (???) and the weather stripping you can see the four screws that go in at the junction. the sheet metal here is 4 layers thick between roof/outer skin, a double inner skin and then a roof brace that goes from side to side. the bolts do not engage the roof brace at all, as the nuts are spot welded to the inner layer and the roof brace has holes that are larger than the spot welded nuts.

All four layers are spot welded together, which was verified on both sides. the drivers side is totally rotted out on the roof skin/outer layer. as seen in the first photo, passengers side is not rotted out, but has rust started.

bolts and nuts totally rotted out on drivers side

Even though all layers are spot welded is there any reason for these that anybody can think off? the individual screws do not seem to serve any purpose. is there a light bar or a roof rack from ford that bolts in here?

To save money I suggested to Shinobu that he just remove the rusted portion replace with sheet metal and weld a rosette from the inside where the nut was, which would secure the piece in place just as strong as a bolt but it would save him time, and me money.

is there any reason not to?

 

There's supposed to be a strike hoop (terminology?) up there for the upper latch of your supercab rear door. I will take a picture of mine for you.

 

the bolts do not engage the striker plate hoop at all, we used a bore scope to look behind the panels to see what the bolts bolted into so I do not think thats it as it is a full3" above and does not directly reinforce that area at all.

i will double check tomorrow though.

 

FTN here is the striker plate circled in blue, it is under the plastic, but where it bolts in is almost 3" below these bolts.


blue circle is striker plate under plastic drop cloth

 

What do you mean? Those bolts are separate from the ones holding the striker plate hoop? I have not looked behind the weatherstrip so I don't know for sure. Here's that picture.


Edit: Oh, I just saw your blue circle. Yeah I have no idea what those bolts do then.

 

I'd guess it's the seam where the back end of the cab mates to the front. That way the front sections can all be manufactured the same, Then depending on regular, ext, or crew cab the back section is mated and welded. All just a guess though like I said.

 

I don't believe those are factory. I have a 99 extended cab and have a 08 extended cab parts truck sitting here and both of them do not have them. There perfectly smooth behind that seal.

Wonder if it had like a light bar on the roof at one time. Like a strobe/wig wag caution amber light and those are where the mounted them to?

 

Yeah, that looks more like something happened aftermarket or a body shop repair. If it was factory, it would have been welded there on the production line.

 

Aftermarket light bar mount.....

Next time you are by the Fire Chiefs Truck take a look at it.

 

yup, bolt on light bar mount.
most are clamp on, but the really good ones bolt on.

 

thank you to all of you who replied and commented.

after reading Tpayne's comment I felt much better and you all have reinforced my thoughts as when we looked at it from behind with the bore scope there was no real reason for the threaded inserts. i just wanted to make sure. I already told my body man to cut out the entire section of sheet metal and replace with new for both sides.

I will post photos of the process as Shinobu promised me pictures of all work (which means I need to coddle myself and cry a bit when the bill comes). he normally does exotic car restorations. think rotisseries, full body soda blasting or even dipping in some cases to remove all rust prior to welding in new. I am not going that far, just cut out, weld in bead blast both sides, hammer flat and paint.

The lower side of the drivers door will be more intense as it has centurion (i think) graphics on it and he wants to avoid repainting the entire door to replace a sticker that is no longer made, but only has four inches to work in. should be fun!

 

Are y'all able to source new rubbers? If so, where? The ones on my 2000 extended cab are slap worn out. I want to replace and if I were to pull them on any truck this vintage, I think I'd be trying to source new to reinstall.

As for the decals, have you considered reaching out to a local vinyl/sign shop to see if they can reproduce it? I've heard of people doing that for obsolete decals in the past.

I'm fortunate that mine doesn't have any graphics, just Oxford white, so finding replacement panels should be easy for the dented/damaged stuff. Unfortunately, a bunch of the Oxford white panels I've found have the lower accent color like gold or silver. Vinyl might even be a solution to make those replacements easier to use. I could pretty easily get a camo or other color wrap applied to hide and make that section match.

EDIT: Just realized who I'm replying to. Being over there in Japan, your parts availability probably isn't going to be the same anyway. On closer look at the picture, I realized you haven;t removed the same seals I'm thinking about anyway.

 

all of my rubber seals are in really good shape, it appears the PO changed them out in the last 4 or 5 years. not sure where you can purchase but as the body did not really change for almost a decade I would bet you can still get them from ford.

 

Bottom of door peeled open to e Copse rusted piece that will be cut out and removed

 

Drivers side rot above door cut out and preparing to weld new piece in.

New steel in and first coat of paint