Rear wheel well rust - Looking for replacement panel

[46/71 Hybrid]

Hello all,
I have an '01 LC100 with rust on the passenger side rear wheel well, directly behind the bottom of the door. Does anyone know where I can purchase a panel? OR, does anyone know someone parting out a LC that would be willing to cut this panel out?

Most importantly, anyone repaired this area before and have any words of wisdom?

I work for the USG and currently posted in Angola so this will be all DIY. That said, I'm comfortable bending, shaping, and welding metal and have most of the tools that I need (might have to make a few). Either way, I'll capture it all in this thread assuming I can get a patch panel...

 

[DirtDawg]

Has the rust spread so bad that it requires a new panel? Can you not just form and patch?

Only suggestion I have is trying to find a yard somewhere that has a wrecked/partially rolled cruiser, and that would be willing to cut the panel out and ship it to you, or if you can somehow find a local yard.

 

[benjawi4]

Wish I could offer some insight, but I'm reluctantly hiring someone to replace both rocker panels and rear 'rocker panels' (behind the rear tires and behind/underneath the plastic bumper). Hopefully after I drop it off next week I'll be able to report back and share whatever useful info he bestows upon me (His company is called The Metal Surgeon, he does full metal restorations so I thought his expertise in metal/welding would be useful for these hard-to-fix places on the truck, rather than simply hiring some body shop to do the best they can).

 

[46/71 Hybrid]

Has the rust spread so bad that it requires a new panel? Can you not just form and patch?

Only suggestion I have is trying to find a yard somewhere that has a wrecked/partially rolled cruiser, and that would be willing to cut the panel out and ship it to you, or if you can somehow find a local yard.

It's still small enough that I can cut and patch, it's just the lower 5-6" that I would need to get a piece for. Forming a piece wouldn't be the end of the world but by the time I find the local metal, build a small press brake, try and bend the curve, and put a flange on it, I'd rather just have a good piece shipped to me and work from that.

Trying to find a yard that has good customer service has been all but impossible. As soon as I explain what I need cut off, and how I live overseas but have a U.S. shipping address, yada, yada, I can hear their eyes glazing over on the other end of the phone. I've had terrible luck but if I could find a customer-oriented place, I could drive businesses to them from all the USG deployed folks around the world, especially in Africa, that need the most simple thing that just can't be found.