Welding inner rocker: advice needed (1 Viewer)

[Old Nick]

Just cut out a large section of my rusted DS outer rocker. This revealed some serious rust on the inner rocker directly behind the outer (I could press my finger right through it).

I’ve got a donor rocker and also some 16 gauge sheet metal.

As rockers are structural would it be best to use the rust free donor or to insert the thicker steel as a precaution?

thanks in advance for helping out this dolt (me!).

edit: it’s early... I’m cutting out the rust in the inner rocker. I’ll be using the donor for the outer rocker patch. Question above concerns recommendations for the inner rocker.
Mt truck is an ‘88 FJ62

 

[Old Nick]

Couldn’t wait for MUD. Just went for it. Cut out the rot on the inner rocker and welded in 16 gauge. Coated the rocker interior with KBS and welded in the outer rocker patch. Done. Just a little body filler, then sanding and I’m ready to paint! Woo hoo!!!

 

[g-man]

I was waiting for someone to chime in here, this is a project on my list. But since it's only a small hole I plan to cut and patch. Hopefully it all looks good on the inside.

 

[Old Nick]

Man, I hope that when you open it up, it’s not too bad.

Mine was concentrated in an 8 inch section. No visible holes. Thought that I could just sand it down. Pressed on the rust with my finger and pop, it went straight through. My outer rust forced me to cut out a near two foot section.

I should have taken photos. I’ll post up some afters when I skim coat my welds.

Getting this done today made me feel great!

 

[brownbear]

I found the entire lower lip of our rockers is bare metal and spot welded. So we all have rust, it just depends how bad it is. You can fix spots and spray corrosion proofing oil inside and it slows it down. I did that. Then 10 years later it bad again. so I did this. Rocker Panel slider combo - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rocker-panel-slider-combo.1133003/

I like the rounded tube over a square tube welded in as from 10 feet away it really doesn't look that different.

This was a slow process welding it in.

 

[Old Nick]

I found the entire lower lip of our rockers is bare metal and spot welded. So we all have rust, it just depends how bad it is. You can fix spots and spray corrosion proofing oil inside and it slows it down. I did that. Then 10 years later it bad again. so I did this. Rocker Panel slider combo - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rocker-panel-slider-combo.1133003/

I like the rounded tube over a square tube welded in as from 10 feet away it really doesn't look that different.

This was a slow process welding it in.

@brownbear , thank you very much for the response and the link to your solution. It looks excellent.
I’ve managed to get my rockers sorted.., for now. If I can get a few good years out of them with no rust, I’ll be happy (and I’ll be using fluid film in them too). But when the time comes to sort out the rust again, I’ll be following in your footsteps.
Take it easy.