Rocker Panels and Tellico Trails

Today on trucks space and I take the fear factor out of replacing the rocker panels and fender extensions on your early model pickup. Then it's off to the hills of Telecom,

North Carolina for a battle between some extreme hybrids and even nastier rocks. And finally, we'll show you how to put the wood grain that is to your SUV.

That's all today on trucks.

Thanks for dropping into the truck shop. You know, a lot of you guys out there have let us know that working on the newer rigs is fine but that we should neglect the older stuff. So today we're gonna dig into this whole 66 Chevy. Now, everybody that owns an old truck knows it doesn't have to be 30 years old like our Chevy here to suffer from the most common problem and that my friends is rust.

Oh man.

The reason that rust is such a drag is because it costs so much to remove it and most people don't want to dink with it.

We're gonna remove that fear factor by replacing this whole rocker panel and the lower front fender.

Now, this project would definitely fall into the experience category. But if you were to have a body shop do it for you, you'd lose about 1500 bucks in the process. We got these parts from a company called Brothers that specialize in classic Chevy truck parts. Now, these rocker panels are a full stamp piece that also come with an inner rocker. The front fender extensions use a heavy gauge steel, which is great for welding.

Now, the first thing we need to do is get rid of this door to give us better access to the panel. Now, here's a tip to make it easier to put your door back on, take a sharpie

and outline your door hinges.

You know, most guys think they can handle these doors on their own, but they are pretty awkward and heavy. So I'm gonna give Stace a hand,

I could have done it. How

had a stud?

Well, as you can see whenever rust is involved, it's always worse than it looks on the outside.

We're gonna have to do some patching on our floor panel here as well.

Now, somebody's already done some work on this truck. Unfortunately, they've shown us what you should not do.

First of all, they put the new panel over the top of the old panel, so the seams don't line up.

They also left this top seam un welded which allows moisture to get in between the panels,

not to mention rivets and look at this Bondo.

These are major. No Nos.

Now, before we put the torch to our Chevy, I wanna keep from torch in our garage. So we'll put some tape over the gas tank to avoid an explosive situation. We can also protect the interior

by putting up a material that will deflect the sparks. When we cut out the rocker panel,

here's a safety tip. Make a final check to make sure there's no electrical or fuel lines in the way. Now, before we make our cuts, we're gonna test the new panel to make sure it fits.

Looks good here, Stace

sounds good, man. Let's cut that sucker out

but try to make your cut a half inch below the factory seam to give you something to weld to.

Hey, mel

man, check this out,

man. This thing is a mess. Look at the rust here, I can see why the guy decided he needed to change it. Here's the old rivets you use. I'm

gonna chuck this thing.

All right, man. Let's go ahead and take a look at the rest of this. Look at the rust on the inner rocker. We're gonna have to seam it here. We'll also run a seam along here and obviously clean all this mess up as well.

Well, now that we have everything out, it's time to dress up our cuts with a grinding wheel.

This will clean up the metal to ensure a good, well,

you wanna spend some extra time with a pair of tin snips to make sure this inner panel fits. It'll definitely need some trimming.

Now, once you have it, how you want it clamp it in place with a pair of ice grids.

Now, before you use a meg welder, it's real important to disconnect the battery, otherwise it can ruin your electronic ignition.

Go ahead and turn up the heat stays

and start with the tack weld and then finish by connecting those tack wells with the seam.

And when you're working with older metal, take your time and adjust your heat. If you burn through, just fill the hole after the sides are secure. We'll go ahead and tear into the top

while Stacy was welding. I went ahead and made this patch panel to cover the rotten metal we had on our floor pan.

Here you go. Thanks mel. Now, once we have that patched up, it'll be time to prep our surface for a rocker panel. However, before we can do that, we need to run a bead here where I cut into that inner support.

We're gonna use a rust prohibited paint to protect our new parts. When that's dry, it'll be time to weld in our new rocker panel. But first, we need to take care of some bills. Don't go away. We'll be right back.

No,

no, no.

Later in the show, we'll take you for a ride on the wild side with a group of extreme rock crawlers. What are you thinking when you're coming up a hill like that.

Don't turn this darn thing over.

But up first we're gonna finish up the rocker panels and fender extensions on our classic 66 Chevy.

Welcome back to the show. We've got the rocker panel on, let me show you some of the techniques I've been using.

Now. What I'm doing here is called a lap weld because the two pieces overlap each other

and this gap here is stock, but I'm gonna weld it in to smooth in that body line.

Oh

Man, Stacey, that thing really fit in there. Nice, didn't it? Man? I tell you, it's a pleasure to work with parts that actually fit. Well, I'll say

sucker sturdy too.

Well, now that Stacy has the rocker panels in, the last thing we need to do is dress up the welds

when doing this. Be careful not to grind too much off or you'll weaken the, well,

now that we have the rocker on, it's time to do our lower front fender. First thing we need to do is take this fender off in this outer cow.

Now, the reason we replaced the rocker was due to rust

with a fender. It's more a case of prior body damage and a whole lot of Bondo.

Listen, folks don't mind Stacy. He's just a little hostile when it comes to Bondo.

Now that we have the fender off, we can go ahead and check our replacement part to make sure it fits,

make our mark

before we make our cut.

Now, before you can remove the lower section, you have to drill out the spot welds. The easiest way to do this is with a special spot weld cutter.

After that,

you're back to flange and it should pop right out.

Now, once I have this inter fender straightened out, I'll go ahead and dress it up for welding.

We use spot welds to hold the two pieces together. It's important to remember to leave a small gap so the we

can penetrate because you have to grind them flush with the body panel.

When welding two large pieces of sheet metal like this, it's important to spot well, to spread the heat out. Otherwise it'll warp. This piece is ready for grinding. Now, if we've done this right, once we're done grinding it down, it'll only take a light skim of body filler to make that seam disappear.

Another perfect fit. This old truck's starting to look pretty darn good. No doubt. Just a little body filler. You wouldn't even know where that seam is, man. And the best part is we can buy all the tools we needed for this project and then some with all the money we save. Isn't that amazing?

Listen, don't go away. We got a whole lot more trucks for you after the break.

Well, if you don't mind a few rocks in the road, you won't want to miss our next story. As we hit the trail with a group of hybrid runners that wouldn't have it any other way.

If you hang around the four by store in Franklin, Tennessee for any time at all, you quickly realize the off road beasts that Chuck Ingram and Archie Ford are building,

aren't being made for the show and Shine Circuit. Heck, these guys are using 18 wheels to take their four wheels to a place. Most off roaders can only dream about. It's called Tellico

in the hills of North Carolina where water and mud can be found. But it's the rocks these guys come to.

Well,

the first time we went up, we end up getting about 304 100 yards past the River cross and we turned around and said, well, that's enough for us. Our nerves can't take it anymore. Now, that's where we do. Third gear blows by to get to the good stuff. So

it just takes time. I mean, when you realize what your vehicle can do and each time you make an upgrade to get used to what you've done

and know what your limits are

coming up. Here

is the true test. Getting to see a truck do something

and getting to see a guy riding it or drive it.

It's never been there before

is, is one of the best feelings in the world.

Chuck and Archie started climbing rocks together about seven years ago.

But their love affair with off roading began long before they ever conquered their first trail together with myself. I've always been in a four wheel drive, I guess ever since even when I was born, uh my father said a, the 43 Willis Jeep for me and it set up in a barn forever. And I can remember when I was growing up, I would go into the barn and look at, you know, say dad, what can I do to fix it up? And I'd save up money and I'd buy me an air filter or something.

I can remember this one situation where I was with my father real late at night

and

some friends of his had called and had gotten their truck stuck back in the woods

and I was probably three years old

and I just have flashback memories of it riding through the woods, the mud trucks sliding around.

Um,

all the guys cheering them on

and it's just, it's stuck with me.

It really stuck with me.

Something else that'll always stick with these guys as well as anyone else who chooses to attack Tellico are the trails the toughest of which includes guard rail and the infamous helicopter pad.

There's trails I've been up here. You know, it seems like it's been over a dozen times and I'll come to the same thing and I'll look ahead

and for me, I can feel my heart will start racing and,

and I'm just starting to shake, I think Well, I either gotta go up this thing or I just need to go back and calm down because I'm about to blow up

and you get up there and when you do climb something you pick a good line, you know, um,

it makes it all worth it, you get up and it's just, you just wanna jump up in the air and, you know,

start screaming, everybody's giving you high fives and like, yeah, then that's what it's about.

It's just, uh it's a good, good feeling, you know, to know you've accomplished something and,

but it always changes. I mean, you never know. One day could be your day the next day you may not make it

after being the first in the group to go up guard rail. Chuck couldn't quite find the right line on this day to scale helicopter pat, but at least his ride was a lot more tame than the one my partner Stacy took

in the frog

la.

Tell me, what are you feeling

now?

What did it break over?

Truthfully?

I thought we both did.

We

to

Archie was able to avoid any near death experiences in his land cruiser, picking the perfect line for his ascent while I enjoyed a ride on the wild side with a driver who only knows one approach and that's flat out.

I was with him. We did the helicopter

get it

to see the smiles, the cheers, the high fives, the laughs.

It's all worth it, no matter what you break, no matter what happens,

it's all worth it.

Well, if you make a run at Tellico, you better be prepared because this place will tear you up.

Yeah, after a couple of days of crawling some nasty rock with this group, it's time to take a break. Don't go away. We'll be right back

up next on trucks. We'll show you how to add some class to your SUV by putting the wood to your deck.

Welcome back to the shop. Well, after crawling the Rocket Tellico, we thought this would be a good time to show you one of the hottest aftermarket options available to the SUV market. You know, for years, wood grain inlays on a dash. Oh, that was a mark of luxury something found on Jaguar, Mercedes and Cadillac.

But wood can add class to almost any vehicle and the SUV is the perfect candidate. Thanks to its recent explosion in popularity. Today, we're gonna set this 98 Durango apart from the crowd by installing a rosewood grain dash kit. This 13 piece kit is made by Daytona dash and can be installed in less than an hour using the simplest of tools like a hair dryer, a pencil and the application kit.

Now, before we can give our dash a facelift, we need to clean all the surfaces with the cotton swabs that come with the kit.

You may have to do this process three or four times if you've used any vinyl dressing on the dash or the adhesive on the parts won't stick

and you wanna make sure the alcohol is completely dry before you go on to the next step, which is placing the pieces in the proper location.

Now, once we have it, how we want it, Mel's gonna take that pencil and outline the pieces to give us reference points. This would also be a good time to make sure you have all the pieces to complete the project

after you've marked your reference points, go ahead and apply the adhesive promoter. Make sure to use it sparingly and don't go outside the reference lines. It's also important to allow the promoter to thoroughly dry before applying the pieces.

Now, these pieces need to be pliable before you install them so they'll conform to the contours of the dash.

I found that Mel's hair dryer works best, but you can also lay them out in the sun.

Once you have the pieces ready to install, pull off the red backing,

then place them inside the reference lines you marked with your pencil, press lightly at first to ensure proper location, then press firmly from the middle out.

Now, keep in mind when doing this project, the interior of your vehicle needs to be at least 70 degrees to help the drying process.

You'll also wanna avoid getting any vinyl dressing on or behind the adhesive or it'll peel up on you

the last thing you do once you have all the pieces in place is clean everything up with some alcohol.

As you can see. It really is amazing how such little effort has made such a big difference in the look of our dash.

Well, now that we're done with our trim upgrade, let's see what Stacy has for us in this week's quick tip.

One of the hottest custom trends on the scene today is to paint your chrome, the same color as the rest of the vehicle

problem is paint doesn't like to stick to chrome. It's too smooth. Fortunately,

there's a solution to the problem if you take your part and sand it with 400 grit, sandpaper.

Now, what this does is roughen up the surface and give your paint something to stick to

and when you're sanding the park,

make sure you get into all the little nooks and crannies. Any place that paint's gonna go

and once you have it sanded, how you like coat the part with a high quality primer.

Now, make sure you choose a color that closely matches your final toe.

Don't go away. We'll have truck gear after the break

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

Welcome back, everybody. It's time for this week's edition of truck gear up. First, we've got a really useful product from trick track tie downs called the hideaway. It mounts into your existing steak pocket and the oversized ring can accompany several straps that'll handle a 500 pound load limit. Best of all, there's no drilling necessary, which means a quick and easy installation. You can strap down your loads with four hideaways for about $45.

The next item is a taillight cover from

vtech. The first company to offer a cover that was horizontally slotted and paint.

Now, this design has larger, more symmetrical slots

is vacuum formed with a rolled edge for a cool seamless look and installation heck, that's easy. You pull the tapes and stick it in place,

won't break the bank either about 25 bucks a pair. Finally today, here's another really cool item from hitch wear that fits the standard hitch of your truck or SUV. The Polish billet aluminum covers are available in black red or blue powder coat and these are just three of the many options manufactured by TM machine products.

So after you're done towing your toys, you can put one of these in and really dress up the rear end of your ride. You can pick one up for about 30 bucks. That's gonna do it for this week's truck here. Let's take a look at what Stacey and I have for you next week on trucks.

Stacey and I take a brand new Cherokee sport and get ready for the trail by Bolton on a three inch lift kit. Then we'll bring you back down to earth with the fastest growing race series in the country, the NASCAR Craftsman truck.

After that, it's back to the shop to show you how to add durability and value to your pickup with a paint brush.

That's all next week on trucks.

Hey, thanks for being with us this week. And remember if you're gonna take the time to build it, don't be afraid to get it dirty like me

shirt here. Oh, great. A comedian and a mechanic. Look, I hope you put some bolts on that.

I read the instructions

on

page

two.

Crux is an RTM production.