Not sure what I screwed up (rocker fit)

[ChevyJr]

So unlike most on this forum, and I emphasize most as I am sure some of you have endured much worse. I had no door pillars front or rear to measure. No inner rockers to guide me or really anything.

Now that I'm done whining, I cannot get my rockers to fit properly. The PO used a lot of Bondo to conceal fitment issue and what not. I took the proper precautions of using steel square tubing to ensure there was no cab flex. Below you will see that no matter if I were to move the door pillars out a ridiculous amount, there is no way this rocker fits. BTW this is the "original" one. I say "original" because I don't know if the PO used a repop or not.

With all that being said. I come to the Elders! (Wise not necessarily old) to ask what I should do. Is this a situation where I really have to open the lip of the rocker to meet the door and then weld up the gap? Any HELP would be greatly appreciated.

I've included photos to show that the door gap, cab corner fitment are good. So the door doesn't need adjusting, but IDK how to adjust the cab corner anymore because the line looks pretty darn good.

As a follow up, has anyone had issues with the inner rocker not meeting the outer rocker flush due to possible the door pillars?

I've tackled a project proving out of my league, but am determined to finish even though this truck has literally taken my soul. Thanks.

[Bigd426]

lower door hinge might be bent, looks off from the pic. if you know how to tram out the bottom of the cab and make sure its square by finding 2 point on each side and measuring in an X. make sure the are the same number, if they are then the cab should be good ans you can put the rocker in and then line the door up with new hinges. not sure if this is any help

[Captainfab]

I don't have a definite answer for you. It could be just one part or 2 or 3 parts that are not right. First I would begin verifying that each piece of that puzzle is as it should be. You say that you are reusing the rocker. It is possible that the PO modified it in some way which is causing this issue.

[pdxhall]

IMO in the first picture it looks as though the door pillar is too far out away from the inner kick panel patch.

[PGSigns]

Hard to see from the pictures but a couple of things look off including the rear cab corner. That rocker also looks like it has been worked over. This is where a new full length rocker would help you out. I did a lot of body work in the late 70's early 80's and when I was being taught to fit panels we tacked and fitted all the panels before welding up anything. I'll take a couple of pictures of my 66 when the sun gets up good and post them so you can see the shape of the fitment of the rocker front and back. It has no replacement panels so should give you a good idea.
Jimmy

[ChevyJr]

Originally Posted by pdxhall

IMO in the first picture it looks as though the door pillar is too far out away from the inner kick panel patch.

Unfortunately I do not think that's it. I unbolted the floor right there and bent back the lip a little to investigate what was going on with the rocker. If anything it would be helpful for the front door pillar to be out much further as the front end of the rocker is nowhere near resting on it. Thanks.

[ChevyJr]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

Hard to see from the pictures but a couple of things look off including the rear cab corner. That rocker also looks like it has been worked over. This is where a new full length rocker would help you out. I did a lot of body work in the late 70's early 80's and when I was being taught to fit panels we tacked and fitted all the panels before welding up anything. I'll take a couple of pictures of my 66 when the sun gets up good and post them so you can see the shape of the fitment of the rocker front and back. It has no replacement panels so should give you a good idea.
Jimmy

From that picture I could see how you think the rear cab corner may be off, but really its just that corner and I planned on grinding it down. More than likely because it's just more bondo under the paint. But I'm all ears when you get a chance to post pics & maybe you can take some measurements as well?!?!. The other thing that's troubling though, is even if it were true that my cab corner is slightly off...that would only account for the rear of the rocker not the front as well. Thanks.

[ChevyJr]

Originally Posted by Bigd426

lower door hinge might be bent, looks off from the pic. if you know how to tram out the bottom of the cab and make sure its square by finding 2 point on each side and measuring in an X. make sure the are the same number, if they are then the cab should be good ans you can put the rocker in and then line the door up with new hinges. not sure if this is any help

I don't think so. I checked this as it too was a concern of mine. The hinge looks to be in good shape. But I will look into how to tram though. Thanks.

[scottofksu]

Could it be that the front cab support is pulled in too far? This could happen if the PO worked from the outside in instead of the inside out. That is, when I bought new aftermarket front cab supports I found that the support only lined up with the inner rocker when the tabs that attach to the cab sub-frame were nearly straight instead of dogeared like the original part was. If the PO dogeared the replacement part it would have pulled it in an inch too far...

Just throwing in my guess! Good luck!

[fleetsidelarry]

ChevyJr, in your pictures I'm not seeing the floor brace or the bottom of the pillar:

[fleetsidelarry]

In my photo above I meant to add that those pieces are necessary to position the rocker (and I forgot that you said you were missing the pillar bottom)

[ChevyJr]

Originally Posted by fleetsidelarry

In my photo above I meant to add that those pieces are necessary to position the rocker (and I forgot that you said you were missing the pillar bottom)

It's there. If you look at the first picture, it is the black piece to the right of the rocker.

[fleetsidelarry]

and, regarding an earlier comment about the kick panel/pillar relationship, you can see (hopefully) from this picture of the driver's side of the cab I'm working on that the lower part of the kick panel does kick out:



maybe you put the pillar bottom in wrong

[fleetsidelarry]

gap between a straight line down the pillar and the outside of pillar bottom is right at 3/4". like scottofksu suggested, maybe yours is in too far

[ChevyJr]

Originally Posted by fleetsidelarry

gap between a straight line down the pillar and the outside of pillar bottom is right at 3/4". like scottofksu suggested, maybe yours is in too far

So looking at my picture, it looks like I pulled that inward too far. And if that s the case I could cut out a thin V out of the front to pull that back outward.

Could you measure from the outside of the inner rocker to the transmission tunnel on both sides. I want to make sure that I didn't short my floor maybe pulling things inward to match that. I didn't have any reference points so I hope this isnt the case. But at this point I am checking everything.

Thanks for you help. I really appreciate it.

[fleetsidelarry]

measuring along the center line of the front cross brace from the inside edge of the long front-to-back brace (between the red lines in the photo) is right at 15 7/8", both passenger and drivers sides. if you didn't have a front cross brace to build from then almost no way to get this right.