Door bottoms

[Gordon Maney]

My 2001 is rusting through at the bottom edge of the doors. The rest of the truck is quite good, with the possible exception of some suspicious activity on the tailgate. I worry less about that due to how easy it is to remove and replace a tailgate.

Have you repaired your doors, or would you choose instead to buy some rust free doors from someplace like Texas or Arizona? What would you do to prevent it from happening again?

As Metal Man has always said, rust never sleeps.....

[Ron in Indiana]

Since getting out of Iowa is not an option it would be easier to replace the doors than to repair them. You could find a pair possibly in white or have them painted then mount them. No down time without a truck that way.

[Gordon Maney]

Since getting out of Iowa is not an option it would be easier to replace the doors than to repair them. You could find a pair possibly in white or have them painted then mount them. No down time without a truck that way.

White is a pretty common color, that is a great idea.

[mattsoldmopars]

Gordon,

To bad you missed out on the 7 year 70,000 mile rust-out warranty offered for the 1994-2002 Dodge trucks from Mopar. I had a 1995 Ram 2500 when I still lived in WI and in 1997 the bottoms of the doors started to rust out. I took the truck to the local Dodge Garage, they put BRAND new doors on the truck and painted them to match the truck,,, Free. It was all covered under the warranty. I washed the truck twice a week very thoroughly in the winter. To keep the road salt off of the truck, and I thought that would keep it from rusting out :-(( Rust does not sleep back east,, but out west it sure does!!

Is your truck a Quad-Cab? (the little doors in the back that open backwards) If so, keep in mind that the Front doors from a standard cab, or club-cab (no rear doors) are NOT the same as the Quad-Cab trucks front doors. The bottom rear corners on the Q/C doors are squared off, to meet up with the back doors. The Club-Cab, and Standard cab door are rounded on the bottom rear corner.

[Tom Petroff]

My 2001 is rusting through at the bottom edge of the doors. The rest of the truck is quite good, with the possible exception of some suspicious activity on the tailgate. I worry less about that due to how easy it is to remove and replace a tailgate.

Have you repaired your doors, or would you choose instead to buy some rust free doors from someplace like Texas or Arizona? What would you do to prevent it from happening again?

As Metal Man has always said, rust never sleeps.....

You didn't say how bad the damage is.
It actually starts at the lower lip were the inner and outer door skin is bonded.
From there it works upwards into the door.
I also believe the lower outer door weathersrip contributes to the problem,trapping the mud and grim there.
If it's not to bad you can mask off the lower door and clean and prime the area. then repaint. Also remove the door panel and spray the inside of the lower door with undercoating or any of the "magic" rust neutralizers of your choice.
If it's to far gone look for better doors and treat them before installing.
Common problem on these trucks.
TGP

[Gordon Maney]

Here you go....

[Ron in Indiana]

That one is on it's way out. The rust has attacked the seam so you can let it go for this winter or look for a different door. A down and dirty would be to sand the outer and inner, apply some Rustoleum to the help delay the rust and spray with a white rattle can.

[Tom Petroff]

Yup,
Better start looking for doors.
In fact you may want to seriously start thinking of a complete re-paint. Body and underbody.
At the very least a good frame and underbody cleaning and repaint to prolong the trucks life.
I'm sure if you get under it and really start looking around you will see things you don't really want to see.
TGP

[Doc Dave]

Here you go....

Gordon,
If you find some NOS doors or equivalent, let me know what they cost, etc., as my doors are starting to rust out on the bottom too, although not as bad as yours.

[Gordon Maney]

Gordon,
If you find some NOS doors or equivalent, let me know what they cost, etc., as my doors are starting to rust out on the bottom too, although not as bad as yours.

I certainly will, although that whole idea will have to wait until I am employed again. Things are pretty tight just now!

[Gordon Maney]

Yup,
Better start looking for doors.
In fact you may want to seriously start thinking of a complete re-paint. Body and under body.
At the very least a good frame and underbody cleaning and repaint to prolong the trucks life.
I'm sure if you get under it and really start looking around you will see things you don't really want to see.
TGP

How would you implement the frame and under body cleaning and paint process? That seems a quite difficult job.

[Tom Petroff]

How would you implement the frame and under body cleaning and paint process? That seems a quite difficult job.

Difficult? No. Labor intensive?,some what.
Best to find a young man eager to help,lol.
A lift or even and old style front end rack (remember them? the ones three feet or so off the ground with long drive up ramps) Would work great.
I have an old front end rack but can't get to it,so I used my backhoe(front loader) and lift up the rear of the truck after hooking securely to the bucket.
Then I have measured the lift cyl. from the "gland" to the rod arm pin and cut a piece of angle iron that length. Slip it over the chrome rod between the two point for a safety brace. One each side. I also use them when ever I perform PM work on the tractor.

Power wash the underside very thoroughly and blow dry.
You may also the bead blast if available or a must if heavily rusted.
I then spray liberally with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. Despite others opinions this product has work well for me,much better than the other's, and a lot more user friendly.
Have used it a lot at work on heavy equipment battery boxes and such. Great results. As with any body/paint work "Prep" is the key.
I have done all my vehicles this way. Little primitive,but effective,non the less.

As for the doors factory doors list for a little over one thousand dollars. My cost little over six hundred each.
LMC truck sell repro doors for four hundred std/club cab. Don't think they have the front Quad cab doors.
Most of there parts quality is decent, has been for me anyway.
Tailgate repro is two fifty. NOS is well over four hundred.

TGP

[Gordon Maney]

Years ago I had the chance go buy at low cost the framework, tracks, and ramps from a front end rack. I passed on it because I did not think I wanted to tie up a stall with it. Now I think it would be a good thing to have outdoors. You could pour a slab and then put the rack on it. Such things as you describe could be done on it, as well as oil changes.

[MoparFreak69]

Wow Gordon, You need to find a donor rig from this neck of the woods. We dont have near the problems with rust like that. You never did mention if it was a quad cab or just a regular cab (or a 94-97). I know my old man has a set of white doors off a regular cab that are just laying around taking up space. They arent perfect, need some sticker residue cleaned off them, and they had the big mirrors mounted on them so there are like 3 screw holes in them that arent on a regular truck, but I'm sure I can get you a good deal on them. Let me know if you are interested and I will try to get a shipping quote and see what he wants out of them. They are also off a Cummins truck but not sure if the logos are still on them.

P.S. I know this is a bit of a resurrection, but not sure if you got the problem solved yet or not.

[Gordon Maney]

Wow Gordon, You need to find a donor rig from this neck of the woods. We dont have near the problems with rust like that. You never did mention if it was a quad cab or just a regular cab (or a 94-97). I know my old man has a set of white doors off a regular cab that are just laying around taking up space. They arent perfect, need some sticker residue cleaned off them, and they had the big mirrors mounted on them so there are like 3 screw holes in them that arent on a regular truck, but I'm sure I can get you a good deal on them. Let me know if you are interested and I will try to get a shipping quote and see what he wants out of them. They are also off a Cummins truck but not sure if the logos are still on them.

P.S. I know this is a bit of a resurrection, but not sure if you got the problem solved yet or not.

Thanks for thinking of me. No, I have not yet solved this issue. My truck is a quad cab, so the regular cab doors would not work, as I understand it.