Door bottoms

[MoparFreak69]

Correct. If you look at the bottom, rear of the door you will notice yours are squared off. Regular cabs and the earlier extended cabs were rounded at the bottom, quite a bit actually. It is about a 6" diameter rounding so it would be quite noticable.
Good luck with the search.

[Doc Dave]

Gordon,

Have you done anything with your doors yet?

I am wondering if I should buy the door bottom repair "kit" from LMC truck parts and cut off the rusted lower 66 inches or so, or try and get replacement doors. I know new ones are quite expensive, and I wonder if junk yard ones are still "good" this many years since the body style change, even from down south. Tom and Ron, have you gone this route before?
I see this nice instruction from Len Stuart's site:
http://autobodystore.com/door_rust.shtml

I just replaced my rear chrome bumper (rust issues) with a NOS one from a dealer who sells on the internet (ebay). Made a huge difference in appearance.

Another thing I am thinking about is a repro tail gate, as mine is also starting to rust through at the bottom.

[Gordon Maney]

Gordon,

Have you done anything with your doors yet?

I am wondering if I should buy the door bottom repair "kit" from LMC truck parts and cut off the rusted lower 66 inches or so, or try and get replacement doors. I know new ones are quite expensive, and I wonder if junk yard ones are still "good" this many years since the body style change, even from down south. Tom and Ron, have you gone this route before?
I see this nice instruction from Len Stuart's site:
http://autobodystore.com/door_rust.shtml

I just replaced my rear chrome bumper (rust issues) with a NOS one from a dealer who sells on the internet (ebay). Made a huge difference in appearance.

Another thing I am thinking about is a repro tail gate, as mine is also starting to rust through at the bottom.

No, I have not done anything yet. I really can't afford to, trying to recover from having been unemployed for a year. I wonder if new doors would suffer the same fate. I recall Dave Brownlow once explaining something about how you had to make drain holes and correct the original design so it could live. Would Texas doors from a salvage yard be OK, particularly if they have to be modified anyway?

It is embarrassing to drive a truck that has the bottoms rotting off the doors. I would almost rather drive it with doors of the wrong color.

My taigate is starting to show signs, too. This truck was Ziebarted when new, by the way.

The Cummins will outlast the shell.

[Ron in Indiana]

I seem to have escaped the rusty door bottoms so far. As for Z Bart, I had a new 74 Charger treated at Z Bart when it was new. I had heard all the hype but that's all it was hype. Car rusted out in the rear quarters and doors anyway. I've been on the lookout for doors for you Gordon but they are either crashed or rusted too. I did find a very good seat bottom for mine since my foam has deteriorated to the point of me sitting on the seat frame. I'm at 198,000 + miles right now. Can't afford a newer truck but this one is doing fine. I did have to replace the bed floor in my Stahl utility bed this winter.

[Gordon Maney]

What do new doors cost?

[Ron in Indiana]

Do you really want to know? If I can find some doors at the new salvage yard in town they go for $40 a door. I know it sounds fishy but it's not. They keep vehicles for 60 days and then crush them. All their prices are super low. Any V8 motor is $189 for instance. I'll keep looking for a rear ended or frontal crash truck.

[Gordon Maney]

Do you really want to know? If I can find some doors at the new salvage yard in town they go for $40 a door. I know it sounds fishy but it's not. They keep vehicles for 60 days and then crush them. All their prices are super low. Any V8 motor is $189 for instance. I'll keep looking for a rear ended or frontal crash truck.

Scrap prices are that good now?

[Doc Dave]

Ron,
That is a tremendous price, if they do not have rust at the bottom. I may be wrong but I would think by this time (9 years out on the last 2nd gen truck model) that it is getting more and more difficult to find doors on wrecked trucks that are not rusted. If you see one, however, please let Gordon and I know.
I would defer first to Gordon, however ;)
I clicked on the (Len Stuart's) Autobodystore link in my post above, and then clicked again on the notation he had about pre-formed door bottoms he sells. They list for only $18.00 and he has a very nice pictorial on how to repair a door bottom.
If I cannot find a good rust free door I will go this route with mine.
I basically did the same thing he shows with the bottom of my power wagon's driver door; it was not very difficult to do.

[Ron in Indiana]

Gordon, do you have power windows in your truck? I'll see if they've had anything new come in. This place is great , open 7 days a week.

[Gordon Maney]

Gordon, do you have power windows in your truck? I'll see if they've had anything new come in. This place is great , open 7 days a week.

Yes, I have power windows.

[(92)cummins]

to prevent it again you need to somehow modify the drains because when my dad would park his 98 on a hill and it rained heavy water would sit in the bottom of the door