First time 2006 Dodge Ram Laramie Owner

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acolic

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Hi,

a quick intro from a first time Dodge Ram owner.

Just picked up a nice rusty pickup (very cheap) for my son and I to repair. The bed, rocker panels and front fenders are pretty rusted out but the vehicle has potential.

I found a pretty decent bed which I am picking up tonight which after a bit of body work and a paint job is going to solve the rusty bed problem.

The rocker panels are going to be a bit challenging. I am having a bit of trouble finding a source for inner and outer replacement panels for a Crew Cab.

The front fenders seem to be pretty simple to fix, just a bolt on.

I had my mechanic go over the vehicle and the frame, motor, transmission, transaxle, diff etc look good.

I just need to fix the body and do a complete rear brake replacement before I can get it on the road.

The goal this year is to make it drivable and then next year we'll deal with lifting it etc. It will be mostly used to move my boat around, moderate offroading and long trips with the kids.

Alex
 

quietpeen

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welcome
 

MADDOG

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Welcome to RamForum.
 
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acolic

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Step one is complete. I bought a mostly rust free bed.

The plan is to clean and prime the bed. There’s one small piece of rust to grind out and fix.

I’m thinking of spraying the bottom with bed liner to keep it from rusting.

[


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ExpressRules

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Don't forget to post before pictures and more as each step of the work is completed. Welcome aboard.
 
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acolic

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Will do.

Posting will keep me motivated to get this job done.

It looks like I need to replace both the inner and outer rocker panels.

Anyone have any advice on how to remove the inner rocker panels?


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acolic

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It’s pulling out dents and repairing rust time.

It was my first time using a stud welder. Great tool.

The bottom half of two doors are rusted out I’ll have to figure that out.

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chrisp2493

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Will do.

Posting will keep me motivated to get this job done.

It looks like I need to replace both the inner and outer rocker panels.

Anyone have any advice on how to remove the inner rocker panels?


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Air chisel, pry bar, grinder and brute force. Been there, done that


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acolic

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I have seen lower door patch panels available through RayBuck and others

What I don’t get is after I cut out and remove the lower part of the rusted door and I weld the patch panel on, how do I fold the edges?

Just a hammer or is there a special edge bending tool?


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acolic

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I guess there’s no going back.

I started work on replacing the rusty rocker panels and it looks like both the outer and inner need to be replaced.

It took quite a while to get to this point.

I need to step back and figure out how to cut out and replace the rusted inner section properly.

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