We have used patch panels in the floor, sills, cab corners, door bottoms, door corners, fleet side front, wheel arch, rear corner. full guards, hood base.
We got these from LMC and the fit was OK. We have made a real effort to line up swage lines, everything has been plasma or hand cut to fit then butt welded. We have kept as much original steel as possible so have thrown a lot of the patch steel away in the process.
I stressed over the fleet side bed trying for some months to get a replacement. In the end we ordered the patch panels by looking at what we had to cut out and seeing what was available then cut and shut ending up with matching panel steel and minimal filler.
The guards fitted OK too. Some door curve adjustment required, some steel filling to guard/scuttle to even up the gaps but otherwise real nice.
Cab corners Paul scrapped a lot of patch panels and bashed them into shape, but welding them in and again minimal filler. Floor patches we went for halves and found that swage lines and cab mount holes didn't match so these were sorted, re-drilled, re-swaged and butt welded in.
One panel we couldn't get was the transmission tunnel as we have changed from floor to column shift. So we fixed the old one which cost a lot more than a pre-punched original would have if they made them but it looks good. Earl from Earls Body Shop did this in Wellington along with some other real tricky bits.
The tailgate we replaced complete and had to adjust and smoothed spot welds did some tricky stuff for the high stop.
We have test fitted the body on the chassis, first off to see what we could do with wheels, and ride height and now we have bolted the body together again to check the gaps and contours.
We have done a lot of panel work on our truck. I am so fortunate to have had a skilled master craftsman, Paul Knight taking on the steel work. Google him and check out his car which has now been replaced by a magnificent Mustang that looks better than showroom. Re the truck we have some photos up on here, she's going to be great when she's done.
