Opened a can or worms! (rockers)

[ngnaz]

I knew that the minimal exterior rust would yield worse rust underneath but was hoping for the pillars to be OK. Oh well. Ordered repair sections and am about to dive in. The right side is not bad but I know it will be worse when I open it up too.

One question, the torsion boxes are real solid and I have never done the rockers before. To replace the inners, do the torsion boxes need to be removed? What are the bolts on them that must be accessed from inside the torsion box?

[lks dcvn]

Congrats on diving in!

Torsion boxes do not need to come off if they are solid.

The bolts you reference in the pictures are the ends of the front cab mount under the floor where your feet would rest while driving.

A few more pix of this area after your cut more away are below from one of my projects back in 2009.

I've also included the work I needed to do (after shots) so you can see how I left the back open to tighten the bolts before final assembly. If you want to replicate the factory look - you can weld a nut on the a-pillar and install bolt from inside the torsion box.

Full rust repair pix and detail in an old build thread and plenty more in the build/project section of the Blazer forum. Rust repair is a bit easier as there are full panels now available for these trucks - in 2009 - you were lucky to find a bedside, or a rear seat hold down - both now reproduced by the aftermarket industry.

Once you dig in - get plenty of pix. Many of those here have been through it and can provide guidance if reqeusted.

[ngnaz]

Thanks that helps a lot. I replaced every piece but the cowl on my 66 Bronco so it doesn't scare me but these are new to me. I appreciate the help.

[jaros44sr]

Do not buy the slipover front cab mounts. Make sure you get the correct ones. Take lots of pictures for reference. And look at the build section as most of us have done it

Buy quality repair patches

[ngnaz]

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

Do not buy the slipover front cab mounts. Make sure you get the correct ones. Take lots of pictures for reference. And look at the build section as most of us have done it

Buy quality repair patches

Good advice, I learned a lot on the diferences and where to buy the best on teh Bronco. Just learning who has teh best quality here. Do you have any vendor reccomendations either way on the rocker, door and rear panel sections?

[jaros44sr]

I would have to say any vender on this site is good, but wes at Classic heartbeat truck parts is fun to talk to, and will give you valuable insight

GMC Paul's has good parts but you have to deal with E mail

[ngnaz]

So I see the bolts are for the pillar but the new picture shows bolts from the out side and the old ones look lkie they bolt in from the inside of the torsion box which is hard to get to. What do you do with these? Also I have the same question about the rear box support brackets. It has two bolts coming down from what looks to be inside of the fender panel? How are these accessed?

[bcfishon]

Originally Posted by ngnaz

So I see the bolts are for the pillar but the new picture shows bolts from the out side and the old ones look lkie they bolt in from the inside of the torsion box which is hard to get to. What do you do with these? Also I have the same question about the rear box support brackets. It has two bolts coming down from what looks to be inside of the fender panel? How are these accessed?

I ended up cutting into the that boxed area to gain access,I made 3 slices and pried open this area to get a 1\4 inch drive and 1\2 inch socket in there,pushed my pried area back and welded up the 3 slits.

[ngnaz]

Thanks, they definitely built that with never intending to open it again