After a week of vacation and a week of the cold/flu (don't care which one) I finally got some work done.. a TINY amount.
Went to the junk yard to get a bracket that supported the inner rocker panel. The old one's flanges rusted off and the metal is to rusted to do a quick 'weld an L bracket to and call it done'. The bracket is part of the cab floor support and actually crosses under the entire cap as one big transverse stamping. So I needed to cut it off the donor truck. The rockers on the donor truck were in great condition.. I felt kinda bad doing this to it:
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You can see the spot welds I needed to cut to get the bracket off. Once drilled I sawz-alled the other side and BAM done in like 30 minutes.
But since I am still a little under the weather I didn't get to do much more once I got home.. had to pass out candy for the kiddo's.
I'm eyeing up the bed on this truck.. it looks close to what I need but it would need a total repaint. I only have about $250 in sheet metal bought and the truck bed would only be $150 from the yard I'm seriously considering buying it. Its in MUCH better shape than mine but I am only 60% sure it will look right. The early 2004 F150s had a weird 'Heritage model' that was really a 2003 labeled a 2004. Since the build date on this donor truck is 12/03 that makes is 2004 model year but also a possible 'Heritage' model. The bed does look different on the inside, but I really only care about the body lines. Tomorrow will be a nice day so I'll take another look at it and then also see what other parts I need to cut off for the rockers.
