Yep. Wisconsin.

The rest of the door looks good, along with the other three doors, tailgate, rockers, etc. This escalated A LOT in the last 6 months or so.

I did some searching for salvage doors and most all of them have rust like this, most were over 100 miles away, $150-$250, and I'd have to paint match the whole door.

I found this replacement panel on carparts.com (not the salvage website).

https://www.carparts.com/details/Jee...T0482171L.html

Do you guys think this is a viable option to cut the old out and weld this one in? They don't show the overall dimensions, so I'm not sure if it's the full length or just a section. It's only about $50 after shipping.


Any opinions on this? Thanks!

 

Make sure all your window seals are in good shape and are keeping the water out within reason... Inside the door at the bottom there's a seam that has a sealer applied... Over the years water eventually gets behind the sealer and starts to rust just like you've got there...What I'm getting at is no matter how you repair it you'll need to reseal the bottom of the door skin and frame or the repair will be short lived...
And now for the sheet metal assessment :
As you can see the bottom of the door skin wraps around the bottom sandwiching the frame...You could easily make that piece if needed..But being a "replacement" piece it should have the fold and it certainly would be the easy way out for the repair....Secondly I would NOT bring the repair above that lower body line you'll lose any metal integrity when you're welding the patch... Keep it low right below the line ...

 

Thanks for the insight Corky! Seems like good news.

I have no experience welding, but I have a friend who can. This is the welder at my workplace, should be ok for sheet metal?

This will definitely be a learning experience for me and I will not rush into it without proper preparation. Probably the end of November sometime.

 

I see it's a 110v welder and that's what you want.... But a mig would be ideal for the job... The "gasless" welder will make a bunch of slag and impurities in the welds that might cause problems down the road with rust, body filler and paint adhesion...
Body shops won't use that type of welder for just those reasons...