Cab and door rust, fix or replace?

Over the last 2 and a half years cab and door rust has really started showing. I didn't realize how much the po had covered up. Both corners of both doors and top of cab door jams are looking really bad.







Whats the best way to fix cab? Never attempted it in this spot before.

Heres the door corners. Easier to replace doors or fix?









Wondering if I could just grind out the bad spots then sheet metal and bondo or just look for better doors?

Im in the same boat check it out!

Really the best way to figure out a plan of action is to start removing the bad from those areas and see from there.


one of these wheels on a grinder works really well to knock out the filler paint and rust.

For the doors atleast it depends on what your time and labor is worth. I was able to find a set of doors for my 79 that have some minor dents but no rust at the boneyard for under $70 for the set. I have since media blasted them and epoxy primed them, so with time and materials I am probably in around 200-250 for my doors.


No rust but as you can see lots of little low spots from being a city truck and being in a pick n pull yard.

As for the cab its the same story, you need to dig in to determine the actual extent of the damage, if its heavy surface crustys then you should be able to wire wheel the majority of it out and hit with some type of encapsulater or rust converter. otherwise cut and replace if its bad.
looks like your cab corner has been replaced at some point too.

Brando Marlin said:

Im in the same boat check it out!

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Looks like you might need to invest in some mouse traps...

The nice thing about doing the doors like you did is you know you got the good GM sheet metal. I made the mistake in my teens on my first truck and bought some doors made in japan or china from lmc and the fit like crap.

Agreed, for the bolt on parts, find a good donor. You'll spend more time than it's worth trying to repair.
They are everywhere in TX. The cab is a different story. Going to have to investigate how bad the rust/bondo is.
Again in TX you can find a donor for not too much but then there is the VIN tag to deal with.

Same for CA, there should be plenty of good donor parts available instead of trying to replace.

82sbshortbed said:

Heres the door corners. Easier to replace doors or fix?

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Wondering if I could just grind out the bad spots then sheet metal and bondo or just look for better doors?

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Those doors are probably repairable, but I'd be on the look out for new doors. I got the doors for my truck for $75 off of Craigslist.

They were the right year/door panel, had minimal rust, and were even the right color.


As for the door jam, I'd just form a piece, weld it in, and be done with it. It doesn't have to be perfect since nobody ever really sees it.

Come pick up the extra cab I have. It needs a little work but nothing like what you have. - Nevermind on this part, Brando who posted after you has the rough cab.



I have doors too!!


But as others have said, without pull away the paint and some rust to see how far it has spread you really can't make a good assessment.

Scott91370 said:

Come pick up the extra cab I have. It needs a little work but nothing like what you have. - Nevermind on this part, Brando who posted after you has the rough cab.



I have doors too!!


But as others have said, without pull away the paint and some rust to see how far it has spread you really can't make a good assessment.

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That's an option. You're about 4 hrs from me. I'd need to rent a truck and trailer if I got cab and doors from you. I looked on Craigslist and no luck on doors so far but, will keep looking.

82sbshortbed said:

That's an option. You're about 4 hrs from me. I'd need to rent a truck and trailer if I got cab and doors from you. I looked on Craigslist and no luck on doors so far but, will keep looking.

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Instead of buying a whole cab, I'd just go to a junkyard and cut the rusted part out of a good cab.

I don't know about texas, but around here, they charge around $15 per square foot cut. I've cur wheel wells out of beds on gmt400s there and saved money on patch panels.

The key to this is to not look like an *******, by finding smashed, but rust free panels to cut your piece out of (you don't want to deprive someone of a good panel).