Metal around door striker rotting away...Any Suggestions

[ahobson1]

86 K10 Step Side:

I took my truck to the shop a couple months back to do some routine maintenance I didn't really have time to do. I said "hey while it's here my driver's side door striker is a little off, could you adjust it?" Well, come to find they didn't want to touch it because after they took a close look at it they noticed the metal about 2 inches all the way around the striker was rusting out. Has anybody ever dealt with this problem before? I looked around hoping I would get lucky and find a replacement panel for that section, but no such luck. I have a bad feeling this is going to be a real P.I.T.A...Thanks for reading.

[PromiseKeeper]

I've never seen one that rusted around the striker like you're describing, but I would venture to say that there are plenty of trucks in the junkyard that you could cut that area out of and replace it with some careful measuring.

[firefighter]

No idea why it would be rusting in that area. Kind of odd.
Is water seeping down into that area from somewhere?

The fact is however, you have 3 options.
Do nothing about it
Fix it yourself
Have someone else fix it.

If it was a mint show truck or something, it would suck because you want the appearance to be mint and all surrounding paint to match perfectly.
If it's a daily driver the fix may not be that bad if you can find a donor cab.
Cut out the affected area, weld in new metal and touch up the paint to match as close as possible.
If you could find a donor cab, you'd have a piece with all the right contours and shape already.

I have a cab sitting on a trailer ready to go to the scrapyard in a month or two. If you need a piece, just let me know and I'll ship it to ya if you cover shipping. Just throwing this out to you.

[thirsty]

I agree with PromiseKeeper and firefighter. Cut the part out of a donor cab and weld it in.
I have never seen one rusted there before either. Can you post a picture?

[ahobson1]

Yeah I can post a picture when I get off work. Didn't even think about cutting a section out of a donor. Thanks for the tip guys. I thought it was kind of an odd spot too. I'm not really sure where that much moisture would be getting in.

[ahobson1]

Here's what I'm dealing with...

[thirsty]

I'm not a body man but I do deal with a lot of stuff like that. Here is what I think.
That doesn't look rusted out so much it is unusable. Looks like it has a split in the metal that needs to be welded. The only way to tell for sure how good the metal is is to take it out. That striker is beat and needs to be replaced anyway. Also looks like it has been off and adjusted with washers. The real problem is or was probably at the front of the door either the hinge pins or the door not lined up properly. I would check the door alignment first then remove the striker and inspect the rust on both sides, weld that split so it doesn't continue if the metal is good enough, and put a new striker on.
Hopefully you don't need to replace the area around the striker but if you do it is not the end for the truck. It's doable.
Good luck with it.

[ahobson1]

Thirsty I think you may be right. I looked a little closer and got the guts to poke around it with a screw driver and it feels solid. I think I'm going to order a new striker tonight and get the mig out and see what I can do. Hopefully I can do it this weekend. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for all the helpful comments!!

[HAULIN IT]

Here is my Two cents worth of advice. Drill 4 5/16" holes in about a 2" square pattern around the striker hole. V-out the crack so it has even a slight gap. Take a 2 1/2"-3" piece of heavy sheetmetal, drill a hole in the center for the striker & place it on the back side of the pillar. Weld the holes & crack shut...this way you are making the area supported so it is much less likely to crack again. This is one area on our trucks (& early S-10's ect.) that really could/should have been made a double layer.
 On a side note, (as a bodyshop owner) I'm glad to hear you had trouble finding a shop to work on it. The liability there could be ugly, it's like welding a cracked frame...You really pretty much have to do it yourself. Lorne

[ahobson1]

Here is my Two cents worth of advice. Drill 4 5/16" holes in about a 2" square pattern around the striker hole. V-out the crack so it has even a slight gap. Take a 2 1/2"-3" piece of heavy sheetmetal, drill a hole in the center for the striker & place it on the back side of the pillar. Weld the holes & crack shut...this way you are making the area supported so it is much less likely to crack again. This is one area on our trucks (& early S-10's ect.) that really could/should have been made a double layer.
 On a side note, (as a bodyshop owner) I'm glad to hear you had trouble finding a shop to work on it. The liability there could be ugly, it's like welding a cracked frame...You really pretty much have to do it yourself. Lorne

Thank You! That is a really good idea! I was just thinking I should do something more to support it instead of just welding up the crack so that it could just split again years from now. I was about to get on here and ask for suggestions what I could do to support that section better and what do ya know, there was already one waiting for me haha! Man, I'm really glad I joined this forum!