My '80 crew needs a lot of floor repair mostly the front section and front part of the middle section. Has anyone used the floor repair panels available from JC Whitney and others? I'm wondering how accurate they are and if they have the correct bend at the door seal lip. They only measure 29 x 29 so that doesn't help with the middle, flat, under the front seat section. From what I've seen, that middle section of floor is a crew cab only piece, unobtainable from the aftermarket. So, it looks like I need to develop some fabrication and welding skills! I'd consider cutting the floor from a truck at pick-n-pull but don't have a small generator for portable work. Do they allow generators in their yard?

 

I got my floor panel from browns of two rivers. Google it. It is pretty much for where your feet go. It doesn't go as far back as the seat. I should've done a writeup when I put mine in. It was like $50. You would be better off to cut one out of another truck to be honest, or take the whole cab if you want to do it right. I would never weld an aftermarket floor panel in unless it was just temporary like my truck.

 

Was the aftermarket panel no good? Either way I'll have to fab some of it because of the flat middle section specific to the crew. My problem with cutting one out is portable power unless I buy a whole truck and bring it home, then I have to deal with getting rid of the rest - got rid of 3 Scouts, one of them by feeding a 5yd dumpster over the course of a few weeks! The wrecking yards around here only sell late model cuz that's where the money is, except for the u-pull places.

 

I used the JCWhitney panels to replace the floor panels on both sides of my '76 gasser some years ago. As I remember, the fit wasn't exactly perfect, but with some cutting and a 3 pound "adjuster", things came together well enough.
I used lots of undercoating underneath, and bed liner on top.
With a layer of JCWhitney after market carrpet, they didn't look too bad. While nothing close to "restoration", they served to keep my feet inside and put and end to my "Flintstone braking system".

Faced with the gaping holes, I'd do it again.
Bob

 

It was a generic Dodge panel from the 70's to 90's. Dodge had two different floor humps. Seemed like this one was for a 4X2. It will never be right if you just cut and weld. To do it right, you get a new cab. If the floor is junk the rest probably isn't far behind, am i right?

 

From what I've seen and been told by my buddy who does pro resto's and who is helping me do my CC, it doesn't matter if you buy the cheap or expensive repair pannels. None of them are going to fit like OEM. The expensive ones will line up a little bit better but will never be exact. There will always be a little "adjusting" needed.

 

Yeah. Temporary only. Mine keeps my feet inside until I graduate, buy a house, another truck, and do a complete restore. I did a rocker panel too, just to keep the truck looking nice, and It actually fit pretty nice. I had to weld the cab corner and the rocker together though, and make it smooth instead of having a seam there, but like i said, only temporary.

 

Perfect fit ? No, and you are right, everything else will soon follow, such as rocker panels, cab corners, lower fenders and on and on...

It did accomplish several things:
It removed the "added feature" of the auto-draining floor in the event of a coffee spill.
It kept my feet (slightly) warmer in the winter.
It bought me an additional 6+ years of legal inspections 'till I sold it to buy my Cummins.
Bob

 

The rest junk? No the rest is pretty good. The problem was leaks from a poorly adjusted drivers door and the misc under-dash locations. The water was held in by the vinyl floor mat. So, no it's not a rust bucket. The lesson? track down those water leaks before they cause damage. I could probably repair it by cutting out the rust and overlaying with some sheet-metal along with rust converting, spray on zinc, zero rust etc.