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Avg cost of floor replacement?

Dabba

Dabba

1/2 ton status
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today was a sad day.. i went out to sweep the drive side floor of my truck, and the usual rust flakes fly out. I feel the floor and find a soft spot and a crack :( The floor is rusting from the inside out. I was thinking of having a body shop cut the floor and replace it, and the rocker. This is all on the d-side of a pickup, and its the floor, not where the pedals are. I looked up the body panels on lmc and saw the rocker and floor are like 65 bucks, which is surprisingly cheap. but, how much do you think its going to coast me to have the guy do it? I have no skills of the sort to do this on my own.

Just looking to hear from people in the field and people who've had the work done. thanks guys.
 
Kind of depends on the shop and condition of the floor etc. I got a quote from a resto shop for over 800 bucks with me supplying the pans. Every other quote I got wanted to overlay the pans and braze them together which I wasn't about to do. I ended up buying a used welder and am learning how to weld the sheet metal in myself.
 
Unless you have unlimited funds and want to do a show winning restoration, it's too expensive and not worth paying a pro to do it.

It's not hard and also a good learning experience to do it yourself. Plus it gives you a reason to buy a welder. Make sure you get one with gas shielding abilities.
 
:sign17:

I did both driver and passenger floor panels myself from LMC, as well as patch some holes in the rear floorboard, and the always fun tailgate/tailpan area. I know I saved myself some serious money doing it myself. I bought a Hobart Handler 140 welder, and really think I'll get my money's worth out of it in the next year or so. Welding is definitely an art. When I look at the driver's side patch panel I chuckle to myself quite often, as it looks horrible compared to the passenger side.
 
Heh yeah, i have no skills nor a welder, i wouldnt even know where to start. The back of my friends jeep is rotted to hell too, maybe i can convince him to go in halfs with me. Still, welder is going to be pretty expensive too isnt it? I only need this one spot sealed Well, for a few years anyway haha

Edit: Any suggestions for a welder that will do the job, that wont break the bank?
 
Just figure the cost of the welder as part of the cost of doing the rust repair...it'll still be less than half of what a body shop would charge you and you get to keep the welder (of course).
 
rust work is super time consuming on a professional level.... if your not being charged a decent amount, they're doing hack work...... very, very easy to rack up 20, 30 hrs on repairs.... at $60 to $80 an hr, you do the math...

you can get a budget 110 mig for maybe $300 or so.... another couple hundred in replacement panels...
 
If your not too worried about how it looks. Use pop rivets and seam sealer, then a nice coat of paint.
 
Hmm, thanks for the heads up guys, now i just need to learn how to weld sheet metal with a mig, any tips.. or resouces? haha
 
Dabba, you are currently on THE best resource. I would suggest paying the $25 membership fee to become a member and just consider it a part of the expense of your project. I bought a Lincoln 140HD mig welder from Lowe's and taught myself to weld and replace rusty metal on my K5 by reading build threads on this site. I also watched vids on youtube to gather lots of tips before I started. Through youtube I found weldingtipsandtricks.com, they post lots of very helpful videos for beginning mid welders. With practice and patience, and an angle grinder, you can gain the skills and confidence to do this repair as well as any others that may come along.

I also like the idea of getting your friend to go in on the welder with you. Two heads are better than one and the two of you will be able to help and motivate each other to get your rigs up and going.

Good Luck!
 
But i am a member haha. Thanks for the tips with youtube. Im going to start looking around the body shop forum and youtube. But the best thing is probably grabbing a **** ton of sheet metal and getting hands on practice. Ive heard a lot of migs are 220 and i dont think either of us have hookups for that. Is 110 okay?
 
110v is perfect for sheet metal repairs, welding on the frame, go 220v...
 
My Bad! I had a brain fart on the member thing. I scrolled up and only saw the "registered user". I guess with this being my 19th post I still have some kinks to work out.

My Lincoln 140HD mig is 110v due to the very same reason, no 220v in my garage. 110v has been perfect for sheet metal. I recently did the HF bead roller mod of strengthening the frame and attaching it to a homemade stand. The body of the bead roller is 1/4" and I welded it to some 2"X2"X.120 tube with .030 wire and 75/25 argon/co2 gas. The 110v handled the job just fine. The only problem I had was that my breaker kept tripping. After about 6 trips from the garage to the basement to reset the breaker I'm very happy with the results. So, the 110v will be able to handle most home projects and especially the small gauge sheet metal for your project.

The first tip you will find on every welding site is to start out with thick metal for your first practice pieces.
 
I have no idea of the cost. A pic would help out in figuring out the cost.

But lets put it this way- to do it right costs some bucks. To do it yourself, you save quite a few bucks, and you pickup a usable skill in the process.
 
Dabba said:
Heh, good to know, great. Having to get a 220v would have made this much harder.
Click to expand...
i got a 200 dollar flux core mig from sears.it works for up to 1/8 inch sheetmetal.good lil investment and has a warrantee.you may be able to find a cheaper used one on craigslist.i just sold 2 welders there myself.the work is not as hard as it looks.just measure many times before you cut any sheetmetal.good luck
 
IF it were me, I would cut out the rot, clean up the area, get the sheet metal from LMC, prep it, fit and then take the truck to a shop and have them tack weld and then run a tack bead around the panels and then you go home and finish it, that includes cleaning up the welding etc . Have the shop just weld it and you do all the grinding and clean up work, Should cost you about 100-200bux in materials and 100-200bux in welding work, maybe cheaper.
 
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