Has anyone removed one of these truck door skins?

dhutton01

dhutton01

Backyard Hack
I picked up this 59 Apache last week and I want to straighten this door while preserving the cough cough “patina”. It looks like I would need to open the hem all the way around the skin and drill out some spot welds in the window opening. Does that sound right? There is no access from the inside of the door and I don’t want to use my stud welder. I also need to repair some rust in the bottom of the door frame while it’s apart.

I guess another option is glue tabs but I have zero experience using them.

IMG_2725.jpeg


This is a cool old truck. Original paint deluxe cab and deluxe bed. Worth saving for sure.

IMG_2723.jpeg
IMG_2724.jpeg
 
It's over my paygrade, I could see R&R'ing the skin but not without a lot of evidence that it had been done...
 
It’s going to need quite a few shrinks to be straight, but just better is tough due to access. I would drill holes in the bottom of the door shell which won’t be seen anyway, and use a bar to « improve » the look of it.
 
Robert has a thread where he has pics of the tool he made to help de-skin. Based on a pair of vise grips and the sharp edge of a wood chisel. I can't link it but would be a good idea to look for it and make something similar. Like Dave said the posts are going to make it hard to remove it, if you could section it that would be better but you mentioned patina so I guess you don't want to do that. Irregardless, go easy, don't try to open too much too quickly. Be prepared to do some hammer and dolly work around the edges to repair the damage that happens when unfolding the skin.

Found a pic in this thread of the tool Robert made. I made one similar a long time ago as well. Mine works OK but if used too aggressively will cause additional damage. I'm sure Robert's works better. You may find you need to make or repurpose other tools as well to help in certain areas.

Door Skin Removal

Can a door skin be removed from one door and then reinstalled on another door? Does take a special tool? Any threads or links? Thanks in advance.
www.garagejournal.com www.garagejournal.com
 
Here is some of the damage that can occur when removing the skin. This is on the 911 hood that I recently de-skinned. My tool probably doesn't work as well as Roberts. But in many areas it was hard to get into due to limited access. Correcting this took many hours.


20240128_2204421708321056.jpg


20240131_1923441708321296.jpg
 
I wouldn’t be afraid to re-patina the door. Take a few good pix and redo what was there. But be sure the owner is cool with that first.
 
metalman said:
You think maybe they are only concerned about removing the skin for a new one? You want to reinstall yours.
Click to expand...
Not sure. If you didn’t want to save the skin wouldn’t you just grind the edge? I did notice they don’t show the other side of the removed skin. :)

Don
 
Big Dave said:
I wouldn’t be afraid to re-patina the door. Take a few good pix and redo what was there. But be sure the owner is cool with that first.
Click to expand...
I’m the owner so no worries there. :). I was planning to remove the runs. I think maybe that’s some rattle can someone put on there.

I have a couple of old doors from my cameo that I can experiment on.

Don
 
I can't help with the door skin. One of my friends Dad pretty much made a living doing "rat rods" and recreating patina. He was able to finish new panels to where I couldn't tell where he worked on them.
 
dhutton01 said:
Not sure. If you didn’t want to save the skin wouldn’t you just grind the edge? I did notice they don’t show the other side of the removed skin. :)

Don
Click to expand...
If you watch starting at 1:00, you can almost see it damaging the outer side. I did a hood the same way, but with hand tools and didn't damage it at all. I also did it in steps, instead of all at once. I practiced on another junk hood.
 
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I ended up slicing off the interior shell along where the door weatherstrip sits and across the top where the door panel trim panel covers it. So mostly invisible when I’m done. It’s a long weld but in locations with a lot of shape to prevent warping. Got it mostly straightened out. I used my shrinking disc from the inside to prevent too much paint damage. Just need the patch panel for the shell bottom. Should have it all done this week.

I ordered some rattle can off white chalk paint for some touchup where needed. Let’s see how that goes….

I’ll post up some pics when I’m done.

Don
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top