Rocker Panel Support Crack - What to Do?

[bryansudbury]

I have a 2012 Ford Expedition with lots of rocker panel rust. The rocker panels are basically gone. I have the electric fold out running boards.

I have noticed a rattling sound going over bumps coming from the underbody and believe I have identified it as the right running board. The running board is attached to a thin framing strip on the underbody. You can see in the photo below, to the right of the front support, the framing strip is rusted right through. To be clear, this is not the truck frame, but a support piece attached to the body bottom to support the running boards.

My intention is to just ignore this and turn up the radio. I could however, remove the running boards.

Anyone else have this issue? Ideas?

 

[GlennSullivan]

Have you spent a little time looking over the rest of the underbody and chassis? It is my experience that damage like that does not happen in just 1 area, but throughout the vehicle with some areas worse than others. If It were me, Id get a better idea of the big picture, before I made any moves.

 

[BigOleFordFan]

This is a pretty common issue with the 3rd Gens (& maybe others too) with the power boards.

Mine has a little bit of rust in that area, but nowhere near as bad as in that pic. I intend to get the bad parts cut out & weld in some stainless steel plates, and then apply some undercoating to the entire area too, as soon as I can find a shop willing to do it for a reasonable price...I found a listing for the parts a while back (should have bookmarked it), so when the time comes, I'll be ready

 

[NorthernExMax]

Imo, just remove them so they dont break off during operation. I have similar rust but at the back of both rear doors on the bottom. Might repair it myself with some sheeeeet metal, but everything else just has a lifht surface rust