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Rust on Frame... How concerned should I be?

12ga diesel

12ga diesel

Jack of all, Master of none
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Location
McHenry,IL
So I have noticed over the last month or so on the side of the driveway that I park on, there has been a growing rust stain on the concrete, more noticeable when the front passenger side and rear driver side sits. Sorry I didn't take pics of the driveway, but here are pics of the underside of the truck. There is one spot on the rear of the frame that that looks pretty serious, and I wanted to ask here. Also you'll see in the one pic that the underside of the body is starting to rust as well in the wheelwell. Do you think this could spread under the wheel flare and up the side of the bed? I'm just looking for opinions and wondering like the title says, how concerned I should be about then frame rust first and foremost. The middle section of the frame and about 80% of the frame all together still has the tar-like stuff on it as the rust protection, but the spots that I have shown in the pictures, there is little to none there. BTW, I have 83,260 miles on the truck, the large majority of them being highway miles. Thanks in advance for any and all input.

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I have the same problem with my truck. Three bad New York winters made my frame look like dog ****. The only thing I plan on doing is wire brushing the bad spots and hitting them with undercoating. When I got down to FL I used an entire can of WD-40 on everything to help slow down any progress. Check into POR-15 as well. It's spendy but it works well. Take care of this now before there's any structural damage.
 
My truck spends the whole winter running around in the salt chasing the next snowfall all to make a dollar. Mine is an "o3" and has spend every winter since it was new plowing snow. I try to paint my frame with that Dupli-Color Spray on truck bed coating at least once a winter. In my little brain this at least gives me some type of satisfaction that the salt has to eat through that pait before it gets to the truck.

Needless to say, you truck looks good compared to my frame.

The only spot that I have noticed the rust starting to form in on my tailgate, mostly due to gravel road driving with a trailer on. Rocks hammer my taligate. Rust is very minor (not visible unless you are inches from the truck and it must be spotless.
 
Id be more concerned with the rust on the left...the support beam on the bed, I am guessin. Get some Por15 on that asap!

You can always wire brush the rust of the frame, and recoat it with...well anything...but if I were in your shoes, I would choose not to work so hard, and invest in the POR15 for everything. IIRC, you do not have to do anything in terms of prep...brush it on, and let it convert.
 
I'm with DD on this. It will take a long ,ong time for the frame to rust to the point of being a problem, and you can stop it with several rust proofing products. The rust on the box crossmember will be come an issue long before the frame does. The good news is the bed isn't hard to remove, and you could sandblast it and treat it with POR-15 or similar product.
 
Diesel Dually said:
Id be more concerned with the rust on the left...the support beam on the bed, I am guessin. Get some Por15 on that asap!

You can always wire brush the rust of the frame, and recoat it with...well anything...but if I were in your shoes, I would choose not to work so hard, and invest in the POR15 for everything. IIRC, you do not have to do anything in terms of prep...brush it on, and let it convert.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of POR15, but you know I will be looking for it this weekend. And it seems pretty easy to work with. Short prep time is always a plus. Thanks for all the info guys.
Diesel Dually said:
And...lets move this to exterior...I'll leave a redirect though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was kinda unsure where questions about the frame would fall into. So I guessed.
 
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