hasnt led me wrong, let me add a part, wash it DRY IT (like with towels, not air dry that doesnt get it all) then wax. doing this once a year has worked for me to stop rust for years

 

It would depend on were you live. My 86 F250 (pretty much same bed design) showed rust in paint chip areas in the rear fenderwells. Well I owned that truck for about 14 years & they got a little worse but never rusted through. I lived in Northern Nevada where we got some snow & salted roads. But it is an older truck. Unless you plan to make a show truck I wouldn't waste any time on it. My engine bay is the cleanest neatest area on my truck. Because that is the heart.

 

Thanks for all the input fellas. Looks like I may just hold off for a while treating her for a while. I bought it in Kansas where they get a good bit more snow than down here in Oklahoma, so hopefully it won't spread too fast. I think when I finally do decide to patch her up I'll have it done at a body shop and have those seams filled in with something. I would like to have the whole underbody and frame coated at some point as well. I'll post some pics to my profile this weekend at some point to show her off a bit, she's a real beauty.

 

THAT right there is a PROPER way to make a paint job LAST, for YEARS.


Correct, he is just blowing hot air, like most of his posts. Nothing to add other than his 15 yr old OPINION

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

righto, you boys believe what you want, i'm not here to stop ya. just sayin what has worked for me for years on salty and sandy roads or at the bare minimum helped reduce the problem

 

Years? as in your 15 yrs being alive?

Typically trucks/cars/machinery do not rust from the outside in. The rust starts from the BACK. When you see it, is is to late. The shiniest paint in the world doesn't help stop rust

 

yeah...... which is why i crawl under the vehicle at times (not all the time cuase it sucks) and wash out the crud, i than towel dry what i can get at both outside and underneath/inside such as the wheel wells and behind any fake little rubber wheel well as well

 

In case anyone was wondering here is what I have going on.

 

As Brad mentioned, that rust on the wheel arches started from the inside and is working its way out, because of the design of the inner wheelhouse of our trucks. There's three options for that at this point: replace with a rust free bed, replace bedsides, or cut out the rust and weld in a patch panel. Whichever way you decide to go, you're going to want to remove the inner wheelhouse, and go to town on the inside of the bed panel with some rust preventive measures. POR 15, or something similar to it, would probably be best. Before you reinstall the wheelhouse, hole saw some holes in it near the wheel arch area, so that you can get in there and hose it out, and also so it's able to drain and not trap junk in there that'll cause more rot. 100% of the time, when you read about less than stellar results with patch panels on a wheel arch, it's because the inner wheelhouse wasn't dealt with properly, and the backside of the panel wasn't treated properly.

For the cab area, you should be able to find patch panels that can be welded in.