more than likely your diff cover rotted from the inside out. this is very common and has nothing to do with the surface rust else where.

around here, everything on the undercarriage has surface rust on it. it's no big friggin deal.

here's what it will look like in 30 years:




the rest of the truck might be rusty as all heck, like this:

and with all that road salt and "terrible corrosion" it won't get any worse than the photo's above. seriously, you can get tetanus just looking at this thing, but the axles stopped rusting 29 years ago.

this one stopped rusting 34 years ago:


it's really no big deal.
if it bothers you, paint it.

but it is not a problem that needs fixing.

 

me being a nobody goes without saying.

me being right has nothing to do with that.

prove me wrong. find ONE company willing to waste their time and your money doing this.

again ... if it bothers you, do something about it yourself. but this is not something that ford is "cheaping out" on, nor is it an oversight.

it is a case of clearly unreasonable expectations. just going around finding problems that don't need to be solved.

waste of time worrying about it, and waste of money to have someone "fix" it.

but, as you say, i'm a nobody ... and apparently so is everyone else i know, cauz i can't find ONE person around here who gives a crap if there is some surface rust on the undercarriage .. because around here EVERYTHING has surface rust on the undercarriage.

 

What failed that required its replacement?

Believe it or not Mike, the axle on my '97 Town Car looks a fair amount worse than your 30-year-old one. Of course it spent its entire life in the northeast, which may have something to do with it. How in the world would a differential cover rust from the inside out? My 17-year-old differential had no rust, corrosion, or anything of the sort.

 

Her entire axle housing was reverting back to dirt and maybe she will add a picture (it is in here somewhere). She replaced it with a Dana 60.

Those diff covers rust from the outside in and may look like it started inside but that's impossible.

 

Yes I would really like to understand the thought process that took place to think a differential cover will often rust from the inside out..... while being bathed 24/7 in gear oil....

I mean heck, if a few ounces of that oil leaked onto the outside of the cover it would be rust free for years lol..

 

You guys are freaking out over surface rust. that surface rust is actually GOOD for the axle. it provides a protective oxide layer that prevents further rust and damage.

Just like Tom pointed out, I've seen axles >50yrs old that had a tiny bit of surface rust and are still in essentially brand new condition. They never had paint on them.

Same thing applies to interior metal inside the cab. You should see some of the posts guys make when they find "rampant rust" inside the cab where Ford/Dodge/Chevy didn't paint the metal because it didn't matter. That protective oxide layer forms after the initial contact with moisture laden air...then it stops and it's good for tens of years.

As for rust in body panels...that is a argument I can totally understand. The conditions your rigs have to deal with up North are outrageous. Good luck with the efforts and may the rust never get a foothold in the sheetmetal
you are mistaken as to why she replaced her axle

yes it was rusty, yes it was a Dana 50, and yes she scored a Dana 60 axle that had lift leafs already bolted to it from a Junkyard...she kind of had a perfect coincidence of events fall into place that precipitated the swap. but to boil it down, she DID NOT replace her axle because it was rusty

 

Yes she did. Did you ever see a picture of it?

 

yep. it was a testamate of what sheer determination can accomplish when Sammie puts her mind to it

 

Tylus I am going to have to disagree with you on on that statement. I did replace it because it was rusted through in places. If you look above the rotted off sway bar and just under the spring you can see three almost through holes in the housing. I wish I had taken more pictures back then, but I've always wondered what happened to this truck, parked in the ocean maybe. The D60 did come as a package deal with the rear axle which did not look much better and did come with lifted springs from a lift kit that was installed on the donor F250.

 

And thanks Tylus appreciate the vote of confidence. I did tackle the rest of the rust myself once I had the new axles. It can be done. An after photo.

 

I completely agree with you Tylus but unfortunately sometimes in the Northeast the salt gets through our carpets and rusts the floor from the top and bottom . Even with rubber floor mats (not the full floor) when the snow and salts water that comes in on your feet it melts and wicks through the carpet...my floor pan under where my feet go is all rusted and starting to bubble up.

 

the most common diff cover failure i have seen is where it rusts through at the very bottom right above the bolts.

this is usually caused by moisture getting the diff and pooling at the bottom.

the type of corrosion on sammy's truck is what i would expect from a vehicle exposed to salt water.


the problem is, around here, nothing you do would even work -- not if it is driven in the winter.

my powdercoated step bars rusted through in 4 years, and that was with me trying to take care of them.

my powdercoated hitch got rusty every year, and to keep it looking nice i would scrape, wire brush, spray it with rust converter, and bed liner --and every year by the end of winter it looked like crap again ... so i'd do it again to make it look nice for the summer.

POR is good stuff, but unless it is better than powdercoating, i don't think that is going to last very long either.

i just don't think there is anything you can do that will last.... not around here, anyway.

 

Oil works... Oil kills rust. I also agree ford is a cheap POS when it comes to rust protection. My 03 honda van that is driven daily year round looks better than my 03 excursion that is stored winters... Some companies care, some don't.

 

.....could light the salt sheds on fire

 

Rock salt isn't so bad, this liquid salt brime they use now days is what kills vehicles! It is a bunch of crap and I feel the state should reimburse people for rust damage because of their crap!