Since my truck lived all its life in Southern CA. Her rubber badly dry rotted, and shes not water tight at all. I have started replacing the rubber, and sealing the gaps around the rubber with a weather sealant / adhesive, since even the new rubber doesn't quite fit snugly. I noticed on my rain rails, there is what looks like a bead of something, that used to seal them. Its flaking off, and impossible to tell what it was.

Will i hurt anything if i chip it off and put down a bead of weather sealant up there?
Other then a general rubber kit all the way around the truck is there anything else i should focus on to better prep her for winter?
Shes 98% rust free and id like to keep her that way.

Thanks

 

There is a caulking made for the drip rails, but I don't recall the name. I got mine at an Automotive paint supply store, a simple Google search should located you some, maybe Eastwood has it..

 

Funny.. I thought that caulking was actually bond and was getting ready to grind it out.

This the stuff?

 

Hard to tell what is exactly in there from the picture, regular drip rail caulking is paintable not all weather sealers are.

After a trip to the garage I found I still had an old tube, 3M Heavy Duty Drip-Chek Sealer. And I did mine in 1975, maybe I should clean the garage LOL

 

To me it looks like bondo however it might just be old caulking since it's not cracked.

Curious to see someone chunk out the old stuff, grind, paint and re-seal

 

You should be able to pick up a tube of automotive seam sealer at any good auto parts/autobody supply store, I prefer Wurth, 3M and dominion/American sure seal brands.
Clean/scrape all of the old sealer off, make sure there is no rust, if there is sandblast it out. put/spray a good quality coat of etching primer on prior to applying the seam sealer. apply the seam sealer liberally as it will level itself better. It always makes a
neater job if you mask the areas around. MAKE SURE YOU PEEL THE TAPE OFF AS SOON AS YOU FINISH APPLYING THE SEALER make sure you have some corresponding solvent on hand to clean up any excess before it dries.
Mikie
near Ottawa Canada
58 merc 100 panel & 64 econoline p/u

 

Thats the problem, old caulking dries out and cracks. Your picture almost looks like a clear silicone type sealer was used?

 

Jim, I rather agree with you on "Millertime's" post looking like liquid silicone sealer, even though the body looks like it is wet from the rain. The area shown is above the driver side over the w/shield, one of our worst places for drip rail/roof rusting. I would venture that if he were to remove his headliner, he would find rusting on the inside. Like my 57, I have rust there too, but much worse than his.

I think I would advise Millertime to carefully cleanout all of that sealant in the driprails. If it is silicone, he is in for some fun removing it all completely, or anything new applied, paint, primer or sealant might not adhear to the body and may promote rust, more than is showing now. (just love that silicone)

3M Drip-chek, or brushable body seam sealer would probably be my choice of replacement sealer, over a well cleaned and rust free surface, that has at least a solid coat of primer and maybe even a coat of finish paint too.

 

I think if it was silicone I would just leave it knowing how hard it is to completely remove, but removing old caulking isn't fun either. I'm old school and never use silicone on any of my vehicles. My 1975 caulking job is starting to show it's age now, some cracking and small rust areas are starting to show, but I'm too old and lazy to tackle it again

 

There's no sheen in the sealant thats in the roof rails so I doubt its silicone based. Going to rough this year out and deal with it next spring