My Ranger has some rust under the bed, mostly at a couple of the crossmembers and where the exhaust was and the heat caused it to rust.

Some of it is bad enough to where it is starting to flake off and some is really just bubbled but not terrible.

I want to do something to go ahead and take care of it before I start driving it just to make sure it doesn't get too much worse for awhile- but after looking at Eastwood's website I have no idea what I should use.

It has to be something I can apply upside down (since the bed is still on the truck), and I'd like it if it doesn't require a ton of prep. I was going to do POR 15 but then I saw that you're supposed to use their marine clean, THEN etch the metal and THEN apply the POR 15...I don't really want to do all that prep or have $100 tied up in doing these few spots of rust. I didn't spend a lot on this truck and it has 175K on it so it's not like I'm going to be keeping it forever, but I don't want the bed to rust out either.

Recommendations? I was looking at Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator but I've seen mixed reviews on it.

 

Cheapest easiest way I can think of is a bottle of Ospho and a really cheap garden sprayer. A plastic one will work and then throw it away. Top coat with some Rustoleum and good to go for awhile.

 

We have a similar situation on this '04 in the shop, it appears to be caused by moisture retention due to the heat insulation blanket above the exhaust.



















I'm not a fan of the quick fix Band-Aid products; it's hard for me to warranty such repairs as they are typically just as quick to re-appear. So in looking for a more permanent repair, we went with the new bed floor (still available at your local dealer) so it should be mostly spot/plug welds to repair. We're still waiting on a couple crossmembers, but prepped what we had so far and sprayed with SPI epoxy primer...































Once installed, the owner plans on a spray in bedliner, so no topcoat on the SPI epoxy will be required..

 

I ended up pullin the bed off...it was not NEARLY that bad. Actually the worst thing on it was the very front crossmember of the bed...lot of rust going on there for some reason (rusted through the crossmember in a few spots but not through the bed floor), cleaned it up as best I could but will probably need more repair down the road.

 

Without benefit of a nice spray booth and such I'm a huge fan of DIY rust repair using POR-15. When applied according to their directions and using their system so far its been a very long-lasting "fix".

Cost is relative to how long you want the job to last---certainly there are cheaper ways to go than POR-15. I hate doing something twice so tend to opt for the better quality materials.