Hi All,

I posted this in an ongoing thread, but evidently nobody noticed it. I think that most of us have an impending problem. Before I bought my truck (03 F-250 Regular cab), I always thought that those fancy cab steps were either bolted or welded onto the frame. After looking at mine, I realized that they are bolted onto the back of the rocker panel. As many of you know, the rocker panel is usually one of the the first body panels to be affected by salt and rot out. What was Ford thinking ??? Have any of you undercoated your rocker panels to possibly eliminate this future problem ??? Is that the proper thing to do ??? Right now, mine are fine, but who knows what the future will bring ???


*** RON ***

 

My 99 has no rust and has not been under coated, and I live in the road salt capital of the world......

 

They salt pretty heavy here and I don't have any rust issues......when the truck was brand new I did have the rust proofing/paint protection/interior protection and whatever else was included on the package done on it.

 

Just be sure to rinse the underside of the truck often and you won't have any problems.

 

Line X! I had the entire underside of my 05 done as well as the bed last Friday. It run me $950 and has a lifetime warranty.

 

Rocker panel rot on a Ford truck? I had a 1967 F250, a 1973 F100, a 1975 F250, a 1977 F150, a 1982 F250, a 1985 F350, a 1992 E150 and a 2002 E150 and none of these trucks every had rust perforation in the rocker panels. I live in Maryland and here, the state uses lots and lots of salt at the first sign of snow. This situation is made worse because the temperatures here hover above freezing and that creates moisture in the body panels. That moisture combined with the overzealous use of salt creates one of the worst possible situations for vehicles and their rust problems. With the exception of my Econoline vans and the F100 (which was parked high and dry for 18 years ), all of these trucks rusted very badly. The doors fenders and beds were rendered useless by rust. But, none of these vehicles had rust-through in the rocker panels or in any of the vertical steel that runs lengthwise under the rocker panels.

Chevy trucks were notorious for rocker panel rust but I think even they have corrected the problem.

 

Rocker panels, cab corners, fender wells and around gas doors were always going on 85 or so and before F series trucks around here in New England. That's not to say that someone could have taken really great care of one.
No, on my 04 I haven't seen any issues with rust at all. For $445 the steps better not rot out any time soon!!

 

I like the look of the steps that came on my 04 sport sc fx4. But the mounting method doesnt impress me!! Im gonna have to fire up my fabrication skills this spring and modify my rocker pannel mounted steps. I will try to modify them to bolt onto tubes that will be bolted to the chassis.

 

Rust seems to be a big issue for my original owner 1999 Regular Cab F-250 SD. I use it in the northeast winters and it is time to replace metal taken away by oxidation. Rocker panels and door skins are all show rust. Best method to replace parts seems like Ford parts counter?? Any ideas ??

 

I plow in the winter with mine..so I am always rinsing off underneath with the hose. Fluid film 2x a year and I never have rust on any of my vehicles living in the rust belt.

 

First thing I did when I bought mine was to undercoat and paint the entire underside, especially the rockers and the bed supports.


Washing at least weekly in the winter is important as well. Get that salt back off of there.

 

Fluid Film = no rust -------------------------------------------yet...

 

wow..... talk about bringing back an old thread.


I never actually got around to modifying my steps.....


My steps actually failed at the step before the rocker. I had to remount the step to the bracket last winter.


My rocker is also heading south. Hopefully this summer will allow me to fix the rockers and cab corner that is starting to rust out.


But at least it took 10 year before it rusted out.

 

My '99 has almost no running board at all, the metal is pretty much all rusted away in some spots. The brackets are still strong though, I plan on making some new running boards soon, it's getting bad.

 

Fluid film seems to be the way to go! Ordered spray cans on ebay! Looks like the go to product I should have known about 16 years earlier... Thanks!