Winter Protection Tips
 

Anyone have any winter protection tips for a 1996 Eddie Bauer F-150? She's from Carolina now coming to cold, snowy Nova Scotia and I want her to be able to last.

Oil spraying the underside has been around for a long time, and depending on what you use the results can differ.

My buddy has a 1942 Allis Chalmers tractor that had the frame oil coated every year and then driven down a dusty road to coat it. We broke off a chunk of the dirt and the frame looks brand new, still.

Of course it'd be a little harder on a daily driven truck. I have sprayed my frame with oil one year, and it seemed to do a good job of keeping the water off of it. Personally, I just use a rubberized spray coating on all of the spring hangers and body mounts, and give the whole truck (underside and all) a good wash every week or so.

Frequent washes in the winter help by not letting all the salt and garbage they use here build up and rust. Not sure if they use anything on the roads where you live though.

Just my 2 cents. :-drink

I work on a dirt road so that will be easy enough to do! I'm taking it to have a full-serviced Rust Check done for this winter and I don't think I will be driving it this winter, but if I do it's safe to wash underneath? Won't it all freeze over and things will break from cold? I lost a few transmission seals and both rear brakelines from last winter.

If you're worried about it freezing, you could just oil coat the underside and only wash the exterior. Try to keep the buildup underneath the fenders to a minimum, especially if they use salt where you live.

They use quite a lot, I live out in the middle of nowhere. What would be a safe way to wash it, just take it to the car wash and hose it down with the water or use soap and water?

Yeah, I understand the high usage of road salt. It flat out sucks. :'(

My local car wash has a mixture of water and soap that sprays out of a pressure washer. I use it because it's quick and easy. You'd probably be okay with a good blast of water to clean all of the snowy buildup off the fenders. The longer that snow and salt mixture is on the metal, the faster it's going to start eating it and rotting it away.

Oh and, the reason I use the rubber coating on the spring hangers and body mounts, is because up where I live those are the first things to rot through on these trucks. They're usually forgotten every winter, and all that salt is being thrown up onto them and eating them up.

I live in the Detroit area and we use a lot of salt. Short of buying a beater to drive in the winter, and parking your southern truck, there's really not much you can do. I have never heard of oiling the underside of a vehicle before, and I suppose it would initially help at first, but there are many areas where the salt will get that oil won't be able to reach - unless you dip the entire truck in it! BTW, post a pic of your truck - I have the exact same one as you: '96 Eddie Bauer F150. Mine is 4X4 and has the 300 straight 6 with the 5-speed manual trans.

joegeds is right, man.

I've seen a lot of beautiful trucks become not so pretty up here.. and while there are things you can do like I suggested.. the only real way to keep her spotless is to park her for the winter. If getting a winter beater or winter truck isn't an option, then all you can do is try.

Another place that's notorious for rusting out on these trucks is the top of the rear fender. The inner liner traps crud in there. In a number of threads Diesel Brad has detailed what he does to correct this design flaw. I won't go into details, but it involves removing the inner fenders (by drilling out spot welds), cutting drain holes in the inner fenders so they don't trap stuff, and gluing them back in (after repainting). I know I'm leaving out a lot of important details, but thats the jist of it.

Check the album on my profile, I have photos of it from last winter :) Mine may be a bit different than yours, is yours a hauler? I'll try to upload photos of the inside when Iget it back this week

I can park it but I would need tips for caring for it while its on blocks for about 6 months, I have my car we always use in the winter. The ass is so long on this thing(8 ft box, LWB, ext cab, hauler edition) that any snow it fishtails so we prefer it as a summer vehicle. It may get driven twice over the winter to pick up loads of hay as it's our 'farm truck'

I've kept vehicles through the winter with little use. Keep her covered up and start her at least once every week. Spray the truck off after you drive it (if you do). Or better yet, keep her in a nice warm garage :D

Starting a stored engine regularly is a very mixed bag. It keeps the seals lubed and scrapes rust off the inside of the cylinders (if any is forming). But it also introduces more moisture into the engine in the form of condensation. If you are going to start an engine in storage you really should get it up to full operating temperature to dry it out as best you can. Running an engine in a garage is a really bad idea, so it means driving it out and then back in when your done (along with moving all of the stuff that accumulates around a stored vehicle). Personally I wouldn't bother with all of that any more often than once a month, but then again, I usually "fog" the engine (spray a 50/50 mix of 2 cycle motor oil and gasoline in the air intake with the engine at a high idle until it smokes like crazy, then shut it off) and just park it for the entire winter (by the way, I'm not sure what that would do to a catalytic converter, the vehicles I've stored are older than that).

A garage that isn't shared with a daily driver would be ideal, but a warm garage shared with a driver can also be a mixed blessing. Salt slush melting off the driver will create salty puddles in the garage and the stored vehicle gets wet and salty without being driven. You're almost better off leaving the stored vehicle outside. The cold, dry air won't cause any damage, so the only real issue is the sun drying and cracking rubber and fading paint. That said, I've usually stored my vehicles in the garage, next to my wide's daily driver, because that's where I have to do it.

Oh, Nova Scotia. If you are close to the ocean, outside air might be humid and salty too. If that's the case the garage might be a clear winner.

I see yours is an extended cab. Mine is a regular cab. Also, mine is white and tan, and I see yours is green/tan. Don't know what you mean by a "hauler", but it does ride better/smoother when I'm towing the camper or when it's loaded down.

[QUOTE=joegeds;14563791]I see yours is an extended cab. Mine is a regular cab. Also, mine is white and tan, and I see yours is green/tan. Don't know what you mean by a "hauler", but it does ride better/smoother when I'm towing the camper or when it's loaded down.[/QUOTE

Shes a big girl! lwb ext cab with 8ft box. It has a set up inside the cab with electronic trailer braking, police scanner, CB radio hook ups, above head storage compartment(like 18 wheelers for paperwork), back bench turns into a bed of some sort and all that kind of stuff. I haven`t hauled anything with it yet as it isn`t Canada legal yet