Hello, all

THis year I plan to forgo all the nasty winter rust.. and store my truck.
The place in question is heated.. but it has a dirt floor.. any tips or suggestions? Funny thing is, I bought a brand new set of studded tires last year for it, but after much consideration, the rust prevention seems more important.. mght even consider selling the snow tires.

 

Check all fluids, and make sure fuel tank is full. Also with a dirt floor I would suggest putting the wheels on boards, this will help keep the tires inflated and the wood will pull any moisture into it that will make a tire dryrot quicker.

 

TO go along with the whole tire thing if you do not have enough boards or feel that isn't enough place the vehicle up on jack stands for an exteded period of time I set mine up on the frame rails so it doesn't distort the suspension. Keeps your tires off the ground keeps everything nice and dry.

 

Here are my suggestions:

Dirt/mud + moisture = Rust. Wash the truck and blast out every nook and cranny like the rear fender liners/wheel arches (between the welded-on liners and bed), the cowl drains (no leaves or you may end up with a mulch pile in there), and the trailing edge of each front fender. Those areas are notorious for rusting.

Apply a good coat of wax if your paint will take it.

A dirt floor will breathe moisture. I would laydown some heavy gauge plastic and then park the truck on top of it.

I'd store it on jackstands (per the suggestion above) but the jackstands should have at least two layers of 16" x 16" pieces of 3/4-inch plywood so they don't sink into the earth.

Do an oil change. Old oil becomes acidic over time.

Pull each spark plug, inject each cylinder with a tablespoon of motor oil, and then reinstall the spark plugs. Turn the engine over by hand to lubricate the cylinders. It'll smoke like heck when you fire it up in the spring but that's okay.

Drain the entire fuel system. Alternatively, fill it up the tank, add a bottle of Sta-Bil, and run it to distribute the stabilizer.

LIBERALLY spray the entire undercarriage with WD-40. It's a light oil and will wash out in the spring. "WD" stands for "Water Displacing" and will discourage the formation of surface rust.

Disconnect and remove the battery. Store off the ground in a cool dry place with a trickle charger. I use a C-Tek.

Close the vents but crack the windows a 1/4-inch to let the interior breath.

This may sound strange but I use fabric softener sheets as air fresheners in all of my cars. I stick'em under the seats to be discreet.... Place a few loose sheets on the dashpad, seat, and carpet. Do it and your interior won't have a musty smell in the spring.

 

buy a bottle of "HEAT" at the auto parts store, i used it once and the truck fired right up 8 months later...as for the jackstands...great idea, it keeps your suspension from sagging and keeps your tires round...no flat spots

 

I have a street rod on stands, but I go out about once a month and start it ,then put it in gear to let it run though all of the gears untill it's warmed up good. You can turn the steering left and right with out the wheels touching the floor real easy too.If you do it that way,make sure you have good jack stands under it or it may end up though the wall. Leave the garage door open and don't sit in the vehicle. Just put it in gear and get the heck out of the garage. Exhaust gas is bad for you.

 

I think I'd just make a point to fire the truck up once a week or so, maybe drive it around the lot on the sunny dry days. I'd also use some sort of battery trickle charger, but if you don't have power in your storage unit, it means you have to take the batery with you. Driving it around on snow isn't bad. It all the damn salt they use up there in PA that's the killer.

 

Salt ? we only use salt on our potatos here in southern Idaho. I bet that stuff is hard on trucks.

 

And tasty on fries. Yall grow taters in Idaho? I thought yall grew roodabeggas.

 

Idaho,the potato state. They are the largest you can find and make the best french fries. I have been around them all my life but I'm not a farmer. Maybe theres one out there that can tell you all about the potato. Whats a roodabegga ? not in Idaho I don't believe. Well there I have gotten again.

 

full tank of gas if your storing it...keeps condensation down condensation = rusty inside of tank=crap in your carb and engine..add stay bil also

 

Thanks for the tips, guys.. They are very much appriciated.. now to buy a set of jacks.. hope those guys remembered to leave me enough room in that place, or it looks like a snow covered car cover for me.. yeah the snow itself doesn't rust stuff its that wonderful calcium chloride stuff they spray on the roads.. and the anti skid that contains...you already hit the proverbial nail on the head.. SALT..My dad used to work for the state many years ago.. back in the pre envronmental days they used actual cinders as anti skid...hence the term "Ashing the roads" he even still calls state trucks "ash" trucks. Don't think that cinders work? trust me... he's helped many a semi out of the lumber mill across the road by dumping the ashes from our wood stove under their drive tires....

 

Micro:

As you can see by the thread there are two schools of thought going here (excluding the discussion about french fries, rutabegas, and such) - long term vs short term storage. By the content of your original post, I understood it to mean that your truck would essentially hibernate over winter and only come out/run when the weather and road conditions clear. Hence, the long term tips about injecting oil in the cylinders and such.

My 65 'stang was stored in Nazareth, PA back in 1992 or by my sister as a favor to my brother who owned the car back then (I bought it for a song in 2005 so he could buy a couple of dirtbikes). Anyhow, while stored in a barn among some boats, the heavy snow load collapsed the roof of the barn. The boats took the brunt of the damage but the Stang also sustained damaged - a beam split and fell thereby peeling the roof rail off the passenger's side and the caught the top edge of the passenger door.

So one last word ... I hope it's a sturdy building that somebody minds regularly and that yall have a light winter.

 

One problem I haven't seen mentioned is mice. They cause more damage and any other. They eat wires and rubber, build nest in your heat ducts from foam they dig out of you seat.
I always place several glue traps around each tire or wheel stand and sometimes use some poison.

 

Ooh...good point. Forgot about that. They don't eat potatoes, though.