I am planning on buy a 97 f350 7.3 diesel 4x4. as far as i know there isnt any rust on the panels right now. I had a 95 f150 and the rear panels rotted out. I want to make sure that this doesnt happen. Ive heard there is a way to fill up the panels or pack the panels full of grease can stop or prevent the panels from rotting out. If you heard this before and know how to do it. could you walk me thru this. Also i am planning on using por 15 and then put 3 coats rustoluem on top of that for the underside of the whole truck. Any better ideas. also any way to do the front fenders too with the grease thing. Thanks

Dan

 

rust starts from the inside,your truck has more & likely already started.the side panels have a inner wheelhouse panel that traps mud.i have drilled 3/4 inch holes in them & powerwashed in the holes.find rattle can of rustproof w/a straw.spray in holes trying to cover inside panels.
good luck, hate rust.

 

I hate rust too and i heard of that but do you drill from the inside or drill on the outside my buddy said i would have to drill on the outside.

 

drill from the outside of the inner panel about 4 inches from the bottom,be careful not drill into the outer panel.

 

Clean it out real well & squirt oil in there once a year or so .. front ,rear & doors

 

I used to pay to get Rust checked every fall and started to do it myself the guys at Rust check showed me some tricks they take the tail lights out and drill a hole large enough for a spray wand and shove a long wand in there to spray the Inner panel of the back fender they also drill holes in several other spots in the cab to spray to get to Inner panels like rockers and cab corners after they are done then they put a rubber plug in the holes .

I have been doing it myself for a while now went and bought the spray tools and can buy there product at the store but no matter what you do you will never stop the rusty,s especially if you live in an area that uses salt in the winters mine has finally started to rust a bit but it was rust free till about last year that is pretty good for around these parts.

 

Used to do this at the A/B shop I worked at. CLEANING PREP WORK: w/ some friends & a level area, remove the tail gate, lights & bed & stand on end (panel that is next to cab) on something padded (moving blankets), brace bed so it can't fall over & powerwash the entire underside (you'll get wet & nasty) mix up a TSP solution in a sprayer & spray everything under the bed & scrub what you can doing small areas at a time keeping it wet, powerwash it all off again. Let dry & prep & paint frame while bed is off. RUST PREP WORK: ANY rust you can see or feel on underside of bed, wire brush/sand/prep for some rust encapsulator or reformer (your choice) apply rust stuff you chose & let dry, scuff & paint over rust stuff you chose & any questionable areas. If you want to drill holes in OUTER wheel houses from underneath now is the time since the bed is on end & all the crap won't drop in your face. RUSTPROOFING: We used 3M brand undercoating for the entire underside of the bed (gets hard) & 3M rustproofer (stays soft) over top of undercoat after it dries to fill any gaps or voids. We never did the oil thing as it is not "enviromentally friendly" and as a business we could not do, promote, or advise (but customers knew how to do it). Every truck we did that has not had body damage has a rust free bed regardless of how well it was washed & waxed.

 

tsp? And thanks guys keep them coming some great ideas.

 

Tri Sodium Phosphate (spelling not sure) at hardware & paint stores. Cleans stuff really well just try to keep off the good painted surfaces.