So first of all have to say that money is an issue, I got laid off, but I have some decent savings and I want my fiance's truck to be really safe. We picked up this truck over the summer, only 42k miles on it (came with new yokohoma snow tires too). Anyways, much to our surprise at its young age the truck is starting to do some surface rusting, and I want it stopped now. Since I'm laid off I have lots of time on my hands, so I'm wanting to order some stuff and get thing done.

First of all is the rust. Pics can be seen here: ImageShack(TM) slideshow

Most of the frame is spotless, but there's a few places, almost like rocks hit it and started a small hole, where the undercoating is peeling back and making holes of surface rust (and maybe some minor cancer). I want it stopped as soon as possible. Also visable in the pics is some rust through the front grill, I'm not sure what those metal pieces are but they are getting pretty rusty. Also looks like the coil supports are rusting. The pics should get a good idea of what the rust areas are, i took pics of areas with rust, if its not visible there's no rust, I crawled around a good 30min. The tailgate is a concern as well, as it normal, the lower lip is bubbling. So that's the first and main issue.

Secondly, I want to get fog lights on the front. I don't know if there's anyway to give it a stock appearence, or if i just need to wire in some high quality aftermarkets, but I want yellow fogs for winter that i can make bright white for the rest of the year. So in other words i'd prefer clear lensed lights that i can adjust via bulb color (easy enough to get yellow vs white bulbs).

Third project is putting clearance lights on the side. I'd like to mount some orange LED clearance lights on the side of the truck to act as signals. I figured I'd mount them at the front of the bed/just behind the cab. This will give (what I believe every vehicle should be required to have, especially a 7ft ranger) side signals for the blind spot. I pretty much know wheat i'm doing here but if there's any recommendations or "I have done this before" stories I'd be glad to hear.

So right now I'm building a jig in her bed to hold the tubes of sand from sliding around and crushing cargo. Any other recommendations would be well taken. Other than that, please give me some guidelines! Thank you FTE crew!

 

What the hey, almost 5 years old and you are complaining about some surface rust????????

 

My 04 Expedition has no rust yet and it's never been undercoated *cross fingers*. I knoticed the factory coating on it seems much better than this Ranger's.

And I'm not really complaining, not like it's not expected, it's the north. But as alwaysreasons for $$$ going out continues to stack up against few dollars in

 

I have heard others on the site mention POR 15 that you spray or brush on. It can be applied directly over the rust.

Stop Rust Permanently with POR15 coatings-POR-15 Inc.

 

I've heard of this and Chassis Saver. Both are extremely expensive . But if it works..I'm guessing though either i completely sand down the frame and buy enough of the stuff to undercoat it, or i reserve myself to always buying little pints of it to protect the spots that form because i hear it has an extremely short shelf life...hmmm.

 

I used por-15 on the frame and rear bumper. Applied it as described - to bare metal and their prep product. Held up well on the frame but the inside of the bumper peeled right away. Re applied on the bumper and it's held up for a year. I also used the uv protector top coat. The inside of the bumper got the top coat the second time but not the first.

 

So to be safe I'll need the entire kit of stuff with enough goods to coat the entire underrails and some other various pieces. So that'll be at least a gallon of stuff plus the preparation kit so safe to say about 200$. Plus the equipment to sand down and prep the frame.

 

I used aerosol stripper from NAPA and a putty knife, then a wire brush on a drill. Worked fine. You don't need to get all the rust off. A quart of por-15 was more than enough.

 

Most rust converters on the market have phosphoric acid in them - it's the acid that stops the rusting process and converts the rust to iron oxide - products like POR15 have additional ingredients in them that seals the surface and helps prevent the rust from returning. They work very well, but they are pricey...

Go down to a Home Depot or Lowe's or something equivalent and get yourself a gallon jug of Muriatic Acid - costs around $7.00 - it's used for removing rust stains from concrete. You'll also need a respirator so you're not breathing the acid fumes and a good pair of goggles to protect your eyes (both are VERY important - ask me how I know - you'll also want gloves to protect your hands). Find a cheap paint brush and a glass jar to pour the acid into and start brushing it onto the rusted surface. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL as you DON'T want any of this stuff on your skin and have a water hose handy nearby in case you get some on you or someplace else you don't want it.

You may not want to do this while the truck is parked on concrete or someplace you care about as the acid will drip and eat it's way through whatever surface you're parked on - if possible, put drip pans under where you're treating. Don't worry about rinsing the acid off - just let it dry and brush off any residual stuff that forms - using water to rinse it will cause the rust to return faster...

Try not to get the acid on any painted areas you're not treating - it will etch the paint.

With really bad rust, there is a chance of it returning after you treat it so, you'll have to keep an eye on it and treat as needed. I've found that using self-etching primer and a good quality enamel paint works fairly well for sealing the surface - in the case of the undercoating, just re-spray with a can of undercoating from the parts store. Of course, you'll want to make sure the surface being sprayed is dry first.

It's not an ideal solution, but it's economical and seems to work fairly well - I've done this to a couple of different vehicles and have had pretty decent results with it.

Hope this helps.

 

Loctite Extend works well, is affordable, comes in a spray can, or brush on gel, check it out here. Rust Converter Spray, Extend Rust Neutralizer from Loctite Adhesives

 

So I'm still going over all the info I can find. Since it's localized and money is tight, I'm thinking about going to the acid method or the loctite to minimize downtime compared to sanding down the whole frame and using por 15 on it. Do you think it's worth it based on the photos just to do the little bit now? How much longer could i expect the main frame to survive indiana salt?

After some research it appears that all XL's have a plastic piece that is snapped in to cover the fog light holes, and that upon popping those covers out, exposes fog light holes with a matching valence behind it that only covers half the hole instead of the entire hole. Apparently I just need these: More Information for TYC 19587500 The RH and LH sides are only 19.87 each. Then I could change bulbs as needed. I'll need to run my own wiring but that's just fine as I wanted them to be engageable without having to turn on the entire light system (I'll probably relay them on so they come on with the ignition with a switch to kill them when necessary like for the drive in theatre like I do the R8 lights on my Expedition). With that, seeing as i haven't had access yet, can anyone confirm that behind those plastic pieces are fog light holes?

Finally for side lights, thinking of these as I've had great luck with SBL products before. Any comments? PBM-xHP12 series Peterbilt Marker Lamp

Thanks for all the help so far guys, I'll probably turn this into my project thread when I'm ready to get started.