I've got a '95 F-250 4WD supercab. It was bought new by my dad, and he gifted it to me two years ago when my truck burned up, and he wanted to downgrade to a compact truck. It's got just over 75k miles on it - it started out life as a Boy Scout gear hauler, but when my brother and I aged out, it became a winter car to protect my parent's Miata. When I got it, I had a small farm plot with horses, so the towing capacity was nice, but now I'm in the city and it's back to it's old life - winter car to protect the Miata (also now mine, although I had to buy it), and trips to the hardware store for plywood and drywall (the city house is a project, to say the least).

The underside looks pretty rusted to my eye. Body is in fairly good shape - there's rust on the back of the front quarter panels (aftermarket mud guards probably contributed) and a cracked area on part of the supercab (where apparently my brother ran into a post, and the Bondo apparently failed), and rust around where the giant elephant mirrors attach to the middle of the door. It's lived in Chicago and Michigan, so plenty of salt on the roads during the winter. Oil pan had a leak but dad JB welded it. Gas tank looks rusty but so far no massive fireballs. Front U-joints and rear brakes were replaced in the last two years.

Should I be putting money in the truck to make it a decent winter driver for the next 3-5 years? Or should I just try to keep her on the road for another year or two and save up for the next used truck?

 

It really depends on the body and frame. How are the cab corners? Rear fenders? Rear spring shackles (these are notorious for rusting)? The frame itself?

If you don't care about looks, and the frame is solid, then keep driving it. If you don't want to drive a rustbucket around then fix it up or sell it.

To honest it sounds like the truck has some sentimental to you as well.

 

If the rust around the back really starts buggin u, convert it to a flatbed

 

mine was FULLLLLLLL of rust, but my cab was good so then i went on the hunt for a mint frame and a mint box. ive scored both and as well as a mint 302 crate motor, and im only in this project about $500 in gathering this stuff :P so i have a busy winter

 

The thing about it is that once rust gets into a truck there's no way to stop it. You can slow it down, you can cover it up but you will never stop it. To fix it you must cut out the corroded metal and replace it with fresh steel. Now, a little surface rust on the frame won't hurt anything but anything that may affect strength, major pits or rust through, suspension mounts or components, should be address immediately. As for sheet metal, that's for you to decide. If you don't mind holes in the metal then drive the crap out of it. Just watch those water leaks, mold in the carpet, and little furry "friends" that like to hangout and leave calling cards all over everything.

If this truck has real sentimental value to you, and being in the family for that long I can see why, then by all means repair it. There are many people that don't know their family history, much less have a direct link to it setting in their driveway. Rust is expensive. You have to decide if it's worth it.

 

rust in a vehicle is not patina....LOL

 

Actually the body rust isn't too bad - I could fix it with pretty minimal fuss. I'm more worried about rust on the frame/suspension/driveline parts, although looking at it more closely today, it looks better than I had the impression of.

Here's the fender rust:


Rust from the failing repair on the cab:


Under the bed, front rear spring shackle:


Bigger pictures are in my garage.

There is some sentimental value, but I'm also not planning on preserving this truck forever - but getting the most out of it is my goal.

Part of the problem is that I'm not afraid of tackling lots of problems on cars - I'm a big DIY'er, but that since I haven't handled cars of this age much before, I don't know if that amount of rust is acceptable or what might be compromised to the point of needing replacement - and if a large percentage of the underbody needs replacement, then I'd probably just wait for a newer truck (a transplant would be a fun project, but I think the wife would kill me - and I'm currently without a garage to work in).

 

Replace your front fenders, fix any little rust you have starting on the cab, frame looks decent, just coat it with some POR15.

Don't ignore rust like I did........ i've learned my lesson!

 

lol yeah, your rust problems arnt bad at all! Your frame and under body look fine to me, theres many more years left in the underside of that truck. Bodys starting to get rough, but replacement panels are cheap, and if your willing to do the work, all it will take is a little time

 

Good to know, thanks!

If I do an underbody coating like POR15, do I have to strip off the suspension/driveline/exhaust to do it, or can I just sort of paint around (or over, for suspension) things?

I think I need to do some work on replacing exhaust, so maybe I'll make a full project of it this summer.

 

I have a 1995 F250 SuperCab with 74,000 miles. The body is in great shape but the under body and frame look remarkably similar to your pictures. I've taken the bed off the truck to begin cleaning up the frame and found a few more days of work including 2 new fuel tanks, brake lines and fuel vapor lines. I worked for 2 days grinding the frame and painting it with POR15. It made a tremendous difference. You'll notice that the frame and under body closest to the ground and road spray is worse off than the rest. A quart of POR15 did the frame from the cab back and the entire underside of the bed. I replaced the heat shields because they had rusted to the point of falling off. I also replaced the fuel screens, fuel filter and all of the hardware. Most of the bolts had to be cut off but the straps supporting the fuel tanks were still good. I did add padding between the straps and the fuel tanks when I replaced them. I used shower pan liner/membrane. I hope it will prevent the straps from chafing through the tanks again.

Having the bed off made the job a lot easier. However, anything you can do to prevent it from rusting will be time worth spent. I didn't paint the leaf springs, rear axle or drive train.