Damn that's funny. You put your 4x4 away when you need it most! Honestly, I don't blame you. The salt here drives me insane!

 

You should give a produce I used that went on better and covers better than the Rustoleum coating. Superflex is the name of the product I used, here is the link:

http://cleanerchemicals.com/superflex

 

I have had some rust on my 02 &03 doors at the pinch welds. On the 03 I actually had a body shop try to stop the rust. Whatever they did didn't work and I redid it the next fall. I have taken the rubber seal off of the doors as it trapped a lot of crap there. I wire brushed them with a drill and applied por 15. After that cured I sprayed fluid film inside them.. For a couple years I applied fluid film underneath. Two years ago I painted the underneath of the 02 dumptruck with undercoating. Last fall I painted the underside of the 03 with Chassis Saver paint. It is holding up very well and so I did the 02 this fall because all the undercoating was peeling off. I wouldn't use the undercoat again. I do commercial snow removal with both trucks. The 02 is a 450 dump and I spray the bed w fluid film and it sits loaded with salt all winter. I love fluid film. It is also the BEST battery terminal protector available. The other area I have had trouble with is the oil pans. The 03 rusted through and the 02 was flaking bad. I sanded them clean and fiberglassed them and painted with POR 15. Both are good after the last 3 years. I don't have an opinion on which is better, POR or the chassis saver paint but the chassis saver was cheaper and appears to be similar product. I'd wear tyvek cover alls, heavy nitrile gloves (not latex) a hat and a plastic face shield as this type paint does not come off skin. Be sure to cover the floor too. Also, if doing the fluid film with the under coating gun, do it outside. I had a heck of a time getting it off my polished concrete. Man was that stuff slick I used strong degreaser and a steam pressure washer.

 

I've always stored my nice vehicles in winter as well even the 4x4's. I drive cheap junk in winter.

Now for the rust. You DON'T want to just cover the rust with any kind of "paint" like rustolium. It will just make the rust worse. If you want to paint use a rust encapsulator or converter like many mentioned already in this thread. I like por-15, many have mentioned good luck with the eastbay chassis black stuff.

But even with this you aren't done. Rust starts in the tightest darkest most impossible places to get to and paints (encapsulators) don't get to these places. You need something "runny" to get into these places to kill the rust. Now I have never used the fluid film so I don't know how it flows. What I use is old diesel (because its black) waste oil. It runs into the cracks, crevices, and corners and it soaks in and kills the rust, it repels water, and never really dries out. Even if you have flaky rust the oil will kill it and the flakes will fall off over a year. The next year you spray again and you won't have to spray again after that for at least 2 years if not more. After the second coat my 96 truck didn't get sprayed for around 8 years and still looked great!

Good luck against the rust!










My old 96, these were the pics I took for selling the truck. I owned it for 10 years when these pics were taken. Truck looked better than the day I got it.

 

engine oil is the way to go

 

How do I stop the break/power steering/transmission lines from rotting away?
I am so tired of fixing all the rotted out lines on this truck.
I was out earlier today and lost a brake line again. Not sure which one, and I just ended up parking it. I like the truck, but I have 40 + year old cars that the brake/ tranny and ps lines are all original and in good shape.

 

I've been hearing about a new copper based brake line out that won't rust. I haven't tried it yet but want to when we put a new truck on the road. For old lines I just kept them oiled.

 

would a corrosion module work?

 

I'll have to try that. I think I should just dip the whole truck in a vat of oil before it kills me. The body is in good shape. but it is like the whole underside has been diped in a salt bath. I have replaced all the brake lines from the proportioning valve back. Also have replaced one that comes off of the anti-lock system, no rust on it, it just split length wise just after the braided section. Transmission lines, Power steering lines, have been repaired with rubber lines as they don't rust, but the sections that are left do. The emergency brake cable, front and middle have been replaced.

I sometimes wonder if this truck was in a flood at one point in time.
At 28,000 miles the heads were rotting off the exhaust manifold bolts.
The engine oil dip stick tube also rotted in half.
And the brake rotors had chunks falling off of them on the surface the pads ride on.

I have finally given up on washing it. It always got washed after each snow storm to get all the salt off the top and bottom side. guess it wasn't worth the extra money spent to wash the undercarriage.

I am so upset with this truck. Today just tipped me over the edge.
I have a 1992 F-150 4x4 that sits in the yard that is in better shape underneath than this 2002.

 

Thats what I've been saying for years. Not only is ford dropping the ball on rust protection but it seems the liquid salt used now days causes WAY more rust than anything I have ever seen before. It makes me sick!

 

I wish it wasn't so cold outside, I would go and try and fix the brake and p/s line again.
I am going to give this truck one more chance. Forgot to mention though. Somewhere on the oil filter housing there hase to be a crack. One day it just started leaking oil. Replaced the filter, and the only fix to stop the leak was to over tighten the filter. I never found where the crack is .

 

Shop Trimaco Tyvek Coveralls at Lowes.com

Not much......