I have a cracked windshield on my '97 crew cab, along with some rust showing along the top of the windshield. The glass shop doesn't want to put a new windshield in it because they're afraid there's too much rust and they won't be able to get the new windshield in solidly (they also noted that the crack started right at the worst of the rust, so they're likely not far off).

So I took the truck to a body shop and to Maaco to see what it would cost to fix the steel. The options seem to be:

1. Repair the structure of the pinch weld without doing anything to the visible rust: $600 at the body shop
2. Repair the pinch weld and lightly sand and repaint the visible rust: $1200 at the body shop, $600 at Maaco
3. Actually fix the rust: $2500 - $3500 at the body shop, $1200 at Maaco

(Both shops say that option 2 is likely to show rust again within 3 months to 2 years. And they'd do option 3 very differently, the body shop would put on an entire new roof panel, Maaco would cut out the rusted metal and weld patch panels in.)

My plan with this truck is to basically just drive it for the next 5 -10 years, maintaining as needed. By that time I hope to have started and finished another project truck that will become my new driver and at that point I might fix this one up or I might get rid of it.

So what do people think I should do with it now? I have to do something because I need to get the windshield replaced. If I don't actually fix the rust I figure I'll have actual holes in it before 5 - 10 years are up. Then I'd either need to spend a lot more money or just cover them up with gorilla tape. If I do spend $3500 on it now that might save me $4000 if/when I get around to fixing this truck up. But if the rest of the cab is shot and I don't decide to keep it (or decide to put a new cab on it), then the money only bought me a nicer truck for those years.

Here's a pic of it. You can see the crack in the upper corner, driver's side. Any opinions?

 

Depends how the rest of the truck is mechanically/structurally. That doesn't look too bad, but I wouldn't go dropping 4k on a full repair if the truck needed other major work and you weren't planning on keeping it. Picture might not show the extent of it though.


I had a '79 Bronco that had rust above the windshield. Stuffed if full of fiberglass/bondo, hit it with some paint, and threw a cab visor on it. Never had an issue.


I don't see visable holes, so some POR 15 and a visor may be your solution, Or just POR15 if youre not concerned about looks? Would buy you some more time and save a chunk of change.


Seems pricey considering I had two new rear quarter panels and new wheel wells welded in put on my '67 mustang, along with two door patches, full primer job and full top of the line paint job done for $3200

 

The body shop said it would be time and materials, and would depend on what they found when they started grinding on it. If I was lucky the steel would still be fairly solid and it would only be around $1200, but if it's worse than it looks from the outside (and it always is), then replacing the panel is likely. They estimated $1000 for the part and 25 hour of labor, which is where they were getting the $2500 - $3500. I haven't had enough other work done to know for sure, but that didn't seem totally out of whack.

Overall the truck is in pretty good shape (other than the bed). No other visible rust on the cab, at least nothing major on the doors. The front fenders are starting to have some rust issues. The bed sides have big holes above the fenders, but the inside of the bed and the tailgate are all beat to snot, so if I fix it up I plan to put a new bed on it.

Mechanically it's good, but it does have over 180k miles, so I'm expecting some expenses there too.

 

I see 2 solutions,

#1 find a Junk yard and see if you can cut the top off of wrecked or junk truck and have a local body shop weld it back on for you if you can't.

#2 Removed the windshield and see the exact extent of the rust damage, if it's just surface rust and not rotted through, I'd hit it with sand paper and either prime it or POR it and have the new windshield installed. If there are some holes behind the windshield, you could always try some metal mender in the channel let it set and use a small die grinder to level it all out.

 

I'm not going the junkyard route. Up here in the rust belt the body is the first thing to go on a vehicle, so my odds of finding anything better are minimal. If I'm paying around $2000 for labor I'm getting new steel.

Right now I'm leaning toward having the body shop repair the pinch weld and then after they are done sanding the visible rust a little and hitting it with some POR-15 and some white Rustoleum. It won't be a good, permanent repair, but it'll get a good windshield back in it, make it look a little better for at least a little while, and might even slow the rust progression a little.

 

Rust makes me cry.

 

Rust makes me mad. Almost as much as ethanol in gas does.

 

It took a while to get around to it (I kept needing the truck so I couldn't send it off to a body shop for two weeks). But it's finally done.

As it came down to it, the first body shop I had gone to started waffling on price. Every time I talked to them they increased their guesstimate and sounded less willing to do anything. So I found another shop. This one used to specialize in restorations, and still do quite a bit of that, so they don't just know new car collision repair. They pulled the windshield out and blasted all the rust away, and found it wasn't that bad, just a few small pinholes. So they 'glassed over the holes, painted it with something that sounds like POR-15, and gave it a rattle can paint job for $850. It's not the "right" way to do it, but since I don't know that I'm trying to actually restore this truck, it's the right way for me.

If you stand on the side step and look right at it you can tell that the "primer" was thick and put on with a brush. And the color and shine aren't quite the same as the rest of the roof. But you can't see any of that from standing in front, looking over the hood. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Now we'll just have to see how long it holds up.

Here's a close-up of the repair. The brush marks don't show up in this picture nearly as well as they do in person from this perspective, but you can see the paint mis-match.



And here's the 6' away perspective.

 

Looks good! Sounds like it will hold up well since they blasted it all the way down...

 

Here in Florida our vehicles start rusting from the top down due to the salt air.

Looks good from 20' and lot better than my roof fix on my 89 F250. I used a can of POR-15 silver color on the drip rails. After a year its now that ole plastic yellow.... but no more rust!