I've got a 97 F250 CC 4x4 that I've had for about 18 months and has about 140k miles on it. I've done some minor mods as you can see in my sig and the truck runs great. In fact, just returned from a 1200 mile trip down south towing my 35' travel trailer that weighs around 10k fully loaded. The truck performed beautifully and I have no complaints. Problem is, I bought the truck from a dealer in MI, and they had slapped a fresh coat of paint on it before I bought it. Well, almost two years later, I am seeing rust bubbling up under the paint in several spots; on the roof over the passenger side, near the windshield trim; inside most of the door frames; on the tailgate; over both rear fender wells, and all over the frame. I know I can treat some of the rust on the frame with something like rust bullet, but I'm afraid the body rust will require some professional body work outside my comfort level. The truck still looks great, but the rust seems to be getting worse every time I look at it. Question is, with the age of this truck, is it more cost effective to put a lot of money into repairing it, or should I just go ahead and plan on ordering a new truck? I really do love this truck, and appreciate all the attention I get when someone sees an older truck looking good and still getting the job done.

 

there is only one way to get rid of rust, thats to cut the section out, and to makes ure that you get out enough of it that your back into the good sheet metal. A couple spots arent bad, but if you have a LOT of them, like rockers and such, you could get a little pricy. here we do door lips, jams and rockers, then repaint the panel. You really cant fade correctly anymore withuout it being half azzed. A good body shop like us could do kick and jam, and I assume you mean the a post, for about 1500 bucks. We have always been a little low on the pricing, but thats how we stay busy. surface rust on the frame isnt a problem. If you want to get by with that, undercoat it, or if you wanna do it yourself, roofing tar is just as good, and about 1/3 of the cost. The roof, tailgate will run you a little more, but when you get into the rust over the rear wheel wells, its usually a bad sign if you have rust anywhere else. Wheel wells are the first to go, and usually limited to that area.

 

You need to find out if the rust is surface rust (from a bad prep/sanding job) or if the rust is going through the sheet metal. It sounds like you have alot of surface rust from a cheap prep/paint job. Surface rust can be taken care of by sanding the truck, removing all of the rust (acid wash the areas) and then sealing it immediately. For structural rust (going through a panel) the bad area has to be cut out and a new panel installed. Take your truck to a good body shop, they will look at it and advise you of what is needed. Unless you have alot of structual rust, it is usually cheaper to fix your truck than to replace it with a new truck.

 

I would take it to a good body shop, ask around talk to your friends you'll find a good one that way. It sounds like mostly surface rust to me but with out looking at it ,it's hard to tell but with low miles you have on her I would invest in a good paint job. as far as the frame and undercarriage goes I would degrease it ,wirebrush it then paint it with POR15 .
Dave

 

your truck has alot of life in it, I would repaint and keep driving..the new ones are $50k

 

Thanks for all the replies. I will take the advice and take it to a local body shop and get an idea of how bad the problem really is. Hoping to keep this truck for a while, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on it that could be going to a new truck.