While Im on here I wanted to post up another thread I noticed that the chassis underneath the bed looks covered in rust and heavy sediment, and I will most likely be removing the bed (and chucking it, because it's wasting away FAST) and trying to clean up the chassis a bit, BUT I wanted to ask if the chassis in the early 80s F-250 ever rust all the way through or a majority way through?

 

They certainly can rust all the way through. You can chip away at it, and see how thin it is. Mine was getting almost all the way through on the very rear passenger side, plus I had some crossmembers that were eaten through. I took the back-half of a good frame they cut off for me at the junkyard, drilled out all the rivets, and took those good crossmembers and bolted them in my truck frame. On the very rear portion, I took a section out of the good junkyard frame, and cut the top part of the "c" off. It then layed right on the inside of my frame, and the bolts for the new spring hanger, as well as some of the crossmember bolts and the hitch bolts held it in place, so I didn't even have to weld it in. I painted it, and you can hardley tell it's even in there.

There are some pictures in my gallery I took while doing this project last year.

 

Ouch. I hope that mine hasnt completely gone through. It's looks pretty bad. But I wont know for definite sure until I pull the bed off (already eaten through at every corner) and get a sand blaster in there. One thing I was curious about though, IF the chassis can be saved, I've been debating using POR-15 or Rust Bullet. I was doing some searches of postings past...and is the Zinc in the POR-15 going to give the true edge to preventing the formation of rust again? I've brought the truck down from Minnesota to Dallas, and rust isnt nearly the problem here as it might be there but I still want to preserve this truck as much possible!

 

My '88 has real bad frame cancer, but hopin' the rear main seal leak helps keep the rust under control. lol

I've never heard anything bad about POR-15.

Adrianspeeder

 

That grey stuff on mine is what I got from tractor supply. It's a zinc powder paint, and is about $50 a gallon. I did not clean mine down to bare metal, just got the loose stuff off. This paint stuck very well, and I have gone through 1 season of plowing snow and driving through the salt, and it is holding up very well. The only problem I ran into was stirring it up. They say stir it for 30 minutes before using it, but that still wasn't enough. I ended up making a propellor on a piece of all-thread and putting it in my drill, and using that to stir it up. It's very heavy paint. That did the trick.

 

Thanks Franklin! I'll try to find at the Tractor Supply down the way. Since rust isnt real bad here Im sure that will do the trick!!

 

I am up here in Southern maine with a double dose of salt during the winter months...one from the Highway department and one from the Ocean because I am right on the coast. I have done at least a dozen frame off restorations in the past 8 years some with POR-15 and some with Rust bullet. I would say the Rust bullet is very superior to PORE-15 in every application I have done. I always powerwash, sandblast, and completely let dry before the first application of paint. IN the case of POR-15, within 2 years, you can actually pull off entire sections of paint due to the newly formed loose rust fLAking off.It just didn't seem to completely seal out the moisture. Not so for the most part on the Rust Bullet provided it's applied in accordance with their directions.. I then top coat the second coat of Rust Bullet with Eastwoods Chassis coat. I am getting ready to try Eastwood's complete kit with their primer, rust encapsulator, and finally chassis black. I do know people who swear by POR-15 and I have used it on and off since about 1989 when I first found about it. I have had jobs where it lasted very well but those cars were classic restorations that never saw Snow or winter driving and were garaged all the time. I don't claim to be an expert but am shaRING MY RESULTS SO FAR.

 

yeah its possible mine, the bolt holes were barely holdin the bed down me and my dad replaced them. it was an easy fix. i got to looking under it and some of the crossmembers of the bed were almost gone. yeah its possible.