hello everybody. I am about to seal the deal on a 99 f250 v10 4x4 tonight.
I went and looked at it on saturday and everything checked out good except for the undercarriage was covered in surface rust. not scaley or flaky, I looked at all of the usual trouble spots( door frames, cab corners, etc...) and there aren't any rust bubbles, which is good. even where the inside of the bed is scratched there isn't any rust, just underneath.
its a rural minnesota truck, btw
so I'm thinking a good cleaning down there and a few coats of a rust converter may do the trick?
would just rust-oleum enamel work?
I also heard from a friend that brushing used motor oil on the parts down there would seal the moisture out and prevent spreading if applied a couple of times a year.

any suggestions? anything else I should know before buying?

great forum, btw. I've been lurking for the past week

-andy

 

Welcome to FTE. I read all the threads for a couple of weeks before I posted too. If you search in the old threads I bet you will find all the answers you are looking for. I have had a lot of questions too, but I always find the answer from older post. Good luck on the truck. Post some pics when you get it.

 

chefdirty,

Welcome to FTE! Congrats on the probable purchase of an F250.
You might want to go down to the V10 forum for lots of good info
on Ford's best kept secret...the V10. I owned an 04 and it was a great truck, however
be prepared for large gas bills, especially with gas at an all time high. It will pass everything but a gas station.
I would try to get the seller down to rock bottom.....use gas prices to your favor
when negotiating a deal.

Good luck with your new rig!

 

When you say the under carriage do you mean the frame or the underneath side of the body. I thought the frame was coated from the factory and it does have a bit of a rust color to it.

 

thanks for the welcome guys.
the entire underside of the truck( frame, drivetrain, springs) was all pretty much the same color. the underside of the body was ok, black if I remember correctly. everything else though looked like it had a good coating of surface rust. I've been looking into the wheelwells of all of the ford trucks I can when I see them and they all look black, like they were covered from the factory. I just want my truck to look nice, like everyone elses that I see, and fix the problem before it gets too bad. I had a ramcharger that had a couple body mounts that rusted through and I don't want that to happen again.

technically, this is going to be my wife's truck. we live very close to where she works so i either give her a ride, or she rides her motorcycle. we're parking both vehicles for the summer and riding bikes, except for the weekend dirtbike trips which is when we need the truck. since we're giving up her car for the truck, it is hers. and it was awesome having her drive me around in a 3/4 ton truck during the test drive

 

Heh heh, I know what you mean. My wife is 5'2" and she drove me to Lowes- I wanted her to drive it just in case she ever needed it and wouldn't be scared by herself- and the looks on the guys faces in the parking lot when she hopped out were priceless

 

Hey chehdirty, this is Sedrick. I just purchased a 1999 F250 SD 5.4L 4x2. My frame and chassis had surface rust too. I steam cleaned as much as I could reach and when it dried, I crawled under the truck and painted every inch of the frame, springs, and differential. It looks very nice now, almost like new.

 

I had a guy tell me to mix used engine oil and kerosene, pour it into one of those plant spray containers with the hand pressure pump. you have a nice little wand and you spray up and under everywhere until the pressure runs down and pump it up again. It works well and he said the used diesel oil seemed to work best.

 

My wife has multiple cdl endorsements , she thinks my truck is wimpy!