Quote:
The newer trucks have full wheel well liners, at least my big horn does. Should help prevent the massive rusting.
Quote:
My 05 has the same problem (not that bad yet though). I don't think its bad metal, I think it's a design flaw, there's a big gap where the inner box/wheel well structure meets the outside of the box. There's drain holes there but they're too high up and mud forms in a 1" crevice at the bottom of where the panels meet, exactly where the rust is in your picture. You can clean them out by pulling the tail lights out and spraying the gap between the out and inner box from there, but that's a pain. The ones I've seen around here that aren't rotted out have be wheel well liners, so they seem to help
Quote:
Along the upper wheel lip of the bed they used a spray-foam like material and this is where the rust is coming from after it gets wet and rusts from the inside out. Mine has started and will most likely have new bed sides installed.
Quote:Quote:
Along the upper wheel lip of the bed they used a spray-foam like material and this is where the rust is coming from after it gets wet and rusts from the inside out. Mine has started and will most likely have new bed sides installed.
You treed me about the foam..lol..
Yep, the best repair is new bedsides. I haven't had much luck with repair panels holding. The 'cheap' repair is fender flares...
Dallas
Quote:
THE PROBLEM IS a sheetmetal bracket panel that is welded on to give rigidity to the upper part of the wheel opening - it runs very close to the outer skin of the bedside & traps mud & moisture. You can feel this if you reach up there. On trucks with the plastic wheel liners, you have to remove the liners to access this inner panel & once you reach up there & feel it, you'll understand the problem. )
I just bought a 06-07 rust free bed to go on my 05. no rust on outside look inside you can see rust in wheelwell area (bed is upside down on trailer easyto see) I drilled spotwelds took out outer fenderwell. lots of rust in there cleaned it coated it with KBS coatings (POR 15). would have rust holes in a year if I hadn't done this.
thinking abought spraying used oil everywhere I can once or twice a year
Quote:
Excellent information, Dallas, thank-you!
Have you had an '09 and up apart to see if they have the foam?
Quote:
My truck doesn't look like it has any foam, it's the mud that forms in there thats rusting mine. How come replacement panels don't hold? Are they poorly made?
Quote:
You all fail to nail the true problem.
It's the crap your states are putting on the road that is actively destroying your vehicles.
I have an 05 Ram that gets driven daily, year round with zero rust.
Why? Because they do not use chemical on the roads around here.
The state has been destroying your vehicles for decades and y'all continue to blame the manufacturers.
Quote:
At one point you could blame operator error on the quantity of seam sealer that was applied to the area above the rear wheel wells.
It was applied strictly by the operator on the joint before the inner and outer bed sides were spot welded together at the marriage operation.
I did that job a few times. Once you got the hang of it, it was far from the worst job in metal shop.
The fact that the seam sealer was applied prior to spot welding may be why it looks more like foam than seam sealer, the spot welding process probably boiled it from the heat of the welding process.
It wasn't a foam when it was applied to the bed sides sheetmetal parts.
When they retooled for the 2002 body style they completely redid the metal shop and automated more of the process, whether that process was automated I can't say since I was in the chassis dept by them.
They spent $200 million to redo the metal shop for 2002 and the closed it all and tore everything down 7 years later.
Go figure.
Quote:Quote:
At one point you could blame operator error on the quantity of seam sealer that was applied to the area above the rear wheel wells.
It was applied strictly by the operator on the joint before the inner and outer bed sides were spot welded together at the marriage operation.
I did that job a few times. Once you got the hang of it, it was far from the worst job in metal shop.
The fact that the seam sealer was applied prior to spot welding may be why it looks more like foam than seam sealer, the spot welding process probably boiled it from the heat of the welding process.
It wasn't a foam when it was applied to the bed sides sheetmetal parts.
When they retooled for the 2002 body style they completely redid the metal shop and automated more of the process, whether that process was automated I can't say since I was in the chassis dept by them.
They spent $200 million to redo the metal shop for 2002 and the closed it all and tore everything down 7 years later.
Go figure.
Thanks for clarifying the process. The stuff does feel more like foam than seam sealer to me. Maybe the welding process is what makes it seem so inconsistant in amount and effectiveness.
Dallas
Quote:Quote:
You all fail to nail the true problem.
It's the crap your states are putting on the road that is actively destroying your vehicles.
I have an 05 Ram that gets driven daily, year round with zero rust.
Why? Because they do not use chemical on the roads around here.
The state has been destroying your vehicles for decades and y'all continue to blame the manufacturers.
True, but you have mild winters normally in Texas.
A little snow and ice like this year and you have massive fender benders down there because no one is used to driving on the stuff.
Without all the crap that they put on the roads up here during the winter none of the snow and ice would melt anytime before spring.
My cure for it is don't leave the house during winter.
Not everyone can do that though.
