I should also while I've seen rust free cars from more Southern States I've seen some that have been rode hard and put away wet lol. It seems to get more difficult as time moves forward as people don't take care of their stuff like they use to. Also, just wondering what type of truck the original poster bid upon?

It's amazing how much traffic this post has created with no other involvement from the OP and other threads get nothing.

Somebody should send him a PM, There is an e mail address also in his profile. But he is here on a regular basis so probably could care less on his "venting post".

I inspected my frame yesterday and found the lower lip bad at the crossmember in front of springs. It’s where water and trash collect. Not sure how to fix yet

some designs are just bad designs, in that places are dirt collectors. add water/dirt mist from driving in the rain, and the dirt already there gets moist. the outer layer drys, while the inner layer stays moist and takes longer to dry. then rust starts, rinse and repeat, you now have a bad frame.
this is especially bad around gas tanks that are inside the frame rails, but are very close to the rails themselves. sneak gas and brake lines, plus wiring along side, and these items help trap dust and dirt, giving water mist more places to keep moist, allowing rust to get a good start eating the frame for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I'm wondering if pressuring washing often and then using something like WD-40 on the area's might help say on something like cab mounts and such? I'm wondering if using some like removing the factory coating and using some zinc coating plus paint would help?

It all is better than doing nothing at all. But key is first getting it all clean, get all the moisture holding crap out of there and keep up with if on a seasonal bassis. I have a 2001 Dakota that spent its entire life up here in east central Wisconsin. Rust in inevitable. I bought it used with 153,000 miles on it from a friend of mine, for $1500. So I wasn't expecting too much, but its been a good truck for me, now at 203,000 miles. Over the years I'd raise the hood, and flush out the inner fenders and those area that can collect all sorts of crap. Then after it sat and dried, I'd spray WD40 liberally into those same areas. Even though I doubt my friend did anything similar, it has slowed the rampant rust common to old Daks in the great white north.

97-04 dakoras are horrible designs on the frame. They are riveted together in sections at the front leaf spring shackle I've seen a lot of them rotted out there in the Chicago area. I got rid of my latest 99 for that very reason.
Passenger side was worse on that one all rust jackes at the Iverlapped area enough that the lower leg of the channel had been distorted enough to have a 45* gap between the front section and the overlapping rear section. And I could dang near get my fingers between the sections in the horizontal part of the rail.
I've heard of issues with 87-96 models as well, but so far my experience is that they hold up better than those that replaced them (97-04) my current 96 4wd is scaly looking, but still solid. I've had 5-6, 87-96s.

still no pictures? might be able to help if we could see the problem.

The OP hasn't responded at all since his 1st post.

He might have gotten banned