2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Question for those living in the rust belt...

[Dixie Dawg]

I am about to purchase a 2002 2500 QC 4x4 SLT with 21k miles. The dealer has said the truck is spotless, but when I asked about rust he said there is a little bit on the frame rails, but nothing out of the ordinary, and said you will basically find that amount on any truck. Should I be concerned?

 

[DBohl]

living in the rust belt, I can tell you that there is rust, and there is salt induced rust, don't confuse the two. If the truck came from a rual area where they tend to use more sand then salt then it should ok, plus with only 21K it hasn't seen much road time. If it came from a big city or near by and the previous owner didn't bother to flush the under body, then you might be surprised to see how much rust has acumilated, even with the low miles. Bottom line , it depends on how well the previous owner took care of it. My 2004 has a surprising amount of rust under it, came from Detroit with 52K and I don't think it ever saw a car wash. I'm in the middle of a lock out hub conversion on this truck and this is the first time I had to use a torch to remove the wheel bearing hub assembly, and I have removed quite a few rusted hubs and am aware of all the methods and tricks to getting them out. Ask the dealer to email you pics of the under carriage. Tell the dealer to give you the name and # of the previous owner. ( WI law requiers dealers to give it if asked for) call the previous owner and ask lots of questions, At this point they should have no reason not to tell you anything you want to know about the truck. Hope this helps, Doug

 

[Hammer]

You have to remember the lack or very poor paint the 02's recieved on their undercarriages from Ma Mopar. Sounds like the truck has mostly surface rust which will be common on these trucks in the snow belts and along the seashores from the salt(the rears were the worst). With 21k on the odmeter I would not be afraid of it and certainly its not that bad that some elbow grease and some POR15 can't fix... ... . Andy

 

[TboneMan]

My biggest problem (and that of many others in my area with 2000-2002 trucks) is rust on the bottom of the doors.



If the doors are clean, I'd bet the truck hasn't see much salt.

 

[RyanStewart]

Has anybody every tried (or thought about trying) that stuff thats supposed to turn rust into a hard black shell. I used it once in some small spots on my old truck, seemed to work ok. I thought about using it on some of the surface rust on my truck to see if it would keep the rust from getting worse.