Ram rear fender well undercoating question

[Wayne M.]

I totally disagree with this. One of the first things I do to a new vehicle is remove the rear well liners. The liner traps salt, sand, grit, grime and who knows whatever else on the lip that runs around the well. Around here you can find trucks only a couple years old with rust on the top side of the well.

Some trucks like 2 gen and my '98 Durango have liners as standard, and they've held up pretty good.

 

[inlinesix3million]

For the guys contemplating a reskin like me, I wonder if we can petition a quality outfit like AMD to make them for us. AMD makes excellent Mopar restoration sheet metal.

That would be awesome, especially if they could use a thicker sheetmetal.... unlike the ding magnets on my longbed. My truck had the fender liners from the factory and they really seemed to help.

The insides of my wheelwells are all super clean behind those liners. The original owner did ,however, have the wheel arches ( outsides ) Line Xed when the truck was new. No rust whatsoever.

 

[PWong]

My truck had the fender liners from the factory and they really seemed to help.

The insides of my wheelwells are all super clean behind those liners.

That's what I was talking about.
I used to clean the wheel wells with garden hose after driving in snow. Two years ago while dealing with the rust I found out about the factory designed holes on the wheel wheels. WTF!!! I actually pushed dirt and water behind the wheel well while hosing it down.
So I did the liner and fare at the same time.
I also applied the 3M coating behind the wells.

 

[BDuffy]

i use amsiol mp [metal protector ] which is motor cycle chain lube which dries to a wax coating and seems to work well, also has a good reach when spade

 

[JBlomenberg]

Bumping a really old thread, so sorry about that. For guys that have done this fix, did you just wire wheel out the pain bubbles and then spray with an appropriate primer? Or if the rust is bad enough did you just cut it out all together?

I have the same wheel well rot on my truck. It has been relegated to farm truck / hunting truck duty now and will likely be the truck my kids learn to drive on. I'm thinking of doing the Mopar Fender flares + wheel well liners with the intent of getting the truck to survive for a while longer. Not worried as much about resale as I am planning on keeping this truck.

I'm willing to go after a $500 fix at this point to get some more life out of it and not the $5000 fix to reskin, repaint, rebedline the bed since it just isn't worth it at this point. Plus, it would kill me to put a scratch in fresh paint next time I'm loading up the goose-neck, or down in the bottoms hauling out a deer.

 

[jgillott]

Interesting that you brought this up. I am getting ready to do my passenger side bed side as soon as the weather breaks. I will be replacing the entire bedside with a new OEM Mopar replacement again. The drivers side that I did several years ago is holding up well so far.

 

[JBlomenberg]

Interesting that you brought this up. I am getting ready to do my passenger side bed side as soon as the weather breaks. I will be replacing the entire bedside with a new OEM Mopar replacement again. The drivers side that I did several years ago is holding up well so far.

Any reason you are going that route vs. an alternative? I am normally a fix it once, fix it right kind of guy, but this is one of those moments where I'm really contemplating "good enough" given the planned use for this truck.

 

[jgillott]

Any reason you are going that route vs. an alternative? I am normally a fix it once, fix it right kind of guy, but this is one of those moments where I'm really contemplating "good enough" given the planned use for this truck.

When I did my driver's side, there were just a few bubbles showing on the outside. The inside of the panel was severely rusted. I expect to find the same when I pull this one. I just can't imagine patching and having it last any given amount of time.

Secondly, I absolutely hate working with rust. If I skin the entire side, I am working with good clean metal. Overall prep time is actually less than doing the patch panel and all of my seams are hidden.

 

[jgillott]

I just went out and took a picture of my rust (sorry about all the salt it snowed today).

It looks minimal. I'll take a photo when I pull it of the inside. You will not be able to believe it.

 

[JBlomenberg]

I just went out and took a picture of my rust (sorry about all the salt it snowed today).

View attachment 102124

It looks minimal. I'll take a photo when I pull it of the inside. You will not be able to believe it.

Thanks, looking forward to the picture. Mine has progressed beyond that after this year's winter and I'm getting some complete cracking of the paint and figure in those points I could probably push my finger right on through. I'm also noticing a lot of rust on the "U" channel that runs between the bed and the frame rail. I was planning to spray in some of the Eastwood frame rust killer in there as well as in the fenders. I'm worried about how bad it really is under there but hoping that the rust isn't far enough up that it will rust out above the fender flares.

 

[BIGNASTY]

When we took our auto's in to have them sprayed with Krown. I asked the dealer about what he could do for older cars that already have rust started? He told me of a tow-truck company in town that the owner was tired of replacing the tow trucks so often. He sprayed their trucks even though they had rust accumulated already. It took a couple of applications but the rust was kept at bay and some even had rust chips fall off and not continue to eat the truck.

The picture is of my truck having Krown applied to the area that I believe your talking about. That rod he's putting in a hole under the tail light is attached to a spray gun that reached all the way to the front of the bed. If you look closely you can see the mist of the product rising from the edge of the bed rails, At first I didn't think that he was applying enough to do much of anything but I've since thought better of that.

 

[MarkEkberg]

Yep.... I use a guy who does hot oil. I think the oil penetrates the rust better if you have it started.

This guy charges 175 a truck. I am putting in a lift next to my garage so I can oiling on the side. Going to charge 150, have about 25 into materials, and get paid 125 an hour to do it. Two cars a week pays for all my toys.

 

[brods]

Yep.... I use a guy who does hot oil. I think the oil penetrates the rust better if you have it started.

This guy charges 175 a truck. I am putting in a lift next to my garage so I can oiling on the side. Going to charge 150, have about 25 into materials, and get paid 125 an hour to do it. Two cars a week pays for all my toys.

Do you think hot oil will help this rocker? #@$%!

I don't even want to know what the inside of the rear wheel arches look like. I've about given up on this body (and almost with the entire truck) and will be watching how the body swap goes for erikz.

 

[jgillott]

Thanks, looking forward to the picture. Mine has progressed beyond that after this year's winter and I'm getting some complete cracking of the paint and figure in those points I could probably push my finger right on through. I'm also noticing a lot of rust on the "U" channel that runs between the bed and the frame rail. I was planning to spray in some of the Eastwood frame rust killer in there as well as in the fenders. I'm worried about how bad it really is under there but hoping that the rust isn't far enough up that it will rust out above the fender flares.

I've been thinking more and more about your approach here. I see no harm in filling that area on your truck and then covering with a flare as a fix for now, especially with the little cost you will have in the job. Worst case scenario, you will have to replace that panel down the road.