Rocker panel rust

[NSperduto]

Anyone else having rocker panel rust issues.

I already have a rusting tailgate.

I noticed that the lower part of my rockers where the seam is, is showing brown. I haven't noticed it on my buddies trucks, but all their trucks are dark colored. Mine is silver on the bottom.



It came to a head yesterday when I stepped on my nerf bar and it pulled out of the back of the rocker panel because of the rust. Now I have to figure out a way to mount the nerf bar withouth replacing the rocker.

 

[JR]

If you are at the point where you need body work, I would either replace them or just leave them go. Even if you were to take your truck into a competent body shop, youll likely only be putting a band aid by sanding/ bondo/painting. Most of the time rust starts from the inside out and no amount of body work will permanantly fix that except replacement. Look at the thread that Mwilson started on no weld rockers, if I ever need to replace them I'll likely go that route, it seems to be a good alternative to welding them in.

My 98 has a few chips in the rockers but no rust yet. What I plan on doing is using a paint called chassis saver by Monstaliner. My cousin has used it on alot of farm equipment and the stuff is really good quality. It neutralizes any amount of rust that may be going on, it is perfectly acceptable to spray/brush over rust as long as you have removed any loose scale. Then over top of that I'm going to spray the bottom 3" or 4" (at the body seam) with Monstaliners bed liner in red, to match my truck. This will stop any future rust from forming and protect the bottom of the truck from any future dings. I've seen the stuff first hand and in my opinion is as good an alternative as I have found to turning the keys over to a body shop along with my wallet... . :{

 

[NSperduto]

Thanks for the tip on panel adhesive. I'm still old school where we welded all panels.
Anyway, no I'm not ready for them yet and when they do blow holes through the front, I will replace them, by then I will probably need the back side too since that's what just blew through. One of the reasons I got a two tone truck (blue top and silver bottom) was so when the bottom of the truck rotted out, I could fix and repaint just the bottom and not the whole truck.
This truck needs to last me quite awhile longer, like a lifetime... So I will be repairing whatever goes bad. Just cost too much money to buy a new one.

 

[JR]

I couldn't agree more. Hence why I'm driving a 15 yr old truck. I own old enough vehicles that allow me to do all the diagnosing and repairing. I've only been at the mercy of a repair shop twice in my life and neither adventure ended well.

 

[MarkEkberg]

You need hot oil treatment. Guy here in NH does it, and he gets in all the rockers and tailgate. Anywhere that normally starts with rust he puts the oil to it.

Costs $85, and I do it every other year with all of my cars. best money ever spent. I have a 96 Ford 250 with 300K that has seen allot of winter salt with no rust at all.

 

[DClark]

I see you have a '98. 5 as I do. Both my '96 and '98 have fender fungus in the rockers. It seem that the 2nd gen fender liners come down to the bottom of the rocker and dirt and mud get trapped behind the liner and first thing you know fender fungus from the inside out. A good after market product would be a tool box that fits that area so you could cut out the rocker and bolt in the tool box in its place. Replacement beds are not cheap, even recycled ones. I'm looking for some sort of answer short of body shop or replacement bed.
DClark

 

[MarkEkberg]

Get a hot oil treatment. If you have rust it stops it, if you don't it prevents it from happening.

Guy I use drills holes to get into the tailgate rockers doors etc. Less then $100. best money spent on all my cars every year.

 

[JR]

The oil treatment is a good idea. I've been spraying the under side of my truck every year with Fluid Film and it seems to be doing pretty good. I'm going to be taking the wife's new car in shortly to have it treated with KROWN, it seems like another really good product. If I like it I may do my truck next year as well. I recently bought a MonstaLiner kit and painted from the bottom of the truck up to the first body line. I did it in red so it matches the truck pretty good. I had enough left over I also did the bed rails as they were getting pretty beat up. The reason for the MonstaLiner was because I had several small chips in the rockers and bottom of the bed from running dirt. roads all the time. Most of them were not past the primer coat but once you lose that top coat it's only a matter of time once the salt gets to it. So I did it before the cancer took hold and painted the back side as well. MonstaLiner seems like a pretty good product it doesn't have any type of rubber grindings like alot of the other knock off bed liners have. It is strictly an epoxy type paint and the texture comes from either a special spray gun or a special roller that is provided with the kit. When it dries it is rock hard and feels very similar to the Rhino Liner in my dads truck. Time will tell but I think it will hold up just fine. 2 Coats of the bed liner is app. 40 Mils. That's equivalent to about a dozen coats of paint. I'll post up some pictures.