Stupid question about 03 steering box, but ...

[ECappleman]

Was looking under my new 03 2500 that I just bought.

Everything is REALLY clean, but the steering gear box is majorly rusty.

Is that normal?



Also under the dash by the heating vents, the metal support bars have rust on them. You can only see it if the cup holder is open or the bottom panel is removed.



Thanks.

 

[rbattelle]

Anything that's iron should have a nice layer of surface rust on it. It does not indicate a problem in any way. You can feel free to paint it if you want. Just remember that surface rust on iron is not bad - it only propagates a short distance from the surface, where it chokes off oxygen from the underlying metal and prevents it from rusting into pieces like steel does.



The under-dash support braces do have a tendency to develop some rust, especially if there's been a lot of moisture in the vehicle. Mine have big spots of surface rust on them, but I don't care enough to bother painting them. If you do paint them, beware some of them are used as grounds so don't paint over the ground wires.



-Ryan

 

[Tony T.]

Yeah that exhaust manifold has a nice shiney coating on it now (new) also that won't last long either after a few miles along with a few other things that come to mine, parts of the turbo, parts of the engine block, alternator bracket, just to name a few. Drive and enjoy.



Tony