Marc D

I have 43 year old F-250 that spent half its life in Idaho winters. It has some chassis rust, but No amount of rust on the chassis will ever be an issue. If it makes you feel better, I would wire brush all the rust off that sucker and paint the son of a bitch, no matter what anyone tells you.

frgf150

WD-40 Attracts Water? What does the WD mean? I've used if for years to clean up and prevent rust which cannot occur without moisture.

frgf150

My 2004 had rust in the same spots. My spare tire wheel looked pretty ugly as well. Nothing in your pictures looked to much of a concern except for that clamp on the leaf spring (mine rusted there too!) You can scrape, sand, wipe and treat the spots with various products. My new truck, I'm using Rust Check Protect and Coat underneath and Rust Check Protectant everywhere else. It is an oil based product that coats and displaces water. You can treat used vehicles too. I had a rubberized undercoating on my old truck that eventually dried out and became part of the problem in trapping moisture. I live in the rust belt where they dump tons of salt on the road. And contrary to one comment, not all vehicles rust underneath like in your pictures. I have cars that don't see winter and they don't have rust. Car dealers advertise Southern Cars because they don't have rust underneath them. Unfortunately, where I live there is rust through if moisture and salt settle into seams. Krown is another product I have seen which is an oil based protectant. They are used a lot in Canada. The electronic devices are a good money maker for the dealers. The Rust Check I put on was independent of the dealer.

User-One

Considering you are in California I'd assume that sea salt is the issue. I'd say you have a year or two to act as the corrosion will be slow. Personally if you want to keep the truck or even for resale value I'd sand it down get the right paint with a combination of oil based product and get it done within a couple of months. Or at least use an oil based product now to prevent it from getting worse.

If you drive in the country or outskirts of town their is minimal to no salt. If you drive in a place like toronto where they dump tons of salt on the roads, put chemicals down that can't even be pronounced and pour anti-freeze solution everywhere NO truck will last without rust-proofing.

The first thing people ask when you sell a used vehicle here is not the millage but "does it have rust". I've seen cars fall apart into pieces before the engine or transmission goes. I've seen a 5 year old Chrysler that spent all its life in toronto come in with a rusted THROUGH sub-frame.

The rust that the original poster and I posted is not just "surface rust" its the start of heavy corrosion.

ford479hp

I really don't recommend this but you can use (MEK) METHYL ETHEL KETONE. It is very dangerous stuff. Don't sniff it cuz it will cause brain damage, don't touch with your bare hands cuz it will rot your skin, don't get it near your eyes or the fumes will burn em. I've used MEK in my motorcycle gas tank I get rid of rust. And believe me it works! But it is very dangerous to use. You must use it in a well ventilated place.

Duddly Weed

This frankly is inferior steel, and it appears many automakers are using it to save cost to produce vehicles This is so sad to see as it just doesn't make sense because, like on my sons 2004 F-150 the frame rails on both sides have huge rot holes in them. Toyota is biting the big one for rusting frames, going to cost them $15000.00 per truck, 3.4 billion Class action on them.

06screwlariat

lol reviving a 6 year old thread to complain about rust on a 15 year old truck.

Not so much inferior steel, if anything it's the coating, but more so the climate the truck lived in and the care of the truck.

Duddly Weed

Hard to see your point when, you are reading the old thread. Anyway, using new phone and wasn't aware of age of thread. But still, some types of steel are and have been in the past more resistance to corrosion and just don't crumble away. Lol

2008__XL

Edit. I didn’t realize the op post date.