Drip Rail Rust

[RangerReviver1990]

Alright, so I've finally took the time to actually look at my drip rail rust on my truck's drip rails and I'm starting to become worried. I propped myself up to get a bird's eye view of it and I saw that the rust was getting up underneath the rail in a certain spot, but the roof looked it like could just be sanded down and sprayed with some of that rust conversion spray. Im really running on borrowed time and I really don't wanna wait until it's too late and have to swap a whole new cab over or give it up to the junkyard, because this is the only spot on the body that has rust, believe it or not. What do you guys suggest I do? Is it as easy as grinding or using one of those wire wheels, sanding and slapping some Bondo up there? The passenger side has the worst of the rust, the driver side is pretty decent for sitting outside since I bought it

 

[SenorNoob]

Seriously though. Get a picture or 2 of if and people will be able to tell you more. No way would I junk a truck for a little rust though. Even if I just filled it with Permatex. (That's actually about the worst possible way to "fix" a hole in the cab. Please don't.)

 

[RangerReviver1990]

Seriously though. Get a picture or 2 of if and people will be able to tell you more. No way would I junk a truck for a little rust though. Even if I just filled it with Permatex. (That's actually about the worst possible way to "fix" a hole in the cab. Please don't.)

Yeah, I guess I should've added some, did now. How did you get the little guys holding up the signs? Those are cool

 

[SenorNoob]

It's in smilies on the tollbar above the text box where you type your post.

That does look pretty rough. How's your welding skill?

 

[RangerReviver1990]

It's in smilies on the tollbar above the text box where you type your post.

That does look pretty rough. How's your welding skill

Never welded before, my dad can weld decently. What would i need to do?

 

[broncc]

Well the bad news is that it probably looks like this under the old seam sealer:



Do you have a wet/stained headliner near the door? That's a good sign to figure out how advanced the damage is.

The good news is that you can kind of bandaid it annually. Wire brush on a drill down the channel to clear everything out. Rust primer whatever's left, seam seal the rail, and color-match spray paint the repair.

Welding is the best bet. Sooner the better. If you weld it, take the headliner down so you don't start a fire in your car.

 

[RangerReviver1990]

Well the bad news is that it probably looks like this under the old seam sealer:

View attachment 133950

Do you have a wet/stained headliner near the door? That's a good sign to figure out how advanced the damage is.

The good news is that you can kind of bandaid it annually. Wire brush on a drill down the channel to clear everything out. Rust primer whatever's left, seam seal the rail, and color-match spray paint the repair.

Welding is the best bet. Sooner the better. If you weld it, take the headliner down so you don't start a fire in your car.

I ain't got no wet spots on my headliner, mainly because I don't have any, I have the dried up foam stuff that was underneath it. But no wet spots. And what exactly am I welding? Am I gonna have to fabricate a patch panel of sorts? I've never done any sort of body work on a vehicle so I don't really know that whole process

 

[broncc]

We don't know what you're welding until you clean it up. If there is any rust its gonna be the roof skin mostly.

If repairs need to happen and seam sealer won't cut it, there are only two options. Patches aren't exactly available for Rangers so you can either cut sections from a good roof or add some fresh metal in. Just some thin ~20 mild steel from the hardware store can be bent in a vise to match the profile. Tack along the seam until its whole again. Lots of good resources on youtube and stuff.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Alright, so I've finally took the time to actually look at my drip rail rust on my truck's drip rails and I'm starting to become worried. I propped myself up to get a bird's eye view of it and I saw that the rust was getting up underneath the rail in a certain spot, but the roof looked it like could just be sanded down and sprayed with some of that rust conversion spray. Im really running on borrowed time and I really don't wanna wait until it's too late and have to swap a whole new cab over or give it up to the junkyard, because this is the only spot on the body that has rust, believe it or not. What do you guys suggest I do? Is it as easy as grinding or using one of those wire wheels, sanding and slapping some Bondo up there? The passenger side has the worst of the rust, the driver side is pretty decent for sitting outside since I bought it

That looks like someone has tried to fix it before. I would wire wheel it until all the rust is gone. Use some por15 or equivelant, seam seal, then paint match best you can.

 

[RangerReviver1990]

That looks like someone has tried to fix it before. I would wire wheel it until all the rust is gone. Use some por15 or equivelant, seam seal, then paint match best you can.

As long as I can at least stop the rust from spreading long enough until I get time to actually do a full repair on it, I'll try anything. And paint matching is easy, it's black Rust-Oleum so shouldn't be too hard to paint match

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

As long as I can at least stop the rust from spreading long enough until I get time to actually do a full repair on it, I'll try anything. And paint matching is easy, it's black Rust-Oleum so shouldn't be too hard to paint match

Good plan