Help me save my Ranger - Rusty Roof

[LordVngr]

Hi

I need some advice from you guys on what I should do with my ranger. I just dont know what the best option is. I have a 1989 Ranger STX 4x4 supercab with all the options ford offered in that year including the high rider suspension. I've own the truck about 10 years now and would like to own it another 10 years but i got a problem I dont really know what to do about.

You see about 2 years ago the top of the roof started to rust because the clear coat and paint had faded all way and I didnt get to it in time to save it. I'm STILL kicking myself in the ass over that one.

Anyway, I sandblasted the top of the roof as good as I could get it, Covered it in about 3 heavy coats of Extend rust proofing / rust fighting product and then painted it with about 3 coats of primer and about 3 coats of clearcoat to protect it. It didnt help much, a couple of months later I noticed the paint was starting to bubble again.

At this time I bought a pop-up sun roof for it because I got a great deal on it and because the worst of the rust would be right where the sunroof goes so I figured once that was cut out and replaced with a sunroof that would be good enough to save the roof. Nope....

Even though I took it to a " Professional " upholestry shop to have the sunroof put in and the headliner redone The Chitheads must have not done ANY metal prep on the sunroof hole once they cut it. They just thru the sunroof in.

Now the roof is rusting even worse then before I put in the sunroof and I just dont know what to do about it. At this point I feel like no matter how many times I sand down the rusty areas, cover them with a rust fighter and repaint them it will be just a mateer of time untill it comes back and destroys the roof of the truck.

Since it's the roof of the cab and not something simple like replacing a door or fender I'm not sure of what to do. I Love my truck and would like to put some money in it and semi-restore it and drive it another 10 years But not with the roof the way it is. it will rust away long before that.

I see my options as follows but dont know if some of these can even be done nor how expensive they would be and wanted to get feedback on it.

1 - I continue to grind, sand, treat, and paint the roof untill the rust finally overwelms the roof, it starts leaking on me and I have to buy another truck

2 - Purchase another 89 ranger SC with a Good cab/roof and cut the very top of it off and weld it in place of my original

3 - Purchase another 89 ranger SC with a good cab/roof and cut the whole roof assembly off and weld in on to my original cab

4 - Purchase another 89 ranger SC with a good cab and just replace the whole freaking cab

I dont know IF 2 and 3 could even be done, how much it would cost to do and how to find someone good enough with welding / bodywork that they could actually pull off a job like this and get it RIGHT.

Replacing the whole stinking cab just sounds like more work then I want to do. God what a job that would be.

Anyway thats my issue in a nut shell, I love my truck, I want to save it, But I need a little help and advice. Help me save my truck. What would you do if it was your truck. Thanks......


LV

 

[cody93]

what kind of sanding tools u use, and what rust prevention chemicals, my truck had a rusty roof when i got it, sanded all the paint off, and used rust conveter, then reggular primer over it, any pics?

 

[LordVngr]

what kind of sanding tools u use, and what rust prevention chemicals, my truck had a rusty roof when i got it, sanded all the paint off, and used rust conveter, then reggular primer over it, any pics?

Hi, thanks for the reply

I used a product called Extend which I have had good luck with in the past but not this time. For tools I used a DA sander and a home sand blast setup with about 80 psi. Got most of the rust off but never got it all out of the pitts.

What really messed me up was having the sunroof installed I think. I didnt want to do it myself cause I was concerned I wouldnt get the sunroof hole cut just right and something like that you only get one shot at it.

Sooo, I decided to have a shop do it since I figured they would do a more professional jub then me. Boy was I wrong. I think they cut the hole, Exposed some of the underlying rust to the elements and instead of painting or coating the cut before dropping it in they just dropped it in with NO metal prep whatsoever. the rust bubbles started coming up around the sunroof within weeks of having the job done.

I'm really depressed about the whole thing and even more pissed at myself for not getting to it as soon as I noticed the first surface rust coming on but I let it go untill it was probably to late. I'd like to keep my truck for a long time yet and dont have any issues with putting a couple of grand in it to fix it up really nice but with a roof rusting out it would be just a waste of money unless I swap cabs with a rust free one or have a doby shop cut the whole roof off and re-weld another one on there.

Both of which make me cringe at the thought of. Swapping out cabs would be sooooo much work not to mention now I would have a different VIN tag on it. As far as someone cutting the old one off and rewelding a new one on I'm not even sure this is something a body shop could do much less do it right And I'm sure the price would be like a couple of grand to do.

I've looked at some other rust products up here and will probably be ordering some just to try and slow it down but as this point I think the rust is too engrained in the metal to ever just Stop it from eating away at the current roof.

If I do decide to buy a parts ranger for the Cab does anybody know what years of ranger the cabs are the same on. I know Gens II are 89 to 92 but would other cabs from other years bolt right on my frame.....

The thought of all this just makes me sick and I just want to hit myself when I think that I could have prevented all this if I had just thrown some primer on the roof when the original paint started to fade away.


LV

 

[cody93]

for extended cabs, i think they were made from 86-92 i believe, my roof had rust pits too, first time i sanded it, i sanded and left pits, and then primed with rustoleum, 1 month later i was like "huh, musta mist a spot" i sanded this all by hand cause a DA sander gets me tired holding it down. then i sanded the roof all the way down to bare metal, sanded as much rust pits out and sprayed some rust converter stuff i got at walmart in a spray can, it turns rust into black primer. as soon as i sprayed a light coat on, the metal turned a slightly blue grey tint, and the brown rust pits turned black, leted the thin coat of converter dry and sprayed it with rustoleum, this was back in febuary.

 

[MountainMike]

I actually just saw them do this on MuscleCarTV, I'm not entirely sure how your Ranger's roof set up works but... maybe you could just re-skin it?

If the structure is still all solid and it is just the panel you could probably even get a new skin from Ford.

They also did a whole roof swap

Roof Swap
Summary
http://www.powerblocktv.com/site3/index.php/musclecar-episodes?ep_num=MC2010-05&ep_sea=1001
Video
http://www.spike.com/full-episode/blue-collar-buick/36421

Roof Re-Skin
Summary
http://www.powerblocktv.com/site3/index.php/musclecar-episodes?ep_num=MC2010-01&ep_sea=1001
Video
http://www.spike.com/full-episode/edelbrock-mustang/35437

Best of luck, hope this helps a little.

 

[LordVngr]

Well I've delt with rust enough to know it Will be back, I can almost gurantee that and it really doesnt matter what it's treated with Rust Always comes back anmd the only way to really fix it is to just cut out the bad metal all the way back to the rust free metal.
Dam I hate Rust, Always have, Always will and I dont like putting money into a vechicle thats has rust on it.

 

[AllanD]

Properly treated with any of the commercial rust "converters" then sealed with paint you can kill it (rust that is).

I like Ospho or the "Right Stuff" equivelent of it they sell at advanced
(I usually just screw a windex sprayer head to the quart bottle of solution)

But you've gotta get all the scaley crap off



AD

 

[bigfltruck]

i used a wire brush, sanded by hand, then i wiped my roof down with acetone. after that i put a heavy layer of Ospho on let it dry for 48hrs wiped it down with acetone one more time and then primed and painted, 2yrs ago no rust and still looks good.

 

[OilPatch197]

Por-15

 

[Funnyman141]

make it a convertible?
just kidding

well all of the good ways have been said and it would be nice to see pics of how bad it is too otherwise you could just cut out the bad part of the roof and weld in a newer piece or just a piece of sheet metal

 

[Boghog1]

Extend rust stuff sucks, POR-15 or Rust Bullet, there is also http://safestrustremover.com/

 

[LordVngr]

Ok guys, thanks for the input. I will take some pictures of the truck this weekend so you can see what I'm talking about. Any idea which one is better POR-15 or Rust Bullet. From the ad's I looked at POR-15 looks like Good Stuff......

LV

 

[Boghog1]

independent lab test supposedly have shown rust bullet to be better. U have not used because I can't find it local. POR is good but you mustfollow prep procedures