Rust at front seam of bed help

[Danno1985]

I recently picked up a 2010 XLT. Usually I hate to even consider local trucks, but this one was remarkably clean. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a 100% rust-free Wisconsin vehicle. I was initially planning to get this truck line-x'd, so I pulled the factory drop-in bedliner out and after cleaning out a layer of caked-on silt and rotted leaves, found some bubbling where the floor meets the bulkhead. It looks like that center floor section is available, but the rust goes beyond that on both sides. Doesn't really seem soft, but I'd like to nip this in the bud before it gets worse. I've fluid-filmed everything underneath the truck, but I know the bed will continue rusting through from the top if I don't address this. What's my best option here? It seems like it'd be tough to grind in this spot and really get everything. Honestly, as much as I hate everything about plastic bedliners, I'm thinking about just hitting this area as well as all the spots where the liner might rub heavily with fluid film and then just putting the bedliner back in; line-x is probably out of the question. What do y'all think?

 

[Dirtman]

You call that rust!?!

If it were me I would clean the crap out of it the best you can with wire brush, dish soap, pressure washer etc. When its dry coat it with a good oil based enamel. When thats dry fluid film it so it creeps into the seams and then drop the bedliner back in. Then just pop the liner out once every couple years to check on it.

Putting a bead of silicone on the lip of the liner at the tailgate will also help prevent crap from getting down there.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Media blasting is the only sure fire way to stop that rust in its tracks. Then re-coat with your paint/product of choice.




GB

 

[pjtoledo]

rust converters or rust encapsulators work in seams and hidden areas. then fluid film it.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

rust converters or rust encapsulators work in seams and hidden areas. then fluid film it.

And many/most of them are modern day snake oil. The only true way to beat rust is to remove any trace of it. Sure, it can be slowed down, but it will continue to rust underneath most rust converter products. Been there. Seen it. Tried it.




GB

 

[Diesel_brad]

Media blasting is the only sure fire way to stop that rust in its tracks. Then re-coat with your paint/product of choice.




GB

Agreed. I would media blast from BOTH sides to see exactly what you are dealing with.

I just has to do a similar repair on an 04 I picked up. I had to cut out about a 18''x18" square above the muffler as the stick on heat shield held the moisture and salt, therefore rotting it out.

When I had the bed off I found more rust all around the front bed mount on the drivers side. I sandblasted it COMPLETELY, taking away any rusted metal and leaving behind only good metal. (I also removed inner wheel wells and sandblasted the ENTIRE bottom side of the bed) decided since I got rid of all the rusted metal I could get away with coating it with "rust paint"(i prefer master Series). I go around all the overlaps spots and boxed areas with a brush, then spray everything. Then topcoat with valspar low glare black. Once everything is dry I go inside the crossmembers and any boxed areas with Eastwoods internal frame paint. After a couple days drying I do 4 cans of fluid film in the boxed areas

 

[Danno1985]

Welp. I have an update to this thread. Today I noticed the bed seemed to be bouncing around a lot more than usual. Right away I had a bad feeling. Looked underneath - yup, front right bed mount rusted out. God. Dammit. The bed has no rust in the wheel lips or corners but I'm sure there's no way it makes sense financially to have a body shop fabricate a new bed mount.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

My 2001 had the same exact problem on the drivers side front mount. I picked up a used bed in Indianapolis for a couple hundred bucks.



GB

 

[Danno1985]

My 2001 had the same exact problem on the drivers side front mount. I picked up a used bed in Indianapolis for a couple hundred bucks.



GB

Looks like that's what I'll be doing. Sucks, because this truck is only a 2010 with 80k and the box is otherwise super-clean. Oh well. There's a black flareside bed near me for $250. If it's clean, I'll probably snag it.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If yours isn't a flareside then you will need the bumper too, and maybe the fuel fill line.

 

[Danno1985]

If yours isn't a flareside then you will need the bumper too, and maybe the fuel fill line.

I'm aware that the bumper's different. What's different about the fuel fill line?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm not sure about the fuel line, just something niggles in my mind that there is 2 things to watch for when swapping over.

 

[Danno1985]

I'm not sure about the fuel line, just something niggles in my mind that there is 2 things to watch for when swapping over.

Gotcha. I didn't see that in the threads I looked through; maybe it's an issue of the filler line not being long enough when swapping from flareside to styleside?

Follow-up question. Realistically, how unsafe is it going to be to drive around with the front right bed mount busted? The other six mounts are rock solid and have no rust, it's just that front seam that's an issue. I can tell the metal on the left front one is weak. My concern is that now that it's not 100% secure, it's going to put extra shearing force on the remaining mounts every time I take a corner or hit one of our famous Milwaukee craters I mean potholes. I did take the camper shell off; figured that would put less stress on the remaining mounts.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If that was my truck I wouldn't worry about it as long as 4 out of 6 mounts are good. I probably wouldn't worry if only 2 mounts were good. But this is a judgement call that you have to make.

 

[Danno1985]

If that was my truck I wouldn't worry about it as long as 4 out of 6 mounts are good. I probably wouldn't worry if only 2 mounts were good. But this is a judgement call that you have to make.

Roger that. I'm definitely pretty picky, so it bugs me that this is something I overlooked. Ah well. I mentioned it to my buddy who drives a 2003 that's spent its whole life in Wisconsin, and he was like, "oh, yeah, my bedliner flew out on the freeway and it was only then that I realized there were huge holes in the bed and all of my bed mounts were f*cked." ? I'm going to keep a lookout for a clean black bed but not stress about it too much in the meantime.