Rust on rear fender

[countrymex]

What is the easiest or best way to go about fixing the the rust problem over the rear wheel? It happened from all the salt that has been kicked up off the road over the years and it's eaten up pretty badly. Thought about getting fender flares but not sure how to go about it. Any help is greatly appreciated, just want to make 'ol blue look his best!

 

[Mark_88]

Depends mostly on what you mean by best. I had a 92 box on my 88/96 Ranger and the wheel wells were just starting to rust out. I bought body panels from a local auto parts store and had one side welded on over the old ones (after I cut out and treated the rust).

The flares may be available or if you are good with the body work you can make them yourself...just more work. The panels are easiest but not necessarily the best finish...but, again, depends on what you want.

Here is a link to the LMC site for parts pricing...

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fr/full.aspx?Page=21

As you probably can see, the inside of the wheel hump is pretty much metal (on my 92 it was) with a bit of plastic tacked in. I was going to put some inner fenders in that were hard plastic (front inners from a Ranger will work) to protect the metal and try to prevent the salt from getting stuck up inside on the metal lip around the opening for the wheel...that's how it starts.

Protecting it after you finish is more important than how or what you do with the looks. A good coating of rubber guard or similar product will really help but it will eventually chip away...unless you like doing it every year or so or don't travel much on gravel roads.

 

[countrymex]

Thank you for the help, it is greatly appreciated. I am by no means a mechanic or body repair technician, but I'm picky with my vehicles and like to do things myself. That link gave me a few things I am needing to get so thank you thank you thank you! It was my dad's truck and I love it and he's passing it on to me. I want it to last as long as I can...under the hood as well as keeping the body looking as good as I can. I would like to be able to pass it onto my son when he's old enough to drive.

 

[Mark_88]

You're very welcome~!

Not sure what Ks is like but many places use chemicals that chew things up pretty quick. If you want to pass this on to your own son then you might start with taking a good look at the condition of the frame and consider approaching it from a frame-off restore.

Depending on what level you go to on that, it can be either a lot of work or a huge project that will take you a long time to complete...but will pretty much guarantee your son and maybe even your grandson will get to enjoy the Ranger.

There are a few notable frame-off restores by members on this website and they are worth looking at for some ideas. Two names that come to mind immediately are Adsm08 and CVAR (need to check on the spelling) as they both did an excellent job of photographing and explaining the process.

CVAR in particular goes as far as recommending specific materials to use and how to apply them...more or less...

Here is a link to CVAR's post on the restore...

http://imgur.com/a/CKVUo

Adsm08 has a great thread but I was kind of in a rush to put something up...it was such a long and ongoing thread that it would have taken me a few hours to determine a good place to start...but he essentially took the truck apart right down to removing the rivets from the cross members and body supports (if you're serious)...it's long...and covers about 7 years...and there may be a more recent one but I could not find it...

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70897

And...of course...no build thread reference would be complete without mentioning Doorgunner...another long one but full of information...and how pretty much everyone joined in at some point to comment...

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30561