My exhaust is falling apart

[huntman58]

If it was me I think I would try some naval jelly and a good stiff brush and work it in there good and hard as far back as I could by taping the brush on a stick or what ever to get in there. Then I would dry things up really good and spray it with a rust converting primer and let it dry. Then I would spray it with some truck bed coating or similar rubbery material to seal things up some. After all of that if you wanted to then you could cut the bad out side away fact is you could do that first if you are going to do this last step. Then get some expanding foam spray it in there not a lot at a time but build it up tell it’s filled and then shape it to the body and then seal it with primer and the truck bed coating. That should by you time and get you threw the winter. Any way that’s what I would try if it was mine and I wanted to stop it and buy my self some time to fix it right or do something other with it like sliders or what ever. As I said just an opinion and option.

You could do it to both sides and also use the foam to fill in all the holes from the plastic parts you removed if you’re not putting them back on. Then use that bed liner stuff to paint a strip along the full bottom of the truck both sides just like a paint protector but in this case you also stopping any more water, snow or slush from getting in there for now.

 

[tjsxplodr]

I was wrong, the RIGHT side is WORSE than the left. The rust has eaten clear thru the inner metal exactly like it is on the left side, but the left side hasn't eaten completely thru. I don't think putting a brush thru the panels is going to do a thing. They're badly eaten up. They've either gotta come off all the way, or not at all.
I'm tempted to see if I can put an ad on craigslist and find out if there's any auto body workers looking for some cash.

 

[J_C]

The plastic side skirt things are all that is on my rig. I'm going to remove them, and assess the complete damage to the panels. I don't want to have to replace the entire panels, but will if that will make it easier.
How would removing the flimsy pieces of metal on the sides of the truck make it not structurally sound?

I'm not suggesting your truck will fall apart in the middle, but, even flimsy metal and that you have to cut away till you have only good metal remaining, is less reinforcement than leaving it as-is (till it rusts more). So you have a choice, either ripping off what is so rusty it has no purpose and buying or filling in with panels what you have to, or cutting it all away and all new panels. Option 3 would be cutting it away and putting some rust preventative paint on what remains but I don't see the point in doing that if the modification isn't for the purpose of gaining clearance, since it is a daily driver.

Someone committed to long term ownership would do the latter (Edit: cut it all away and full panels welded on), while someone on the fence about selling would patch and sand and paint till it looked ok for a little while at least.... or just forget about it and sell it as-is, once a vehicle is that age it's going to have some rust if not owned exclusively in an arid region.

What I would do is cut it away yourself, get the panels and if you can weld, do that, or if not, pay someone to. Anyone can lather on some bondo and smooth it out, then if you care a lot about the paint pay someone, or if not paint it yourself.


I'm basically repeating myself, you can do all the work till the point it seems beyond your capability then pay for the next step in the process.

 

[tjsxplodr]

I have a metal grinder, sander. That's probably about as far as I would be able to get with it... I have a friend who knows this guy who has worked on their vehicles for years and years and has always done great work. I'm going to be talking to him and see what he would charge me to have both panels replaced.

For my catback, at a shop for the Dynomax installed is $220...for the stock OE system its $150. I'm thinking for right now, I might just find a new muffler and put it on.

 

[Tony H]

I have a metal grinder, sander. That's probably about as far as I would be able to get with it... I have a friend who knows this guy who has worked on their vehicles for years and years and has always done great work. I'm going to be talking to him and see what he would charge me to have both panels replaced.

For my catback, at a shop for the Dynomax installed is $220...for the stock OE system its $150. I'm thinking for right now, I might just find a new muffler and put it on.

If you want to get crazy and make your own sliders. http://www.broncoholics.com/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1416


Maybe you can have a Collision shop purchase these for you. I did my 'Doglegs (item48) a few years back.
Dead Link Removed

 

[huntman58]

When I was saying to get a brush back in there that was only to get the naval jelly in to it to help stop the rust not remove it. The foam is to fill it but only as a temp patch tell you can get it done right. The truck bed liner / paint is to seal it from any further damage. All it is again to do is to buy you some time and possibly threw the winter.
I know Boise uses an Ice melt liquid on the roads there that is bad on the bodies from its salt content or did when I lived there. I drove city bus for them before they became vally ride. Same with that gravel they spread as at lest they used to mix salt in with it to help melt the ice beside give you some traction. Not much snow in that area but ya do get the icy roads.

 

[tjsxplodr]

They use sand and that liquid crap. I'm amazed its not worse than what it already is. And what about the inner panels? The rust has eaten thru on the right side....not on the left, yet. Will those have to b cut out just the areas that r bad? This isn't boding well for my truck.


Huntsman, I went and bought all the materials I will need to do the stuff you told me to do. I just hope that the rust isn't so bad in the front of the panels that I wasted my money. I managed to get everything at Home Depot lol. I am going to grind away the rear of the panels because they look like crap. It's going to be a chop job for now, but until I can save enough money to do it right, next summer, this will have to suffice for now. The right side has eaten partway up the dogleg, that's not making me very happy.

 

[huntman58]

Just use some plastic or wax paper to get it to some what the shape you want and then use the foam in layers. As I said this is just a patch to get ya threw nothing more. Fact one of the tricks some one other had talked about on here was using the foam to fill the holes were the plastic mounts. Then shave it down flush with the body and then to cover it all with the bed liner stuff. That foam will fill spots but do not use too much at once as it can also expand and bend panels also. We used to use the stuff for extreme heat and cold insulation both inside and out side down at the gold mines in Nevada when I worked for an insulation company in Idaho. Just fallow the directions on each product and then also test them as layers on a scrap piece of wood or metal.

As I said the cost is cheap next to the right repair and as long as you get the rust that is there now you should stop it from doing any thing more and then the rest will seal it up but also make it look okay if you take your time in shaping and then sealing and painting it with the bed liner stuff. by the way many use the liner stuff to paint there bottom rocker panels to stop paint chips and to protect it some what but it also lets you do touch ups easier then paint so the same thing for you will be able to touch it up as needed tell you can repair it right .

I am not a body man but I try to do things so they look good even if it’s just to buy some time and living on a fixed income of SSDI money is always short so having to buy time is always a need for me.
Do not forget to post pictures of the patch as you do it and when done so that you can see and show us the before and after shots.

 

[tjsxplodr]

WELLLL, turns out that the left side, the panel is peeling apart where the rust is the worst, and it goes all the way up to the front. The right side isn't peeling apart, but I can see the ripples on the bottom of the panels on both sides, where the rust is about to show through the paint. There is NOT going to be a temporary fix for this, even for winter. I'm going to have to come up with a way to get this done the right way before winter. BAH!

 

[Anime]

The RIGHT way to fix the rusty rockers is cutting out the rust, then welding in new sheet metal. If you have a welder, some sheet metal is all you need, just using vise grips and a hammer and a hacksaw to cut and manipulate the metal until it looks right. Weld in place and seal it up with silicone or bondo. Paint to match.

Others on here have had ok results using JB Weld. Same thing, just use a ton of it to make sure it sticks, then do the bondo thing and prime/paint.

Those holes in the rocker are nowhere near as bad as some others. Mine had rust all the way from the back to the front, and the dog leg part was almost completely eaten up, though I had let it stay like that for years, and had I done something sooner, it likely wouldn't have been as bad by the time I got to it later.

Basically if you want to spend money, you can pay someone to weld in new stuff and do a spray bomb primer/paint job if you want to save some dough. Otherwise you're looking at a JB Weld job and about $50-100 in materials for a complete DIY. you can also use spray-on bedliner or Herculiner on the rocker rather than paint, which is great if you like the look since it will hide the bodywork.

You don't HAVE to fix it, either. Just getting the flaky rust off and sanding down the rusted panels, then spraying with some Rust-Oleum primer or Wal-Mart Rust Control spray paint will hold it back.

You can just cut the rockers off, too, and spray them with anti-rust paint or bedliner. It won't affect the integrity of the truck since it's a body-on-frame and not a unibody. Whether or not you can fit OEM side steps will depend if any of the rear panel threaded holes are cut off in the operation. You might be better off just patching the holes after cutting the rust out if you want to mount side steps.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Ohh ok, I'm being told that to just remove the panels for now would affect the integrity of the body. Cool, I might just do that if I can't find a decent enough way to fix it. I just don't have the cash to throw at a nice auto body shop, or even a local mechanic to do it. I've used JB weld before, it works good.

I bought the rubberized undercoating, I figured since the bottom part of the truck is already black, it wouldnt make much of a difference if I used it.


The thing of it is, the rust is almost completely through the paint on the bottom and side of the rockers. I doubt just cutting off what I can see and doing a temp fix will stop the rust that I cant get to...

 

[J_C]

You don't HAVE to fix it, either. Just getting the flaky rust off and sanding down the rusted panels, then spraying with some Rust-Oleum primer or Wal-Mart Rust Control spray paint will hold it back.

Yeah, if the flaky rust is pulled off and what remains has some rust converter paint sprayed on liberally it should make it through the winter with minor difference to what good metal remains, since that is being put on the remaining good metal too, same as it would be if the full repair was done now.

If I wasn't clear, rust converter paint is basically paint with phosphoric acid added so while it isn't as strong as letting naval jelly sit on for awhile, you can do both, let the jelly sit and then put the paint on... but, all the extra steps add up in cost, it has gone 19 years so far, 1 more winter shouldn't be a catastrophe either way beyond how it already is.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Yeah, I'm going to do the DIY fix for now. I don't want to, but I don't have the extra cash to do it correctly right before winter. I bought all the stuff I needed, so would it just be easier to save me a step and some cash, do the naval jelly only then clean it up, then put on the rubberized undercoat?

 

[huntman58]

You could do it like that but I would use both if it were me. But then again I am of the old school of making sure I do not have to do it again tell I want to LOL. but as others have also said what ever way you go leave it DYI or cut paint and leave the rest alone you most likely will make it threw winter with no more problems for the most part as one winter did not do all that damage to start with so one more will not add to it that much . But like I said if it was me I would stop what I could and go from there. Nothing will be like the right fix but keeping snow and slush out of it can only help you out later when you do fix it.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Yeah, I'm going to use all the stuff I bought.

 

[tjsxplodr]

The husband told me last night that the trucks not worth the hundreds of dollars its going to take to fix the rocker panels the right way. He said even if I was to rebuild the engine its not going to last very long.....

 

[J_C]

Seems like "new truck" will be going on your Christmas list.

It depends a lot on how much repair work you can DIY whether something that age is worth it, lots of things start to fail on a ~ 20 year old vehicle... but at least at that point some of them have already been replaced once (or 4 times like my @#$% hood struts) with parts that have a lifetime warranty. Now if I can just find a way to preserve the receipts as some of them seem to have been printed with disappearing ink.

 

[Iron Weasel]

Seems like "new truck" will be going on your Christmas list.

It depends a lot on how much repair work you can DIY whether something that age is worth it, lots of things start to fail on a ~ 20 year old vehicle... but at least at that point some of them have already been replaced once (or 4 times like my @#$% hood struts) with parts that have a lifetime warranty. Now if I can just find a way to preserve the receipts as some of them seem to have been printed with disappearing ink.

A lot of receipts are printed on thermal paper. Cash registers and credit card swipe machines are two of the most common places you'll find thermal paper in use since there is no need for ink.

According to Wikipedia:
Thermal paper is a special fine paper that is impregnated with a chemical that changes color when exposed to heat. It is used in thermal printers and particularly in cheap, lightweight devices such as adding machines, cash registers, and credit card terminals.

The surface of the paper is impregnated with a solid-state mixture of a dye and a suitable matrix; a combination of a fluoran leuco dye, octadecylphosphonic acids as an example. When the matrix is heated above its melting point, the dye reacts with the acid, shifts to its colored form, and the changed form is then conserved in metastable state when the matrix solidifies back quickly enough.

Typically the coating will turn black when heated. But coatings that turn blue or red are sometimes used. While an open heat source such as a flame can discolor the paper, a fingernail swiped quickly across the paper will also generate enough heat from friction to produce a mark on such paper.

When you get a receipt that's been printed on thermal paper, make a copy of it and then throw it in a folder and keep it on the top shelf of a closet or some other cool & dark place.

 

[J_C]

All my receipts are in a folder in a dark filing cabinet in an air conditioned environment. They look fine when placed in the folder, might get exposed to light for about 5 or 10 minutes total over several years time... only long enough to shuffle through them to find a receipt when a part breaks.

It isn't the coating turning a color that is the problem, it is the ink itself fading away with the paper remaining white. These days I throw them on a computer scanner and keep a backup image file.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Lol u guys. Well for now, I need my rig to do whatever I need it to. Work, play, everyday running errands etc. Its worth it for me to fix it unless a major part that requires lots of time and money breaks like the tranny or motor etc....I can't afford a car payment at all not even on a newer used model. That's the reason I need to keep this one. I gotta keep it going. Plus I like it a lot. I just am not capable of doing a lot of the heavier work at home cuz we don't have almot of tools jjust primarily basic tools.