What do I do?

[4x4Hunter]

I just recently put my explorer back on the road after having it mothballed for nearly 4 months. Things deteriorate quickly it seams, as the rockers, doglegs and bottoms of the doors are all starting to rust out. I dont know at this point if I should just sell the truck out and not have to deal with it, or to keep the truck and put the money into fixing the rusted areas. I have a friend who is an auto body guy, and the panels are cheap enough, PLUS...I just put a new engine in the truck to get it back running for winter. I'm contemplating replacing the front fenders..which are also rusting... with the Perry Fiberglass ones. Those SHOULDNT rust out on me...still the bottoms of the doors and the area beyond the rocker panel make me abit worried that I might be defeated already. Consider the fact that the truck is totally paid for at this point and is a 91'...when is enough enough... My brother seems to think that I have a sentimental attatchment to the truck, having had it for 6 years and had very little problems with it other than the rust. I have a 96' Z24 which is up for the winter in place of the better ground clearance and 4x4 of the explorer.... Ugh... very frustrated...I dont know. Any ideas... Anyone else had to deal with the rust to this extent?

Thanks

Noel

 

[88vert]

I vote you keep the ex,if its already paid for and is not killing you on repairs I would keep it.Do you have any pics of your ex?

 

[4x4Hunter]

Pics

http://shadoebox.mine.nu/hunter/truck2.html

theres the truck. I'm going to get the digital camera out tomorrow and post some pictures of the rusted out sections....see if anyone has any ideas how to get it taken care of. I need to try and find the rear window frames cheap. I emailed Ford Parts Network awhile ago but it was $125 per side for replacements. Thinking that I might be able to find them a bit lower elsewhere.

Noel Hunter

My brother has a truck on that same page. I talked with my father tonite... He is thinking about buying a new HD Chevy and giving his 2000 Chevy 2500 to my younger brother..who has a 97 Chevy 1500 extended cab, then I would get that. Plus side is that it has no rust and has a 350 8 cyl. in it. Down side is that the cost of payments would be substancial. However...no repairs. Decisions, Decisions.....

 

[Crankcase]

When I was reading your post, I thought it was just an ordinary stocker.....when I saw the pics, and realised it was lifted....welll hey, keep it

 

[MONMIX]

Rust never sleeps my friend. Ya gotta cut it out clean and smack in some new metal. It boils down to your level of expectation after that.

 

[4x4Hunter]

frustration

Well...

I just had the upper and lower ball joints replaced today. Rust still seems to be the issue of keepign the vehicle or not. I can deal with mechanical problems but rust is often hidden and creeps up on ya. Still thinking of what to do.

Noel

 

[Perry]

Rust is like cancer and it's really hard to stop it.
If your friend that does body work doesn't mind working on it for you then it would be worth keeping.
as for those Perry fenders I would say they might not work well for you since you live in an area you have to worry about snow. I might be wrong on this, but once you put them on the inner liner doesn't fit real well so you would have problems with snow and salt getting in behind the front of the doors. New fenders are really cheap and you can buy replacement panels for behind the rear doors which I would say is your rust spots.

If the truck is mechanically sound it might be worth putting a little time and money into slowing down the rust since you do have the lift and all.

Good luck

 

[X-1]

After looking at the pics, I vote keep it. If it looks near as good as the pics, and new motor it would be worth fixing. By the way, where did you get the pre-runner bar from?, looks sweet.