Well, I've finally come to my senses, and realized that my truck isn't going to be around a whole hell of a lot longer.
I found out this winter that the two cross members that run over the gas tank have holes rotted in them.
The rocker panel under the driver's door is completely gone, only being held together by Linex.
The drivers side rocker/cab corner that I had replaced 3 years ago is starting to rust again.
The underside of the bed has been rotting since I got the truck.
The front half of the frame (that I never got around to painting) has been rusting for years, and is progressing to the point where it's more than just surface rust now.
Well, today I went outside for no apparent reason, and started looking at the truck.
The back half of the frame that I stripped and painted with POR-15 2 years ago has rust coming back up through the paint.
Then I noticed a piece of Linex that got peeled off on the passenger side rocker panel (probably when I drove through a ditch a couple months back, yeah, in my lowered truck
), and a few inches behind it there were 2 orange specs. I decided to poke them, and yup, crunching noises. So THAT's rotting too.
None of these things individually are a big deal, but short of a full frame-off resto, this thing is just going to keep rotting away in new places, no matter what I do. And it's just not worth that much time and money.
Now, the truck's not going anywhere any time soon, but it's definitely not going to be around indefinitely like I had planned. It is still structurally sound, and looks like it's in pretty damn good shape, but it's just not going to last, and trying to keep it in good shape is just going to be a losing battle.
I'm thinking once I'm out of school I'll take the engine/trans out, throw them in another RUST FREE truck from the south, and part this one out. It just sucks knowing that my first vehicle, something that I've put so much time and money into is on its way out.
I found out this winter that the two cross members that run over the gas tank have holes rotted in them.
The rocker panel under the driver's door is completely gone, only being held together by Linex.
The drivers side rocker/cab corner that I had replaced 3 years ago is starting to rust again.
The underside of the bed has been rotting since I got the truck.
The front half of the frame (that I never got around to painting) has been rusting for years, and is progressing to the point where it's more than just surface rust now.
Well, today I went outside for no apparent reason, and started looking at the truck.
The back half of the frame that I stripped and painted with POR-15 2 years ago has rust coming back up through the paint.
Then I noticed a piece of Linex that got peeled off on the passenger side rocker panel (probably when I drove through a ditch a couple months back, yeah, in my lowered truck
), and a few inches behind it there were 2 orange specs. I decided to poke them, and yup, crunching noises. So THAT's rotting too.None of these things individually are a big deal, but short of a full frame-off resto, this thing is just going to keep rotting away in new places, no matter what I do. And it's just not worth that much time and money.
Now, the truck's not going anywhere any time soon, but it's definitely not going to be around indefinitely like I had planned. It is still structurally sound, and looks like it's in pretty damn good shape, but it's just not going to last, and trying to keep it in good shape is just going to be a losing battle.
I'm thinking once I'm out of school I'll take the engine/trans out, throw them in another RUST FREE truck from the south, and part this one out. It just sucks knowing that my first vehicle, something that I've put so much time and money into is on its way out.
