rust sucks

[Sierra4x4]

so my rear drivers side fender is loosing the battle with rust. Will some bushwacker cutout flares cure this? Its beyond sanding down. also, how much should i expect to pay for a 'decent' paint job? not inside the bed or under the hood. Need to fix some other spots that are starting to go like the floor panels, right where the weather stripping and the door meet. 1000-1500$?

[Snuke87chevy]

Kentucky weather is hard on these trucks aint it?   My truck is in the process of being painted, here's whats being done:
1. New cab corners
2. new rocker panels
3. new inner fenders
4. removing any dents and fixing the rest of the rust spots
5. painting the inside of the bed except the floor

I'm goin with light blue metallic, a factory color, and its gonna cost me $1600.  It sounds a little high but I've seen this guy's work and its good stuff.

[Blazin]

What about fenders and doors? Are they the other rust spots that are being fixed? $1,600 sounds a little low to me for what your getting done. I have rebuilt many of these trucks, with floor repair, rockers, cab corners, doors, inner and outer fenders, misc. dents and paint I useually get between $2,500 to $3,000 for this type of repair.

[Snuke87chevy]

No my truck was fairly rust-free when I bought it.  The cab corneres had been filled in once before and they rusted out again.  One of my bedsides was eaten through as well.  The front fenders are still in good shape and one of my doors was good.  I swapped the bed and the other door from my parts truck onto it.  The cab floor is in relatively good shape as well, but I'm not painting the inside of the cab just yet (in a year or two).  The other rust is around one of the tail-lights and a couple of minor surface rust spots.

[Sierra4x4]

heck yeah all this friggin salt they throw on the highways. I cant believe ive only got one fender rusting on me. In my doors where the gasket is its rusting i may have to buy new rockers. but they are cheap. Im getting ready to paint my truck myself. A local shop is having a sale on stuff, i got paint, primer, hardener, sand paper and clear coat for 199.95$ thats a steal to me. My buddy is going to get a gun. Im not in it for looks so much just to keep it from rusting. Previous owner never primered so the paint flakes off REALLY easy. Im not doing the inside of the bed or under the hood so ill have plenty of paint left, ill probably do the diff covers and maybe the driveshafts just for fun. even though ive never done any painting before im pretty excited.

[Blazin]

Are you going to sand blast the rust weld patches etc.? What kind of primer do you have? Self etching rust inhibitive? High build urethane? Or acrylic? The acrylic is old school, has no rust inhibitive qualities, shrinks over time, and does not fill half as good as urethane. What brand of paint did you get? Paint can flake off wether you prime or not, flaking is from not sanding the old finish or primer. The best primer in the world is the old factory finish.

[Sierra4x4]

no. i dont know. i dont know yet. hehe
I really just marched in to see what they had i didnt really get alot of the info just wanted a ball park price. I have to match my paint up so they can get me a for sure price. I think it might even be cheaper. ill look into it all. live and learn i guess.

[79Blues]

Rust does suck... but what sucks worse is people who do a junky job of fixing it.  When I got my truck I looked it over and thought everything looked pretty good.  Just to later find all the corners they cut putting everything together.  

One of the reasons I was so happy to find a cab for sale on eBay... rust free for $200 woohoo!

[Sierra4x4]

yeah, mine isnt too bad underneath. Ill probably get some rustoleum pain just to go on the underneath. Its not bad and isnt really starting to rust. I just hope my friend who said he would help me will. Cause i just tok my only paid vacation i get a year to do this, and he said he had a long weekend off at work, so the timming is good. but the way he is talking he wants to catch up on fishing. Im gonna have to sit down and talk with him and see if he wants to help me out. Cause ill be pissed if he backs out. On the other hand a guy at work said he and a friend would paint it for free, but i dont know if i trust their work.  

[Blazin]

I just got done doing a 91 Wrangler over. I used an 87 tub it didn't look to bad, I even went with the owner and to pick it up The paint was dull and a crappy. Little did I know when I started striping it that it had been painted four to six times depends which panel. The first job the original paint was not even sanded. Striped most of the coats off with a razor scraper. Later jobs included patches welded right over the top of rust, bondo over paint, a real hack job.  

[Sierra4x4]

sheesh that is nuts. Im trying to do mine nice but i cant afford to do alot. I got new rocker panels though. should be easy to put in. we had to drop my leaking gas tank before we could install them though. Any tips on the putting new rockers in? Besides not cutting too much out of the old ones. hehe.  

[Blazin]

Do you have slip ons or whole rockers. Slip ons are good for makeing a patch on your rocker. I always use whole rockers. you have to remove the fender and door. Cut out the old one, sand balst any remaining rust, clamp the new one in place then a few self taping screws. Temp. rehang your dood and fender Make sure they fit good at all the body lines. Maybe a few tack welds then double check the lines. Puls the doors and fenders back off weld the panel on. The inner rocker is part of the floor don't cut it out unless its rotted. The little shelf is what the rocker sits on. I drill several holes in the rocker to weld it down to the shelf. Drill holes in the new rocker along the bottom edge so you can weld it to the bottm of the inner rocker. Don't be afraid to trim off the uneaded part of the new rocker, try to keep it below the botom door hinge. If you look through some of the old posts I posted a site where I have some picks of this type of repair. They are picks of the whole job so they are not detailed as to rocker specific repair, but you might get the jist of it. Don't weld the rocker to the cab corner solid along the seem where they meet. AT the factory the rocker goes on first so you either have to drill the spot welds on the cab corner and get it behind it or cut the rocker to fit , or replace the cab corner too.

[Sierra4x4]

I got the **** things on but it took forever. I wish i had never messed with it. It took WAY too long to do and i should have had it painted by now. It was so hard and i didnt want it to turn into a hack job but ill tell ya it was a heck of alot easier to pop rivet them in that try and weld'em. I thought it'd be a piece of cake but NOTHING would line up i think they were warped a bit. But they are on now. Well i start sanding tommorrow probably paint the next day i go back to work monday. Think i can get it done? I can work ALL day each day until monday. I think it'll be close but its not like i have to cut and weld and hack and grind to sand stuff down. Ill have 2 friends helping me tomorrow. Wish me luck fella's. Im done After this. Maybe some gears or something, but someone else can put'em in!

[matthuber]

My '75 was originally a Michigan truck, so I know on a DEEP and PERSONAL level how bad rust can get

Next Summer (at this rate) I'm probably going to replace every major body component except the cab itself, and I'm going to lift it off of the frame and repair the floorboards and rockers on it. If it wasn't for the fact that my truck's frame, chassis, and suspension are all still in EXCELLENT shape (surface rust only on them), she'd be a parts-truck.

[Blazin]

I allways have to bend and cut them a bit to make them fit nice.