Cab rust - Options.

Rust has taken a hold of the cab.
Seems to be the only aggravated spot. (Yes I inspect and clean the undercarriage once every 2 months)
I did the tap a screw driver to see if it’s truly damaged test.

What is my options?
What is the cab made out of?

Cut a rectangle and weld a piece of sheet steel to it?

 

Your cab - and most of the rest of the truck - is made of steel. Your options depend on how much you want to spend and how complete of a job you want to do. I can tell you (based on a lifetime living in the salt belt) that what you are seeing is the tip of the iceberg. That rust is coming from the inside and there is much more than just hasn't popped through yet. To truly fix it means cutting all of the rusted sections out and replacing them with new metal, then properly prepping, priming and painting the outside surface as well as rustproofing the uncoated inside. Hint: It isn't going to be cheap to do it right.

If you have that kind of rust on your cab, personally, I'd be much more interested in what you frame looks like. After all, the frame is a much more common area of corrosion than the cab.

 

I am interested in a proper and or cheap fix. Newish frame on my 07 but rockers are gone. Cab corners too.

 

No such thing as "proper and cheap" for that kind of rust issue. You can have one or the other, but not both.

 

Welder, wrecking yard & cut off wheel.

 

Please elaborate, “coming from the inside”. The spot on the photo is above the driver seat area.
Is there a drain hole or something in this area?

The frame is in good, it got replaced a ways back, not even the rear axel has any rust. I’ll share photos later.

 

That’s gnarly

 

Generally speaking, rust in the automotive world comes in two forms. First - and easier to repair - is surface rust. This is corrosion that starts on the outer surface of the base metal. (And yes, this can start under the paint.) Simply sanding off the paint, primer and corrosion, then properly treating the surface, priming and painting will take care of the problem.

What you have is corrosion starting on the back / inside of the surface. This takes longer to show up because the corrosion needs to eat through most of the base metal before it shows any symptoms on the outside. This is also why it is so much harder to repair properly. There's almost always way more corrosion than you see on the outside - which leads to a much more expensive repair.

 

Pick 2.

 

There is a forth option you are not seeing. That’s is Cheap, fast, and good.

 

Search for replacement rocker panels if available. It will be time consuming. Then spray inside cavity after replacement with Fluid Film etc

And get your frame oil coated, especially inside the channels where there are sandwiched steel

 

Thats how people who pay to get it done think. Those who get paid to do it think differently.

 

Have never seen a 2nd gen with rust other than the frame

 

Finally stopped raining today.
Here is her undercarriage photos.

Other than the fine silt (beige colour).

 

Well, this one is an oddity the frame was replaced by the prev owner at some point of its life.

As you can tell from the top right of this photo this seems to be the only aged spot.

 

Yes I think I have an idea, of what MAY be causing it.

I want to take a snake camera and figure out if that hole corresponds with a hole in the left most foot well on the driver side.
I recently plugged a hole there.

 

Drill the hole out so it's round.
Spray the inside with cosmoline.
Plug the hole with a plastic plug (similar to those existing plugs in the area but larger)
Install some long mudflaps so road spray no longer pummels the area.

This should get you by another 5 years or so.

 

The frame actually looks pretty darn good! The pinch weld on the driver side rear looks pretty well deformed where the tube step rear mount is bolted on. (The tube step mount looks pretty well crumpled too.) Crumpling sheet metal will damage the paint and allow corrosion to start.

 

Thanks! Yes I suspect the prev owner hit something on the side step…. Then me….. hitting a tree stump….
Didn’t notice that pinch weld.

(I do plan on treating the frame and cab, but for now she gets power washed, then soapy water with a rag, and about 4 cans of LPS3 from work im “borrowing.”)