Getting ready for another Wisconsin winter, or my own little version of hell

tbrumm

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My truck has been down for a while as I sent my IP and injectors out to Russ @typ4 for rebuild testing. While the truck has been down, I have been trying to get it ready to spend another 6 months in the salt. It is depressing how rusted everything gets, and it is a losing battle trying to fight it. About all you can do is slow the effects down a little, or just store the truck away in winter, which is not an option for me. One consolation is that the person buying that 60K fully loaded F350 with 6.7 Powerstroke is subject to the same climactic conditions as I am, and my truck is paid for! So, here we go - getting ready for winter!

The seam sealer on the body joints on the door thresholds and the door bottoms had deteriorated pretty badly. If I left this go any longer, major rust would have been the inevitable result. So, I stripped out the interior trim(Well, most of it anyway) and removed cracked and flaking seam sealer and cleaned things up a bit. Please bear in mind that I am not trying to get a show quality restoration paint job here, but I am just trying to mostly get the rust removed and get the seams sealed up better to keep the rust at bay a while longer. The truck is driven daily through the winter slop so it doesn't need to be perfect - it just needs to work.
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Back when I purchased the truck in 2010. I sprayed the thresholds with Duplicolor Bed Liner, so that is the black you see. I could have spent days stripping that stuff off, but for the most part, it was still stuck pretty well so I left most of it alone. Time will tell if I should have stripped it. And no, I would not use the stuff again - there are better products out there, but live and learn. I did not get any pics of the door bottoms, but the skin seams were rusted and starting to swell because of the cracked, or non-existent, seam sealer, so these were stripped and cleaned up as well.
 

tbrumm

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Of course, the door openings had to be masked off in preparation for the paint work. I don't mask cars for a living, so my masking job is cobbled together, but it worked.
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tbrumm

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Once the seam were cleaned up, I applied new seam sealer that I purchase from Eastwood. It comes in a caulk tube, was easy to apply and set up pretty fast. I then mixed up a gallon of Midnight Special Monstaliner bed liner http://www.monstaliner.com/and used a Schutz gun to spray the door jambs and around the doors. I know a lot of people hate bedliner, as the stuff like Herculiner people use on the outside of vehicles looks like crap as it degrades from UV. This stuff I used is does not degrade form UV light, and it sticks like glue! It sure has toxic fumes though, and it is safer to use it outside. All surfaces get scuffed, and then cleaned with MEK (also toxic fumes!) before spraying. No pics of the spraying, but a few pics of the results.
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tbrumm

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I certainly am happy with the way the doors and jambs turned out, and the body seams appear to be well sealed. I guess we will find out. The monstaliner is amazing - it dries quickly and I like the look of it. Maybe I will paint the whole truck in it!. While I had the interior out, I added some insulation to the floor for more sound deadening. Cheap and easy to do. I also installed new door weatherstripping too. It should be a bit quieter in the cab now.
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And her she is with the interior re-installed. More to come and thanks for looking!
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jayro88

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Nice work. Do you have any pics of removing the old weather stripping and installing the new? That is on the short list of things to do for my e250, both for sound and since I have some spots that leak during hard rains.
 

tbrumm

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Nice work. Do you have any pics of removing the old weather stripping and installing the new? That is on the short list of things to do for my e250, both for sound and since I have some spots that leak during hard rains.
Thanks for looking at my thread. No, I didn't take any pics of removing or replacing the weatherstripping, but it is pretty easy. The weatherstripping around the door jambs isn't glued - it is held by the tight fit the weatherstripping channel has on the body flange. There is a strip that attached with a 3M adhesive tape on the top of the door itself to help cut wind noise, but that is just remove the old and install the new(with clean up in between of course). Of course, the worst part is taking off the plastic trim around the doors that also helps hold the weatherstripping on - lots of screws that may be rusted.
 

jayro88

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Thanks for looking at my thread. No, I didn't take any pics of removing or replacing the weatherstripping, but it is pretty easy. The weatherstripping around the door jambs isn't glued - it is held by the tight fit the weatherstripping channel has on the body flange. There is a strip that attached with a 3M adhesive tape on the top of the door itself to help cut wind noise, but that is just remove the old and install the new(with clean up in between of course). Of course, the worst part is taking off the plastic trim around the doors that also helps hold the weatherstripping on - lots of screws that may be rusted.

Hmm. I will have to take a closer look at mine to see how it is attached. I think my '88 e250 may be a little different.

I am always trying to find ways to fight the rust. I am in northern Indiana. Not quite as bad as Wisconsin, but we still get a bit of the salt and snow. My van is my DD and I plan on getting another 200k miles out of it, so I need to keep it from rusting away around me. It works great for family trips and tows whatever I need.
 

tbrumm

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I am always trying to find ways to fight the rust. I am in northern Indiana. Not quite as bad as Wisconsin, but we still get a bit of the salt and snow.

Yeah, it seems you can never stop the rust - only slow it down. I have had good luck with the Eastwood products such as Rust Encapsulator. It seems to work as good as any of the similar products out there, and doesn't seem to be as "picky" as POR-15 when it comes to prep or painting over afterwords. Another product I like is "Opsho". It is phosphoric acid with some sort of zinc additive. Knock off the scaly rust and then spray the Ospho and let it dry a day or two - then top coat. Won't stop the rust forever, but really slows it down.
 

tbrumm

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What did you use for the floor lining?

When I bought the the truck in 2010, Duplicolor had just brought out the bed liner with Kevlar, so the 1 gallon kit was on sale plus it had a rebate. I rolled it on, and it has worked okay, but it is ugly. Good thing nobody see it. If I were doing it now, I would use Monstaliner and also roll it on.
 

The Bus

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Have you ever tried coating your truck's undercarriage with Fluid Film prior to winter?

The reason I ask, is that I was doing research on this same problem and found that quite a few people were using this product prior to the "salt season". It's lanolin based which makes it environmentally friendly. It is also non conductive from my understanding.

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https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...rl=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Fluid+Film

Before and after the season, use a salt neutralizer before applying Fluid Film or as part of your maintenance.

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I learned about this product by a study done by the State of Ohio in response to the corrosion on equipment (new snow removal equipment). I can't find the link on the study, but none the less I found this at Amazon as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092WXN1A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What I learned is that no matter how or what you do to clean up the problem, unless you neutralize the salt, it will be there an continue to corrode the surfaces. They (OH) found this to be the most cost effective way to clean and maintain their highway equipment through the season.
 

chillman88

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The fluid film is a good product from everything I've read. It's my second choice only because we have a Krown dealer a couple towns over.

I really like the looks of that monstaliner. I used herculiner on the floor in my Chevy. It's held up pretty good but apparently I drag my foot on the rocker panel because it's worn off in one spot. I'm thinking about trying the Raptor liner in my F350 but I'm curious to see how the Monstaliner holds up for you.
 

HS108

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When I bought the the truck in 2010, Duplicolor had just brought out the bed liner with Kevlar, so the 1 gallon kit was on sale plus it had a rebate. I rolled it on, and it has worked okay, but it is ugly. Good thing nobody see it. If I were doing it now, I would use Monstaliner and also roll it on.


Thanks but I was referring to the sound proofing foil thingy


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tbrumm

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Have you ever tried coating your truck's undercarriage with Fluid Film prior to winter?

I have been hesitant to apply a film like this, as I try to paint the underbody and frame with rust encapsulator every other year or so. I was afraid the greasy film would cause a problem the next time I try to clean and paint. I just got the underbody cleaned up and painted again, and I will be considering Fluid Film. I am tired of the clean and paint routine. Does it leave a greasy mess so that you get it all over you when you work underneath?
 

tbrumm

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Thanks but I was referring to the sound proofing foil thingy

Oh, sorry. Yeah that is just come 1/4" thick foil faced insulation I bought off of eBay. The brand name was "EZ COOL" and it came in a 4' x 10' roll. I used about 1-1/2 rolls for the crew cab.
 

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