Help with rust assessment

Hello!

I’ve got a 2006 DC that I’m looking at. It spent summers in NY and winters in FL. 86k miles but I think the rust is too bad. Would anyone with a better eye take a minute to give an opinion? Pictures at this link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1--O4_dBsqVicvd7YHoWPwdH6X3Xw6wKA

edit: looks like universal agreement that this one is a hard pass. First post here. Thanks for being a solid community. Good solid advice.

 

you don't want that one.

 

Did you say it spent it’s summers at the bottom of the Caribbean ocean? Positive barnacles sign on this one. It’s a no for me dog.

 

Hard pass.

 

Is it really even a question? That's pretty damn rough.

 

We’ve seen worse. But that ones not great. I would pass if it were me and look further south

 

At first I was like....'eh....thats not too bad....then the more I looked, and the further aft your pics moved....the less I liked it.

 

What a shame.
Seldom see anything like that here in the Idaho.

 

That was my thought too. First few looked ok but then....

 

A couple of big problems, the first one is obvious. These first gens had frame and crossmember problems from the factory. I have seen some that look okay snapped in half. Assume that was not the case, there is a second problem. Do you really want to wrench on a rusty truck? Can you imagine the hell every suspension related bolt will be to break lose? All the time fighting that thing and chasing threads and buying bolts is not worth it to me. Spend a little more and find a southern kept one. I would take a 300k well kept rust free one over a 60k mile one like that.

 

Welcome to my world. That's why torch heat is your friend so long as you don't get burned.

 

My 67 fastback always lived in Texas, but due to age the front end gave me some fight. Broke some bolts, but not too bad. I learned to spray some PB blaster on stuff the day before. If they wouldn't break, torch was the next goto. Was lucky to never get the plasma cutter or sawzall in the mix. It gets old cleaning up hardware though, and new stuff is priced ridiculous and adds up

 

Okay I took a look and can tell you flat out unless you want to spend a lot of TLC grinding off the rust and coating that frame in POR-15, I would move on to the next seller.

Its salvageable, but your time to bring it back to roadworthiness might not be there. So unless your unemployed and its a steal, hard pass.

 

I'm just glad to see someone coming in here asking about frame rust issues BEFORE buying the truck as opposed to the usual.
Being an 06 and not falling under the recall for the 00-02 trucks I'd stay away.

 

Ok, I'll be that guy...
Depending on your abilities and how much time you want to spend under the truck, I would consider this truck, for the right price... Most people would shy away from this kind of work (as shown from the responses you got) but with some time and effort, it can be cleaned up.

The areas to check for rust-through on any 1st Gen are the forward frame boxes where the forward cab corners mount, the cross members and where they are attached to the frame and the frame stiffeners just forward of the rear axle shackle mounts. Those stiffeners rust out and cause all sorts of problems with that frame area.

Take a hammer and a good flashlight and do a little tappy-tap on suspect frame areas

What is the asking price on this gem? And welcome to the club!

 

$15000. No timing belt done yet. I think I could get the price down because of the rust.

 

At $15k, that's a hard pass. What I'm seeing is a 10-12k truck max truck assuming it's under 150k miles and has stellar maintenance records, is nicely loaded, doesn't need timing belt/water pump done (i.e. it's been recently done, like the last 3-4 years or 30-40k miles).

You can do better. I've got half a dozen pure GA trucks with no salt experience on my local Craigslist alone. No reason to pay $14-15k on something like that. The seller may get that on local sale, because the local market may not have better looking, but there's waaaay better out there outside the rust belt.

 

$15K

 

Without seeing the rest of the vehicle it's hard for me to say what I would pay, but I'm thinking $8K tops. Every bolt on that truck is going to be seized from rust which means any future work you do will be a nightmare.

 

Wasn't there a pic where the frame was swelling from rust at the reinforcement plates?

 

What's the mileage?

 

His first post stated 86K. Belt should be swapped for age. That's low mileage, but 15,000 dollars? Wow! I had no idea....

 

I paid $3k for my truck with less rust....

I know times have changed....but sheesh....for $15k I would expect it to be dang near perfect.

 

Can you link to some of the Georgia trucks you mentioned? I’m in Florida and would drive for a good 05/06 DC with under 150k miles.

 

Run away!!! Either it's because it's low mileage or he's just dreaming.

 

I agree
In January 2020, I paid $2,000 for my Limited AC. Yes, it had a bunch of rust in the frame, which I needed to repair, but I am always amazed at what these trucks are going for now...