Question about rust

Got this video from the seller of a 2nd gen.

Question - how does the rust look to you guys?

I’m from the west coast so not a lot of experience dealing with rust.

is this acceptable? Or pass?

I plan on keeping the truck for a long time and I know rust can be the killer of these trucks.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1016291934?h=5039ee2f15


Appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

 

Doesn't look terrible but there's plenty of trucks in the west coast, why not buy a rust free one?

 

Great question!

It’s a RCSB 5.7 4x4. Low miles.

I can’t find anything in the west coast. The ones I found are either high miles or just beat up in general.

When you say it’s not terrible, is it something I can easily fix? Clean up and spray bed liner/undercoat type of easy?

 

Surface rust is all I can see. Nothing to worry about. Wire brush is all you need. If you want it to be perfect you could hit it with a wire wheel on a die grinder at 20k rpm, that will take off even the smallest bits of rust and then you can follow up with a couple coats of POR-15 in semi-gloss using foam brushes to minimize brush marks.

 

How much

 

Awesome Bill, Thanks!

 

I watched the video several times, it’s mostly the rear axle I see that has the most surface rust. Frame looks good but I’m sure I’ll see some in certain areas

 

Yeah looks pretty minor to me. No evidence of him trying to cover up anything on the frame either. Sometimes you’ll see people throw on black spray paint or rubberized coating to cover up bad rust spots. I always like to check the hard brake lines too just because those tend to rust a little faster. Not a deal breaker, just a safety issue.

 

If you do go the POR-15 route, feel free to PM me. I can give you some good tips from my past experience of using it on my frame. You definitely want to use the metal prep and degrease it beforehand to get good adhesion.

 

I have a 2012 and have way more rust than that. All I see is surface rust. Very minor. You should be good to go.

 

That all looks like surface rust. Might have to check the crossmember under the bed that the spare tire is mounded to, but nothing in the video is scary.

What IS scary is putting bed liner or any of the bullshit rubberized undercoating (zeibarts, et al.) on the underside of the truck. You'll ruin it. It will rot underneath and you'll never see it. Use something like wool wax, fluid film, Krown, etc. and reapply it as needed. There is no "treat it once and forget it" solution.