Bed rusted through, what can I do with it?

That bed looks like it had rails for a 5th wheel hitch in it. The holes you see were drilled through the bed to secure rails to the frame
abner

 

Sounds like you have a very supportive wife mine just rolls her eyes when I mention my truck. I am hopeful mine is reparable. I prefer to spend my money on upgrades, not fixes.

 

I am the exact DS same way just put 300 in a grill when I could have spent that on the rust fix but. As you know rust is always going to happen.

 

You guys got my curiosity piqued over this, so after work I removed by liner. This does not look good. The cross supports under the bed are pretty eaten up. Has anyone seen a bed like this be fixed?

 

I would get sanding and see what your dealing with, I definitely see those two holes for sure are going to have to be patched.

 

Did the body shop check out your frame? You may have more severe issues underneath.

 

One thing is for certain. Those plastic bed liners are bad news. I hope other people see this and get rid of them ASAP.

 

I had no idea before I bought my tundra. I remember thinking 'alright it has a bed liner, I shouldn't have any problems with rust.' but surely that's been rotting for years by now.

 

Get a hammer and chisel out and verify how much is perforated.

 

I agree with @landphil The two holes in the rear of the bed will definitely have to be patched, but the cross beams visible from the top are not in bad shape; the driver side has a little more pitting, but from what the pics show, that will not materially affect strength.

Take a portable grinder (30 grit disc) to the other areas not rusted completely through. If there's good steel left after rust is gone, then those areas may not have to be patched. It's quite possible you may grind through an area before the rust cleans up. If that happens, cut out rusted area to full metal thickness and patch.

 

Last year, I had it checked out by my regular shop, who said that for a nine year old truck it was pretty solid. The frame hasn't gotten any worse since then, but I noticed the condition under the bed bolts where I've got some bad bed rust looks like this. This is the worst rust I have on my frame.

 

I was right there with you. Although my truck is an 08. I just now have 85k miles on it she is in the garage everyday of her life now that I own her but I think the previous owner drove in winter conditions alot. I no longer even drive the truck in the winter because of the rust issue I still have going on. My real fix will be to take the bed all the way off that the support rails off and fix the metal then put it back together after rust proofing the hole bottom side around the rails real good.

 

Here is a pic of mine now. Is the rust gone ? For now.. Am I happy with the repair the body guy did ? No. That's kinda where I'm at with it now.

 

Ok, rust repair talk is fine, but if you behemoth drivers are gonna start comparing swinging dicks in our little 1st gen paradise yall gotsta git.

 

Well with toyota aperantly we all get to talk about bed rust. The 3rd gen guys are starting to find this out as well. Lol

 

Rust is no respecter of Gens...they all rust the same.

 

I've got a spray-in liner and have no rust on my truck at all but it spent most of its life in CA and AZ so...

 

Removed the plastic liner for the first time in 17 years to find leaves and mulch.

Cleaned things up and sprayed the bed and rails with big box liner which is a very nice product from Rustoleum. Also sprayed the liner top after reinstall which stiffened things up.


I think the rust (from the pictures I see posted of others on the internet) starts from underneath the bed from corrosive chemicals attacking the cross members around the where the wheels fling their overspray. I spray PB Blaster up around these corrugated areas aiming from each rear wheel well. Really soaks the nooks and crannies and leaves a semi permanent petroleum layer for prevention.

 

Ditch those bed liners. Once hosed, remove bed, clean/grind & prime & paint everything underneath. Replace bed...OR install your own custom flatbed. Bob's yer uncle.

 

Just because you guys have spray in bed liner doesn’t mean you somehow escaped this issue.... i have a bed with bed liner AND the rust fairy got me on the bed — go figger.

 

Where do you live, Op?
Surely there’s gotta be some welders on here.
I’ve done tons of sheet metal work and I would offer to patch it up at a much lower price than the body shop.

If I was in your shoes I would have the body shop only weld in the patches. After that you can get a couple cans of spray paint and be done with it.

Just my 2 cents..

 

A bag or two of sand, a shop broom, and some back and forth sweeping will help get off the minor surface stuff pretty quick.
You'll still have to hit the bad spots individually but anything that can speed up the process when it comes to sanding is a god send.

 

The rust at issue here looks to be a rust bubbling UP from underneath where the cross members support the weight of (and come into contact with) the bed. Bed liners are not the issue here.

Good PM is to spray a penetrant from underneath the bed aimed at the entire length of both cross member.

 

If ya have a topper or leak proof tonneau cover over a plastic bed liner, to my experience, that's the way to go. Throw heavy items in the bed and the plastic absorbs the shock and safeguards the metal bed from getting banged up with dents. Things also slide in and out with ease and w/o marring the surface like a painted/coated bed surface suffers.

Whether having a topper or cover, or not, over the trk bed here in S and N FL, I've never seen problems like you snow bird guys have with rust. In N. FL country areas the leaves and pine needles do work their way in between the liner and bed, but still there wasn't a problem with the rust rotting out the bed I'm seeing people here having. Yet, I'm talking about American trucks.

If one lives up north where the roads are salted, I take it that this problem with any brand trk is prevalent in those areas only.

 

With your bed rusted through, I would avoid bedding any fat wenches.

 

Noting that there has not been any action on this thread in almost four years, I'm wondering if anyone is still following it or coming to it. Toyota did replace my bed on my 2007 DCLB with one month remaining on the warranty. I thought it was 72 month, maybe it was 60. I am convinced the problem is that there is too broad of mating surface areas between the box sheet metal and the supports below in these areas. Moisture and salt get in there and do their work with not much you can do about it. I did use LPS brand rust inhibitor on the new bed making sure to fill these areas, but after ten years, it is just now starting to come back.

I have the original bed and am thinking of using it as a guinea pig for test a least invasive way of repairing it since I have no other use for it. My mind is to cut out the support in the affected area from underneath, clean off the rust from the box sheet metal and repair using tiger hair bondo. Beyond that, do something to resupport that area to restore the integrity of the bed floor.

If I do something, it will be a year or so, but I'll check back in on this thread.

 

I poke my head under my bed every now and then to inspect my own repairs and after three years I see no new rust forming. I have not done a single thing to it since making the repairs and coating everything under the truck, so I’m calling that a win. But, probably wouldn’t hurt to clean everything off at this point and reapply protectant.