Has anyone ever seen rust in this area to this degree? (1 Viewer)

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The frame on this truck is in pretty exceptional shape, I'll include those next for reference. I found this after a wheeling trip. My guess is that a rock kicked up and punctured it, but corrosion was underlying and had weakened that area. There's a pic of the other side for reference on what it looked like prior to discovering this hidden rust patch and also location. There's a drainage hose behind this area above the rocker panel cavity. My guess is that water and salt was trapped behind with no way to drain properly and rusted from the inside out. The rocker panel doesn't appear to be affected in this front area, just a little surface rust.

My concern is that support area on the body. I have a buddy that's a professional welder and am planning to have him weld in a strong patch to re-establish the strength of the support, but concerned about the level of rust inside the support itself. I cut out the extremely rusted out areas on the exterior. I then wire wheeled as much as I could of the surface rust off and used Ospho to try to save as much of the metal as possible. Planning to keep this truck a long time so need to stop this from advancing any further.

Has anyone experienced this issue and if so what did you do to correct it?


Driver's side behind front wheel
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Passenger side front behind wheel - discovered to have the same exact level of hidden rot inside after wire wheeling
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After Ospho

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Frame is in great shape overall and even the bolts and clamps in engine bay are rust free, which is why this finding was a shocker.

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I'm wondering if the drain tube is the rear drain from the sunroof? there is a drain on all 4 corners of the sunroof, front 2 go down the A pillar, I think the rear 2 go down the C pillar
the other side may have the same hidden issue??
 
I'm wondering if the drain tube is the rear drain from the sunroof? there is a drain on all 4 corners of the sunroof, front 2 go down the A pillar, I think the rear 2 go down the C pillar
the other side may have the same hidden issue??

I believe you're right about that drain tube coming from the sunroof.

The passenger side does in fact have the same exact issue. I used a wire wheel and rust started flaking off and eventually opened up into that cavity. The corrosion has penetrated that support in the same spot as well.
 
I'm wondering if the drain tube is the rear drain from the sunroof? there is a drain on all 4 corners of the sunroof, front 2 go down the A pillar, I think the rear 2 go down the C pillar
the other side may have the same hidden issue??

I'm betting there's a lot of 100 series owners driving around with this same issue, given the drainage tube location, but haven't discovered it yet. As mentioned, it had looked exactly like the passenger side does and if that rock hadn't busted it open I likely wouldn't have seen it for a long while or ever.
 
That's weird. Maybe a northern truck that was always treated underneath. Do you know where the truck has spent its life?
 
That's weird. Maybe a northern truck that was always treated underneath. Do you know where the truck has spent its life?

The truck lived in Wyoming its whole life. It was definitely cared for in the winters and treated. My guess on the treatment was something like the Por15, as I can see it coming off in some areas and needing re-application. It lives in a mostly southern environment now, so not too worried about further exposure to salt, but most definitely need to stop what had already been started in some areas. I also found the rear wings to be severely corroded where the rear drainage tubes for the sunroof exit when I removed the rear bumper cover, as I've seen on many 100s. That's a PITA as well, but much more of a cosmetic fix I can deal with. This brace or support area in the front that's affected is what I need to know more about. It's alarming to say the least.

Has anyone else ever seen this before on your truck or someone else's? Surely my truck isn't the only one out there experiencing this issue.
 
I'll crawl around some of my 100's later today, and look around.

wondering if this is more of the "cure" making things worse

if a heavy undercoat type material was sprayed and it plugged up small drain or gaps that normally would drain fluid from above. now there is no place for the liquid to go but to sit in there where there is no corrosion protection, this is what happens???
 
I pulled about 2lbs of wet mud and leaves from each side on that spot. And yeah my same area has got rot
 
Its the sunroof drains that cause this. Mine were way worse!
Be careful welding in that area, right side has the rear AC unit and left side has some wire harness that can easily get fubared with heat.

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Right Rear.jpeg
 
I'll crawl around some of my 100's later today, and look around.

wondering if this is more of the "cure" making things worse

if a heavy undercoat type material was sprayed and it plugged up small drain or gaps that normally would drain fluid from above. now there is no place for the liquid to go but to sit in there where there is no corrosion protection, this is what happens???

Yep thinking the same. Clogged up drain holes from thick repeated undercoating. I appreciate you checking out your 100s, let me know what you see.
 
Wow! Is that the front or the rear?
This was right front. Right around where the front drain came out. I had a similar hole on the driver's side too. I was always disappointed how airy/breezy the footwell areas were in winter and how much fogging we got on our windows. Getting these holes welded up fixed that issue

Here is another fun one from the driver rear corner floor where the third row seat belt bolts into the floor.
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Is your rot behind the front wheels or behind the rear wheels in the wings?
Yep my rot area is behind my front wheels. It's where I pulled out 2lbs of dirt and leaves when you peel back the fender liner a bit.

Outside, my surface looks way worse than than yours ↓

I'll take a pic of mine tomorrow. Hasn't rotted through yet but if a rock kicked up, it would puncture it for sure. The rest of my rocker looks great until it gets to the rear wheels.

 
This was right front. Right around where the front drain came out. I had a similar hole on the driver's side too. I was always disappointed how airy/breezy the footwell areas were in winter and how much fogging we got on our windows. Getting these holes welded up fixed that issue

Here is another fun one from the driver rear corner floor where the third row seat belt bolts into the floor.
View attachment 2511798

That's pretty extensive. Nice work on the patches!

I need to pull the carpet in my cargo area and inspect it. Hopefully not another project waiting for me.

How does that exact spot where mine is busted in the front behind the wheel look on yours all patched up? It would be great to get a visual of the finished project before digging into the patch work phase.

This spot on your truck

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Yep my rot area is behind my front wheels. It's where I pulled out 2lbs of dirt and leaves when you peel back the fender liner a bit.

Outside, my surface looks way worse than than yours ↓

I'll take a pic of mine tomorrow. Hasn't rotted through yet but if a rock kicked up, it would puncture it for sure. The rest of my rocker looks great until it gets to the rear wheels.

Yeah that area behind the fender liner unfortunately is a perfect debris catcher.

Have you had a chance to start working through correcting the problem rust areas on your truck? This is my first encounter with rust repair, so trying to learn as much as possible from experienced folks. It would be helpful to see more pics of these issues and repairs. One of the reasons I bought this truck was because the frame and pretty much anywhere visible was in excellent shape in terms of corrosion. It looked almost as good as a true southern truck, with the exception of the only rust area of note, which was some bubbling of paint on the end of the rocker panel on each side where the running boards keep hidden. That first off-roading trip exposed the other problem areas. The rear bumper cover was pushed down just a bit to where I could see a bit of rust on the wings. That prompted its removal for inspection. Probably never would've known it was there otherwise.
 

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