Anyone have this same rust issue?

[72timemachine]

I have a '72 c10 and noticed what I pray is only surface rust just below the drip rail and above the top of the window's door frame but it does resemble small blisters and I hope the roof is not rotting from the inside out.

When I first bought my truck I removed all the factory seam sealer from the entire drip rail along the top of the cab down to bare shinny metal. I then painted it with this tough spray paint which has glass particles in it to protect it, (which was a pretty impressive product) until I could get back to it and do it correctly. I also applied some exterior adhesive caulk to the area to simulate what the factory did.

Since then I have always covered the cab with a tarp to keep rain water and dirt from going into the cowl area while it has been in storage outside for several years.

Thanks for any help.

[special-K]

This thread got one view and no response in the paint and body area, so I moved it here. I hope some good answers can be found here

[truckster]

It's not an uncommon problem. Unfortunately, the rust you can't see is probably worse than what you see.

[bean]

I have the same issue but my truck sat in a field for years before I got it. I know the windshield was leaking as well as the seam sealer gone in places.

[Davidf]

My '71 has that rust issue isolated to a small area just ahead of the seam toward the front.

I plan to treat it the best I can with Phosphoric acid and ensuring no additional water gets to it. I am currently in rust repair and painting stage of the refurbishment of my truck.

Good luck.

[HO455]

As posted it"s a common problem. I would wire brush the area and then use a product like POR-15 to cover the existing rust you can see. The rest of the story is the rust behind the sheet metal in the void that makes up the door frame. To stop as much rust as possible in my Burban I drilled some holes the same size as factory plugs and used a flexible wand to spray POR-15 into the void spaces. The idea is to cover all the rust so no oxygen gets to the metal to stop the rusting process . When I finished I pushed a new factory plug in the hole and painted. Only someone really sharp eyed who knows these trucks would notice it.
For more information see my WMB thread below page 1.
Unfortunately when you place a tarp over the truck you also lock the moisture under the tarp as well. If what ever you have the vehicle parked on gets wet then when it starts to dry the moisture evaporates from the soil or concrete and then gets trapped under the tarp.
Moisture in the cab is the biggest cause of this rust. Repairing the drip rail seal will stop the majority of the moisture from getting directly to that area. But if you have other leaks in the cab the moisture will condense in those areas. After it evaporates. So of you have a tarp on the vehicle it is important you take additional steps to control the moisture inside the vehicle

[weim55]

One of my trucks looks exactly the same. I didn’t think it was too bad, but I decided to test the larger spots with a scratch awl To see if I could easily poke through those rust areas. Went right through in more than a dozen spots. After that I just took a small pick hammer and knocked all of them through. Now that I could see inside the roof there are remnants of wet mouse nest that never dried that rusted out those spots. Cleaned it all out with a coat hanger And just left it for now. At least the water can get out of the roof now and dry out. Hope yours isn’t that bad.......

Steve weim55 Colorado

[lupo]

This is a tough area to deal with. With any welded seam strip the paint and soak it good with a phosphoric acid rust remover that contains zinc.. Weld your pieces and if need be and you have the equipment and skill if you use a permanent rust sealer use the silver formula not the black. For those of you that do not have welding equipment you can use Allmetal body filler for pinholes or the extreme permanent rust sealer that's is pretty thick