will my cab survive?

[1tonchevy]

I bought and installed a new cab on my truck this summer (cabs from Mississippi and is rust free) i'm stuck driving the truck this winter and i'm wondering if i keep it washed 2-3 times a week) if it will survive the salt and snow? That or i'm going to pull it into the garage and Rocker Guard the ever living crap out of it.

[Dalaigh]

Find a Krown dealer and undercoat it, It will last forever if you touch up the undercoating every fall before the salt season.

You can rockguard it if you want, but it won't be as effective as undercoating.

[GmtGmt]

Grease it up

[smashingchuck]

I'd be washing it everyday.

[LONGHAIR]

The biggest issue with trying to get it washed when the temperature doesn't get above freezing for weeks, maybe months. It just doesn't get done and the rust starts....once it starts, it never stops.
The show it not nearly as bad as the salt. Snow is merely frozen water, not much worse than rain. The corrosive properties of the salt however are devastating.
Around here they do something even worse. They spray a liquid solution known as brine....essentailly liquefied salt. They spray it on the roads as a "pre-treatment" so that the snow fall onto it. That stuff gets into everything.



Neil Young was right, Rust never sleeps.

[1tonchevy]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

The biggest issue with trying to get it washed when the temperature doesn't get above freezing for weeks, maybe months. It just doesn't get done and the rust starts....once it starts, it never stops.
The show it not nearly as bad as the salt. Snow is merely frozen water, not much worse than rain. The corrosive properties of the salt however are devastating.
Around here they do something even worse. They spray a liquid solution known as brine....essentailly liquefied salt. They spray it on the roads as a "pre-treatment" so that the snow fall onto it. That stuff gets into everything.



Neil Young was right, Rust never sleeps.

Guess i'm going to have to under coat it. with rust check is there a DIY kit?

[Dalaigh]

There are DIY kits, but I would suggest having it don't by an undercoating shop first and then next year doing it your self. I say this only because they'll know where to put the undercoating (if they do their job right), and they'll have wands that can get to places the DIY kit can't. Then next year you can do all the touch ups your self. Me and a buddy started doing it this way on ours trucks and it works out great, ends up being cheaper then doing it ourselves the first time.

Crappy Tire sells rust proofing products, but by the time you buy enough to undercoat your truck you will have spent more then it would've cost to have it done properly. Krown (atleast here in Sarnia) cost $150 to do a truck like mine (reg cab long box), and then next year I'll go buy a few touch up cans for about $20-30 and do it myself.

Oh and I'm not trying to sell any body on Krown thats just the product I use, if you have another product in your town go for it. And for proof that this works my Buddys dad had his 75 Gmc sierra rust proofed 30 years ago, and drove it in the winter for 15 years, touched it up ever year before winter. This year my buddy who now owns the truck decide to rebuild it and as we pulled the truck apart the was no rust anywhere on the truck, in fact the trans crossmember still has the factory paint on it.

[OlMech]

is the cab painted or just primered? Read the post twice to see if that was posted or not and didnt see it.. primer sont hold up long even with undercoating, especially being washed often.. if it's painted then having it undercoated as mentioned is the best bet. the thing you can't do yourself is get the undercoating up inside the rockers and cab corners where that salty water will SIT in the accumulated dust and dirt from the summer, causing the cab corners and rockers to rust from the inside.
Lift the carpeting or rubber mat, depending on what you have and make sure to coat the floor pans, especially along the edges where the water will run as it melts from your boots.

[1tonchevy]

Originally Posted by Dalaigh

There are DIY kits, but I would suggest having it don't by an undercoating shop first and then next year doing it your self. I say this only because they'll know where to put the undercoating (if they do their job right), and they'll have wands that can get to places the DIY kit can't. Then next year you can do all the touch ups your self. Me and a buddy started doing it this way on ours trucks and it works out great, ends up being cheaper then doing it ourselves the first time.

Crappy Tire sells rust proofing products, but by the time you buy enough to undercoat your truck you will have spent more then it would've cost to have it done properly. Krown (atleast here in Sarnia) cost $150 to do a truck like mine (reg cab long box), and then next year I'll go buy a few touch up cans for about $20-30 and do it myself.

Oh and I'm not trying to sell any body on Krown thats just the product I use, if you have another product in your town go for it. And for proof that this works my Buddys dad had his 75 Gmc sierra rust proofed 30 years ago, and drove it in the winter for 15 years, touched it up ever year before winter. This year my buddy who now owns the truck decide to rebuild it and as we pulled the truck apart the was no rust anywhere on the truck, in fact the trans crossmember still has the factory paint on it.

if i get it done by a shop (i prob wont i hate ppl touching my stuff) i would use Oil Tech but i only need to do the cab as the Box,inners,and front fenders are going to be replaced in the spring any ways. I wonder if they would only do the cab?

[1tonchevy]

Originally Posted by OlMech

is the cab painted or just primered? Read the post twice to see if that was posted or not and didnt see it.. primer sont hold up long even with undercoating, especially being washed often.. if it's painted then having it undercoated as mentioned is the best bet. the thing you can't do yourself is get the undercoating up inside the rockers and cab corners where that salty water will SIT in the accumulated dust and dirt from the summer, causing the cab corners and rockers to rust from the inside.
Lift the carpeting or rubber mat, depending on what you have and make sure to coat the floor pans, especially along the edges where the water will run as it melts from your boots.

Trucks in Factory paint. i was thinking of rocker guarding the complete floor in the truck and the underneath.... but will it be enough?

[Dalaigh]

Originally Posted by 1tonchevy

if i get it done by a shop (i prob wont i hate ppl touching my stuff) i would use Oil Tech but i only need to do the cab as the Box,inners,and front fenders are going to be replaced in the spring any ways. I wonder if they would only do the cab?

It'll depend on the shop. I didn't know it was just the cab you wanted done, I figured the whole truck. I wouldn't go over board with undercoating untill you've finished the truck, only because undercoating can be a pain when it comes time to paint.
If I were you I'd get some por 15 (or something similar), cover the bottom of the cab (clean the bottom first), spray some undercoating inside the cab corners bottom of the floors and sills, and keep the cab as clean as you can, then next years, or when you get the truck done, get the truck undercoated properly.

[WigglesTheHoly]

My truck was done at some point with the rubberized coating I just crawled under the truck and cleaned areas and sprayed any spot that was bare again. Putting bed liner on the underside would be great too.

[DetroitDan]

I just bought some undercoating in spray cans when I replaced my bed. New bed still had all factory paint underneath it, sprayed it down with about three cans, it dried and flaked right off. Waste of time and money. Must have bought the wrong brand, I've used stuff before that was more rubbery and stayed kind of gooey.
Personally I'm not a fan of commercial undercoating, I've never seen anything but rotted out trucks with Ziebart or Rusty jones decals. I know it supposedly works better on new vehicles but I've heard not to do it to an older vehicle because you are just going to seal in the salt particles and any moisture thats already had a chance to get in.

Most old-timers I know swear by oiling the underside. I do mine that way once or twice a year, I save my waste oil (diesel is nice because it stains black and looks painted) and spray it with my cheapo Walmart sandblaster. Only takes a few minutes to do, park it on some big cardboard pieces and let it drip dry after. Free and it works the best imo.

Have you considered doing it with linex? They sell DIY kits that roll on, I would do that if I were doing a cab-off. Whatever you do, make sure it's clean and dry.

[DetroitDan]

Oh, another thing, I don't worry about washing the salt off until it gets up above freezing. It doesn't really do much when its really cold, so actually by forcing warm water into it you're activating it and making it worse, unless of course you get it totally clean. Worst is when people drive on salty wet roads then park in a heated garage all night.