At what point do you trash her?

[crawdad]

This question is probably unanswerable, but I'll ask it any way. At what point do you consider a truck not worth repairing? I know that if you've got enough money and time, anything can be repaired, but considering rust, mechanical problems, sheet metal, etc., when is it wise to stop and try to find something else? Hypothetical question, I know, but I'd sure like to hear what you folks think.

[Longhorn Man]

There is one kid in Illinois, that cuts them up as soon as he sees a little bit of rust.
The ppl in southern cali are pretty much as bad, if the floor boards are rusted, or if the cab corners/rockers are rusted out, they'll get rid of it.

In reality though, it all depends on what you can do, or are willing to learn, or how much cash you wanna fork over.

engines and trannys are easy work. Esp if you are just removing one and installing the other. Int work is fairly simple. you can pay some one to redo your seats, then you re-install it along with good used or restoration stuff. it is the body and frame (IMO) that will make or break a truck.
Take my GMC for example, it literally needs every panel needs lots of work, or replaced. So now you are down to parts and a good chassis. The suspention needs a total rebuild. The trailing arms are in great shape, the rear is OK showing a little slop, and the front end needs all bushings, joints, tie rod ends and springs.
At the moment, it has no engine, but an awsome low mileage TH350. inside there is a tilt column, a broken down seat, a couple nasty door panels and carpet that needs replaced. Oh, and a state of the art pull out stereo.
Looking at this, you would say "Why the hell should I fix that turd up?" There's ppl up here in the rust belt that drool over such a 'clean' truck, and in Illinois, which seems to be the rust capital, it is pretty restorable.
i guess restorability is all in the eyes of the beerholder.

[Southpa]

Hmmmm, good question. In most cases at least SOME parts of the truck are salvageable. Things like cracked, broken or extremely corroded frame would need replacement. Cab areas like under cowl, floor under gas tank, all around windshield/back window rotten, I might consider replacing the entire cab. I've had totally rotten (I mean GONE) wheel well bolt channels on bedside, replaced that. I've had rotten angle brackets that hold front crossmember to frame rails, had to replace entire front crossmember because the brackets are rivetted on. I've replaced doors that had rot along bottom edge.

If you have a truck with serious cancer on basically EVERY body panel then I don't think it would be worthwhile to go thru the "patching" process everywhere.

[Randy70C-10]

Pretty much what Southpa said. If you can't replace it with a patch panel, time to move on. I junked a cab because of too much rust around the windshield frame.

[1969 GMC]

My truck has rust thru on the upper firewall, the kick panels, a little bit on the bedsides behind the rear wheels, and some on the rear part of my floor. Both of my rockers were long gone when I got the truck, and the replacements have rusted through. My cab corners arent rusted through, but look like utter crap. My drip rails are cracked but not rusted through, thank goodness. I would say mine is totally salvageable with some time and work.

I went to look at a C/20 for sale close by my house once, it was scary rusted out. There was none of the inner roof left above the windshield to about 6 inches back (no visors or r/v mirror anymore ), and the outer roof had holes too (not my definition of a sunroof ). When you sat on the seat, it dipped down because the floorboards were rusted so extensively. On the top edge of the front fenders, by where they meet up with the hood, both sides were rusted out in an almost perfect line. The pass. side fender had a gaping hole under the battery too. Rockers? ha. what rockers? What was left of the cab corners must have been designed with the smoker in mind, so he/she could just toss their butt out of it instead of going to the trouble of rolling the window down. There was even rust through along the perimeter of the back window, which at first you think isnt bad but its double thick sheetmetal there,too!. The driprail had a bunch of dime size rist holes along the sides and front, and even a couple lower down (close to the door handle). Doors were hideous, as in no bottoms and part of the thick frame around the window was rusted out too (NEVER seen that before). This truck was utter junk. Interestingly though, the firewall and kickpanels were in good shape. Oh well.

If there is a will, there is a way I suppose. Look at Gee_Emm's 2wd Jimmy. I think all of the original metal he is left with is a section of the floor. That is some dedication.

[Orange70chevy]

Here is a link to Gee_Emm's Jimmy very impressive
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php3?t=59412

I got a new cab because my rockers inner and outer, kick panels, floor, firewall, and above the windsheld and doors are all rusted out. It was just easier to find another.

[Swbman]

I have went to look at a few trucks that were for sale locally, that they wanted maybe 300.00 for and I bet there was virtually nothing useable on those trucks,no options just a plain jane truck with plenty of rust.I told one guy he just take it over to the crusher,heck even the doors were not useable thats something you rarely ever see around here,the least you can come away with is at least the air conditioning stuff.Over time I have gotten very choosy about what I buy, no more total basket cases.

[botboy]

Here in the rust belt (midwest) farm trucks and people's babies are the best.

I'm going to go look at someone's toy this weekend, one that the owner previous to the current drove all the way to texas to get a rustfree metal floor bed for. Has some small holes in the rockers as I understand it, but texas bed? :drool:

I frankly can't justify trashing a 67-72 truck, simply because of the number of enthusiasts and the cost of scrap - any truck that goes to the wrecker because of rust is going to get thrown in the chipper right away, accessories and all. I shudder to think of the number of trucks with rare accessories (tach dashes, tilt columns, tow hooks, and the like) that have probably gone to the shredder with intact parts just because of the increase in scrap price. Almost anything I own that I send to the shredder will get parted beforehand, and right now I have two that are looking that way. That and I'm a poor college student and can't afford to be wasteful.

the '72 I have I decided to part out was an amazingly well-optioned truck - Auto, tilt column, bucket seats, overload springs, PS/PB, and some other options, but alas the body damage was far too extensive for me to repair - the bed (wood floor) was gone, bondo all around the severely dented area around the drivers door, window frame rust by front ps side, no rockers on either side, part of a floor on the drivers side, no cab corners, and rust creeping along the firewall and kick panels - it just wasn't worth the time and money it would have been to battle. If the truck didn't have such a rotten bottom section I would have considered convertibalizing it.

The '67 C30 dually, had no bed when I bought it for a whopping $102.50 on ebay, started ran and drove fine, but was COMPLETELY rusted off of all the body supports, along the bottoms of the doors, under the gas tank (and thru the gas tank), and the floors almost to the center hump were just gone. The hood had 2 holes I could put my fist thru and was tweaked, and both fenders severely pushed in. With the amazing amount I paid for it (and the $150 I got for the engine alone) I just figured it was worth much more in parts.

[botboy]

I should also mention about farm trucks, that in the rust belt, they tend to see their most service from august-september, before it snows (and thus, before they throw down salt on the roads). South dakota trucks are real gems too, because in SD they don't salt the roads.

Over a year ago, a friend and I were driving along a rural road and found a '42 dodge WF-31 (1.5 ton duallie) with a flatbed, sitting in a farmers field under a tree. He sold it to us the next week for $300 - this truck had completely intact floor, rockers, cab corners, and fenders - not only did they make the older trucks out of thicker sheet metal, but they also tended to design them with a lot more "flat" areas so that water runs out instead of pooling in one area.

My best score, however, has to be the one I got about a month and a half ago - a 1951 Ford F-6 Duallie Dump, 4 on the floor, inline 6, mostly complete interior - NO RUST. Not even pinholes in the factory step bars along the sides. One dent in the front sheet metal, not in the grill so it won't be hard to fix.

Only problems are a broken DS window (and I know a yard where I can get another), and some wiring gremlins that need to be worked out (but hey - what do you expect for being 53 years old? The wiring gremlins are all in the original, cloth covered wiring harness)

The price? FREE! The farmer said that he didn't know why anybody would want a truck that big, and that we could take it if we wanted it, had been sitting for about 10 years, and he threw in a clear title. Needless to say, we were back there right away with my dad's '89 V3500 crew 4x4 and a big heavy trailer. When we get the new glass in and the wiring harness fixed, we expect the truck to bring anywhere from 1200-1400 in complete unrestored condition. Hydraulics still work (which is incredibly fun to play with) engine started up with some fresh gas and new plugs.

[Alexis]

no patch panel.....we don;t need no stinking patch panels

.........well I do


I'm repairing the windshield on my blazer at the moment..........no patch panel for that but I do have a truck cab that is donating itself peice by piece. With a welder, a little imagination, a hammer, cutting tool, some extra sheetmetal you'd be on your way to haven you own Discovery TV show. Don't stop yourself cause something not there.......make it or in my case take it from another truck.

[Brainchild]

My 75 4x4 was in pretty bad shape.The interior was rough,and the body was full of filler,as in not one straight panel.This didn't really bother me concidering the abuse it took.Work truck,hauling pulling and being useful.
The shocks,tierods,and steering box needed changed,and then I started to question if it was worth it.
Then smoke came out of the column,and the lights wouldn't work,and I couldn't get them to work properly.I untaped the harness and about half of it was melted together.
It was when I pulled the harness and my elbow went through the floorboard on the drivers side that I axed it.

So the tranny was slipping ,and the diffs were starting to howl,rust,bad frontend,and wiring problems,plus the 4 buckets of filler=I needed a different truck.

I pulled the stereo,and engine,which is all I concidered salvagable,and dropped it in the 71.
I really didn't like the 75 body style either,the 67-72 is a much better looking truck