Frame rust

[Acoals]

My truck has some rust jacking between the frame rails, and particularly behind the big crossmember assembly about the drives. Overall the truck has very almost no rust, and there isn't any cracking yet. Short of seperating the frame rails or other major dissasembly, are there any ways to slow or stop the rust? I have thought of trying to shoot fluid film or transmission fluid in between the rails as best I can. I have seem some talk of "rust dissolvers" and such, but that stuff seems a bit doubtfull.

 

[smifwal]

I am guessing you can't get in there with a grinder?

Never used this stuff but quick Google search turned this up

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-32-oz-Rust-Dissolver-Spray-Gel-300112/301059233

 

[Coaldust]

No cure for that disease if the rails are pushing apart, except for disassembling it.

Saved a nice KW T800 by doing that in 2018. In Juneau of all places. Never again. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. The ocean has no mercy on trucks.

 

[Truck Shop]

It will get even uglier if inner rails are removed then scaled and pockets are revealed
that are deep. Then it becomes what should I do, I can't leave it that way and down
the spiraling rabbit hole you go with new rail, bolts, airline & fittings plus more.

 

[Willie B]

My truck has some rust jacking between the frame rails, and particularly behind the big crossmember assembly about the drives. Overall the truck has very almost no rust, and there isn't any cracking yet. Short of seperating the frame rails or other major dissasembly, are there any ways to slow or stop the rust? I have thought of trying to shoot fluid film or transmission fluid in between the rails as best I can. I have seem some talk of "rust dissolvers" and such, but that stuff seems a bit doubtfull.

I looked into replacing the rear 14 feet of an otherwise nice truck. The frame shop 100 miles away wouldn't give a price without seeing it. What they want is I cut the frame, haul it to them. They will fabricate exactly what I had. They wild guess said "about $2500. I have no good estimate of cost to install.
I live in the worst place in the world for road salt. Mine was a Chevy C65. I'm not a fan of layered frames.

 

[Truck Shop]

The frame shop 100 miles away wouldn't

Adams.

 

[HarleyHappy]

About the only thing you could do is spray something in there that will creep.
Old motor oil mixed 50/50 with transmission fluid works great.
Then keep ahead of it!

 

[crane operator]

My truck has some rust jacking between the frame rails, and particularly behind the big crossmember assembly about the drives. Overall the truck has very almost no rust, and there isn't any cracking yet. Short of seperating the frame rails or other major dissasembly, are there any ways to slow or stop the rust? I have thought of trying to shoot fluid film or transmission fluid in between the rails as best I can. I have seem some talk of "rust dissolvers" and such, but that stuff seems a bit doubtfull.

How about some pictures of it, so we have some idea of how bad it is.

I've seen some flaking between rails that wouldn't worry me too much, and I've seen splitting and pushed apart rails that I would replace.


There's shops that specialize in replacing rails, the rails themselves aren't too expensive, it's the labor getting them in and out.

 

[Truck Shop]

Average price at this time for formed Grade 10 10 3/4" outside 3/8" thick with 3 1/4" lip 14' long
undrilled will run minimum $2,500, plus two inside 5/16" thick $2,300, new flange bolts & nut's
figure $225. Time minimum 50 some plus hours non stop. What's the truck value as it sets? And
those are undrilled rails. So figure in X amount of drills/reamers, paint. PG Adams can sell drilled
complete rail. But finding a company that form 28' is tough. HW Metals in Tualatin/Portland Ore
can form up to 60' long with tandem press breaks and 1/2" plus thick. If a person was serious
about saving/keeping a truck then single rails 1/2" thick is the way to go.

 

[cuttin edge]

Can you still buy glider kits. Haven't heard anyone talk about them in forever

 

[Truck Shop]

Can you still buy glider kits. Haven't heard anyone talk about them in forever

Nope, that was stopped 7 plus years ago, because people trying to beat EPA regs.

 

[Willie B]

Adams.

I could imagine it costing $10,000, I wasn't convinced the truck warranted that expense. I replaced it with a fire truck, it made for a more functional truck. I got myself bogged down with rivet removal. I removed 28 rivets in an 8 hour day, had twice that many left to do. Farmed the frame work out. Newer truck is single layer, but wherever steel was sandwiched & bolted together, it got a coating of rustproof grease.

 

[Acoals]

How about some pictures of it, so we have some idea of how bad it is.

The top plate just sits there for the body to ride on.

 

[Acoals]

What's the truck value as it sets?

That's kind of the million dollar question, I guess. Strictly speaking, on paper at least, the truck is probably not worth re framing. I guess here would be the issues:

Pros;

The truck is in overall very good running condition. Cat 3406b, 8LL. Truck has about 450,000 miles on it
The cab is solid, and what isn't solid is very fixable. Planning on dealing with those issues this winter. We completly rebuilt the lift axle last year, rebuilding the frame and all due to rust and other issues. We turned the tailgate into a barn door a couple years ago. Lots of miscellaneous work; all rubber hoses and such, fuel lines, radiator, fan clutch. Basically I haven't been running the truck down.
I only run about 5,000 miles a year, most of what I need the truck to do is move my excavator around. A new quad @265k just isn't going to happen.
There is no cracking anywhere on the frame at this time that I have found.

Cons;

It is a 1992 Ford L9000.
The engine runs great, but its 34 years old and only a matter of time before rubber dries out to where it is going to have to get overhauled.
It's a tri axle, which in WI limits me to 64,000. Quads run at 73,000.
The body is ok, but is nothing to write home about, and isn't really big enough to justify turning the truck into a quad.

I figure re framing it would cost 10-15k and would take up most of a winter. That's doing it myself, sending it out would probably double that.

So does it add up? I have maybe 25k into the truck where it sits now, and I have gotten five years out of it. Maybe over the course of the next five years if I re framed it and rebuilt the engine I might put another 40K plus into it. I could go out and spend 40-60K on another old truck, and probably put another 20 into whatever that turns out to be. What makes me tempted to stick with this one is that I have it, and at this point I generally know what I have at least.

Of course, at the end of the best day it's still a 92 L9000.

All that to say that why I am maybe hoping to get enough oil or something in between the rails to slow down the rust to get another 5 or 6 years out of it, maybe then I will have different options.

 

[cuttin edge]

That's kind of the million dollar question, I guess. Strictly speaking, on paper at least, the truck is probably not worth re framing. I guess here would be the issues:

Pros;

The truck is in overall very good running condition. Cat 3406b, 8LL. Truck has about 450,000 miles on it
The cab is solid, and what isn't solid is very fixable. Planning on dealing with those issues this winter. We completly rebuilt the lift axle last year, rebuilding the frame and all due to rust and other issues. We turned the tailgate into a barn door a couple years ago. Lots of miscellaneous work; all rubber hoses and such, fuel lines, radiator, fan clutch. Basically I haven't been running the truck down.
I only run about 5,000 miles a year, most of what I need the truck to do is move my excavator around. A new quad @265k just isn't going to happen.
There is no cracking anywhere on the frame at this time that I have found.

Cons;

It is a 1992 Ford L9000.
The engine runs great, but its 34 years old and only a matter of time before rubber dries out to where it is going to have to get overhauled.
It's a tri axle, which in WI limits me to 64,000. Quads run at 73,000.
The body is ok, but is nothing to write home about, and isn't really big enough to justify turning the truck into a quad.

I figure re framing it would cost 10-15k and would take up most of a winter. That's doing it myself, sending it out would probably double that.

So does it add up? I have maybe 25k into the truck where it sits now, and I have gotten five years out of it. Maybe over the course of the next five years if I re framed it and rebuilt the engine I might put another 40K plus into it. I could go out and spend 40-60K on another old truck, and probably put another 20 into whatever that turns out to be. What makes me tempted to stick with this one is that I have it, and at this point I generally know what I have at least.

Of course, at the end of the best day it's still a 92 L9000.

All that to say that why I am maybe hoping to get enough oil or something in between the rails to slow down the rust to get another 5 or 6 years out of it, maybe then I will have different options.

What would it cost you to replace it. The whole truck

 

[Truck Shop]

Not as bad as some I've seen--when cracks appear, will be horizontal right around
mounting bolt holes like torque arm brackets and main suspension mounts.

 

[crane operator]

I don't think that looks too bad. The age of the truck, I would run it and not worry about it.

It would be different if you were running all day everyday commercial dump trucking. But with those few miles for your use, I think you have quite a few years left.

 

[Coaldust]

Yeah. That’s not so bad. You had us scared.
Keep on trucking. You got other things to worry about.

 

[smifwal]

To be effective to keep that wet with oil is going to make a hot mess on your shop floor and any where you park it. Fluid film isn't going to neutralize the rust but it may keep it from rusting more or slow it down by it not getting oxygen( I am reaching here.) I have plow/salt combos (99-02 f350's) that have been in the **** since 2012, one of them was a plow truck before I got it. I personally would get overly worked up at what is showing on your truck. Now if things were cracking and brittle that would raise a eyebrow. I would fluid film it, keep it coated and keep on trucking

 

[Steve Frazier]

A highway department I was associated with had a couple trucks with double rail frames that they sent out to be reframed. These were 6 wheel 35K GVW, cost was $25,000 per truck. New truck set up for plowing is $250,000 so it made sense to them. neither truck had 40,000 miles on it, they anticipate another 10 years service from them.