body issue

can someone explain whats going on with this area of the body? Is this a common thing for these vehicles? If I start cleaning it up, is it going to be a can of worms?

Plum,

Looks to be some past bodywork and it's starting to come apart water has got in and starting to rust.

DanTheVanMan wrote:Plum,

Looks to be some past bodywork and it's starting to come apart water has got in and starting to rust.

Yep.

It looks like rust leaking out from under bondo to me, that's what happens when you don't treat for rust (with something like Ospho) first. Look at it from the back side and see if it looks like it was damaged/repaired. It will take a little work but you wont know what you've got until you get into it.

If you want to try and fix it you'll need to sand the paint off the work area, take the old bondo out and remove any scale or surface rust. Treat it with a rust catalyst like Ospho/Prep-n-Prime etc, repair/replace any rusted out metal with new metal, prime, replace bondo, sand and paint. Home Depot, Lowes and all kinds of auto-parts places sell rust catalyst under a variety of names, Prep-n-Etch, Prep-and-Prime, Right Stuff, Rust Mort, Ospho... HD/Lowes will probably have it cheapest. Clean the area of dirt, treat the rust, clean up with Mineral Spirits if needed, be careful, it will eat your clothes/eyes and sensitive areas. I made the mistake of wiping the sweat off my neck with the same rag I was wiping up Right Stuff with without thinking about it (durr) I wont do that again.

My van has some surface rust and a few pinholes here and there so I'm going through the same process. I really cant swing a $3k paint job so I plan on doing most of the easy rust treatment and sheet metal repair myself. Take a good look at it before you start, it might turn into a bigger project than you were looking for.

normal " rocker panel and dog leg" rust. it will get bigger if you don't open that can of worms and fix it correctly now before you put a good paint job on your vehicle.

thank-you for the responses. I am by no mean an expert in these trucks, but I my thought line is on the same wavelength of the responses. Generally speaking, what would a proper repair price range be for this area? Does someone make replacement dogleg piece for these trucks? like eg: fender for a car?

the deal for this truck has fallen apart. thx everyone for your answers on the dogleg photos. back to looking for one.