Greetings All:
New member here, show mercy.
Original owner of 1992 D350 Club Cab Stock. California truck never driven in snow/salt. Cherry no rust 126K, absoutley love this truck.
New truck 2006 2500 SLT MC 4x4 stock with Leer Tonneau cover, wife absoutely loves this truck.
After retiring we sold our home in San Diego and took the money and ran to a small town in Illinois.
Now to the point:
How do you folks who must deal with snow/salt delay the effects (rust)
Thanks in advance:
After lurking arount the OTHER Cummins sites, gotta say this is the best.

 

I would not know about the salt effects, being from Houston. But one thing I did find out after our normal every 10 year light snow last Christmas, when you open the door you will have a seat full of snow if not careful.

 

Mercy? What's that? It's baptisism by fire around here baby! Only the strong survive, ship up or shape out. When the tough get going....... Never mind......

Welcome to DTR!

Not much you can do about the salt, just wash it off when it gets above freezing. Get some good floor mats that catch the snow & water. Dump them out frequently.

 

Basically just make sure you clean your truck real good after the roads dry up, make sure you spray up under and behind any body moulding, some people even mix up a diesel and oil solution and spray under thier truck to sort of under coat it, but if you do that it can get kinda messy and make a mess on your driveway

 

Best way to combat salt is to wash the truck a lot-- especially the underside.

Then, look into something like Rust Bullet (www.rustbullet.com)

jh

 

If do it yourself is possible that looks like some work though.

When I was looking into rhino liners and such for my truck, as I did the rails with Rhino, I found that many people do it to their entire jeeps. They take the interior out and do the floor boards and even the underside. May be a little expensive but if retired and don't really want to have to buy another vehicle ever it may be worth the cost & effort...

 

a lot of folks out here in salt land usa wash down their rigs and plows with a marine product designed to take salt off boats that get pulled for dry dock, real good stuff, set the concentrate down and use the power washer pickup tube to draw it and spray it on the trucks then rinse.

 

Donald A,

I have a 89' Dakota that I bought new, I sprayed every nuck and cranny with professional rust proofing under this truck when I first bought the truck. I am Very happy to say, there is still no rust anywhere on the frame or body of my truck. I can't think of the name of the rust proofing, I will have to check the next time i'm out in the garage.

Steve

 

Have the truck rust proofed and wash it when needed . I just sold my 91 Cummins and the body was in good shape when I sold it and it was driven in Ohio winters it's whole life . I would think driving in the white stuff for the first time would be a bigger problem , I enjoy winter but the first few storms are a little nuts around Ohio until people remember this stuff is slippery . Good luck and welcome to the snow belt these newer truck sure do better than the older ones in it , I think a lot of it is the extra weight of the new trucks .

 

I use one of the best methods known to prevent rust on my truck. Put it up on jack stands and cover it up until the spring.

 

invest is a good pressure washer, its your friend year round. and multiple uses.

 

If you don't already have the full rear wheel well liners, get them. They prevent a lot of the tire spray from getting into the nooks and crannies of the box.

Other than that, wash it often, and spray underneath (pressure washer).Stay far back from semis and big trucks when following. They throw up the big rocks that the sanders put down that crack windshields and dent sheeltmetal, especially when the snow is melting.

Get used to it being dirty. I washed mine 3 days ago, and its just as dirty again from the snow melt.

 

Get it Ziebarted and find yourself a good do it yourself place to take it to pressure wash it off. I washed mine tonite for 2.00 in a do it yourself place. I even take a bucket of hot water with me sometimes if they are not busy and go over it good in the stall and then put in a buck and rinse it off. Don't really need to dry it....water spots never hurt a thing and it still looks better than 90% of the vehicles on the road. My truck is 2 yrs old and it looks like showroom. Get some good Husky floor mats to cover every square inch of the floor. Best invest ment I have made to protect the inside. Wheel well liners good Idea also. 2.00 is cheap to keep the salt off.... do it often and you will be happy with how it holds up......

 

Thanks Steve,

 

Donald A,

FYI the name of the product I use is called Professional Rustproffing Chemicals.
The only place I know that sells it is JC Whitney.com.
Type in the search "Rust Proffing" and it will bring it up along with the kit for applying it, which I recommend getting also. It makes the job much easier and more effective.

Steve.