Anyone ?

[Jeepwalker]

GREAT write up Thanks for all the great info..

No problem. Hope it helps some of the owners in the rust-zones to keep their Rams looking better, longer.

Below: Here is the tool I made to dig rocks out of the crevice behind the taped line. Rocks lodge back there pretty hard. The tool is just a couple strips of 18ga welded (the yellow tape is to prevent scratching the inside of the box). The green tape on the truck outlines where the inner fender panel is, where rocks/debris get hung up. Once you get all the stones dislodged, then take a hose on "Jet-stream" setting and blast out remaining sand that is over the wheel arch (through the taillight area -- remove taillight). You can see the plastic inner liner is removed in the below picture. I had to remove the wheel to get the fender liner on/off.



Below: You have to sit/lay under the truck & reach up from the back (and front) to dislodge each of the stones which are lodge in between the panels (remove inner liner). I never said this was going to be easy. But you might only have to do it once. Notice the taillight is removed for hosing out the wheel arch.


Below: This is what you see when you look up from below. The rocks/sand/debris get trapped between the inner and outer panels ...in the crack you see in the pic below. Trapped debris cannot get out of the pockets over the wheel arch. It's trapped. If you off-road there could be mud trapped in there too. Drive through water and that makes a nice moist muck!! Great environment for rotting the box wheel arch! Get in there using an 18 ga pry tool as shown. It can get in that small gap and pry stones and misc out of the gap. Clean all that stuff out! Then hose out and let dry a couple days. Put oil up there. Then put oil on the gap on the lower lip (to draw oil 'up' inside).


Below: Got a few handfuls of debris out of each wheel arch. This is just one sample. You can see some of the rocks are decent size. They hold in other stones and sand/mud/dirt. And my truck was pretty much a pavement princess.


Below: Not to scare you but if you DON'T clean them out and add some oil-ish rustproofing...this is what your truck's box will eventually look like (obviously that's a Chevy..but you get the point). Don't wait until rust begins. If your truck has some years on it, and you want to keep it, do it THIS summer!

 

[Jeepwalker]

I made the illustration above. It's a cross-section of the outer box side (black) and inner box arch (blue). You can see the rocks and debris trapped (green/black dots). And also very importantly the seam sealer Ram put between the two panels during manufacturing (gray). Oil can't get past the gray seam sealer to protect the lower lip. So you need to add oil to the bottom of the wheel arch as shown by the pink arrows.

Sorry if it's confusing ....but I'm just trying to let you know ...adding oil or fluid film to the top of the wheel arch is NOT protecting the lower wheel arch lip. Apply some motor oil so it gets drawn 'up' into the gap where both pieces of metal are spot welded. The fine 'pink' between the blue and black is supposed to illustrate oil 'sucked' in.

Nobody ever accused me of being an artist... just trying to show for the benefit of other owners.

Cheers!

 

[RamDiver]

Those drawings are awesome, and very descriptive, JW.
Thanks for sharing.

Is there any suggested method to promote the wicking or capillary action?
I wonder about using an aerosol can of Krown or FluidFilm with the dispensing tube.
What do you think?

I try to get Krown installed every year, but this process you have presented will likely improve the longevity considerably.

.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Is there any suggested method to promote the wicking or capillary action?

Here are some suggestions, just some things I'll throw out there. These suggestions are for getting oil to wick up into the area between the two pieces of sheet metal over the wheel arch, which are spot-welded together. I have two ideas. Maybe others can offer thoughts as well. I'm no pro although I have almost 40 years of autobody experience and dealing with new panels and rust. I just do what 'seems' to work:

1) Gently tap the wheel lip with a rubber mallet. The idea here is to break up any rust-bond or solid dirt which may have accumulated between the two panels at the wheel lip. On a 10yr old truck in rust-land some rust could be starting. Breaking it up will help allow gaps where it seems oil can seep in better. Again....just gently tap along the flat lip with the mallet...don't hammer hard or deform the metal.

2) Position your pickup on an angle and THEN add the oil. For example, if you were going to add some oil to the lip of the passenger's side of the box, park your truck so the passenger's side is lower than the driver's side. If you have a mild incline in your driveway that's great. Or on a flat driveway, lay a couple 2x6's on top of each other on the driver's side and drive the wheels on them, to get the driver's side higher. Then add the oil to the pass side wheel lip. You will see where the outer box sheet metal is a little longer. Apply your oil there and it'll run downhill into the gap. You'll see the oil seep in. Let it seep in. Give it some time. Take a break. Come back and give another treatment or two. Put some cardboard down under the tire if you don't want potential oil spots on your driveway. I say oil but you can use whatever you want. I'd let it sit like that for at least an hour or three. Then repeat the process for the opposite side of the truck.

Don't forget to treat the rear of the box back by the bumper (presumably it's clean and dry).

To do the tailgate, remove the inner panel and get in there with some oil. It'll seep around the lip. If the lip is already rusty I would probably remove any seam-sealer, sandblast (or clean with a wire wheel), repaint, ...and THEN add the oil. You can't paint over oil so if you have any repairs to make, do them before adding oil. Don't forget the door bottoms and the front corners of the hood.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I try to get Krown installed every year, but this process you have presented will likely improve the longevity considerably.

Yeah... there are usually 3-4 ways to get to the same point. Different owners have their technique and favorite product. The main thing is to not put it off.

 

[Sherman Bird]

View attachment 585467

I made the illustration above. It's a cross-section of the outer box side (black) and inner box arch (blue). You can see the rocks and debris trapped (green/black dots). And also very importantly the seam sealer Ram put between the two panels during manufacturing (gray). Oil can't get past the gray seam sealer to protect the lower lip. So you need to add oil to the bottom of the wheel arch as shown by the pink arrows.

Sorry if it's confusing ....but I'm just trying to let you know ...adding oil or fluid film to the top of the wheel arch is NOT protecting the lower wheel arch lip. Apply some motor oil so it gets drawn 'up' into the gap where both pieces of metal are spot welded. The fine 'pink' between the blue and black is supposed to illustrate oil 'sucked' in.

Nobody ever accused me of being an artist... just trying to show for the benefit of other owners.

Cheers!

Funny. I restored MANY first gen Mustangs back when a decent running one was around 300 dollars. (Back in the Neanderthal era!)

One of the first things I did was to clear dirt/debris from that exact area! Go figure!

 

[Rado]

No problem. Hope it helps some of the owners in the rust-zones to keep their Rams looking better, longer.

Here is the tool I made to dig rocks out of the crevice behind the taped line. Rocks lodge back there pretty hard. The tool is just a couple strips of 18ga welded (the yellow tape is to prevent scratching the inside of the box). The green tape on the truck outlines where the inner fender panel is, where rocks/debris get hung up. Once you get al the stones dislodged, then take a hose on "stream" setting and blast out the sand over the wheel arch (through the taillight area -- remove taillight). You can see the plastic inner liner is removed in the below picture.

View attachment 585462

Below: You have to sit/lay under the truck & reach up from the back (and front) to dislodge each of the stones which are lodge in between the panels (remove inner liner). I never said this was going to be easy. But you might only have to do it once. Notice the taillight is removed for hosing out the wheel arch.
View attachment 585463

Below: This is what you see when you look up from below. The rocks/sand/debris get trapped between the inner and outer panels ...in the crack you see in the pic below. Trapped debris cannot get out of the pockets over the wheel arch. It's trapped. If you off-road there could be mud trapped in there too. Drive through water and that makes a nice moist muck!! Great environment for rotting the box wheel arch! Get in there using an 18 ga pry tool as shown. It can get in that small gap and pry stones and misc out of the gap. Clean all that stuff out! Then hose out and let dry a couple days. Put oil up there. Then put oil on the gap on the lower lip (to draw oil 'up' inside).
View attachment 585464

Below: Got a few handfuls of debris out of each wheel arch. This is just one sample. You can see some of the rocks are decent size. They hold in other stones and sand/mud/dirt. And my truck was pretty much a pavement princess.
View attachment 585465

Below: Not to scare you but if you DON'T clean them out and add some oil-ish rustproofing...this is what your truck's box will eventually look like (obviously that's a Chevy..but you get the point). Don't wait until rust begins. If your truck has some years on it, and you want to keep it, do it THIS summer!
View attachment 585466

GREAT write up THANKS
I used to do fluid film until dealer disappeared but have a spray can of Fluid Film that I can put to use lol
My buddies Chevy truck wheel wells looked like that :O

 

[Jeepwalker]

I used oil over the rear wheel arches vs a lanolin-based oil (FF / Rust-Stopper, etc), reasoning that oil is thinner and will run and 'creep' around better than lanolin-based oils, which get sticky and may 'hold' some rocks from falling out). The lanolin is good for the sides of frames. It's probably splitting hairs. Use whatever fluid you like best. Something is better than nothing.

Rather than putting the job off for yrs b/c you didn't have the time or 'perfect day' to clean out the wheel wells, At a minimum, laying in front of the rear tire and shooting some oil up through the gap (to the wheel arch) with a good oil can gun takes less than 5 minutes for both sides. That would be far better than waiting & doing nothing. And put some oil on the under-lip.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I didn't show it, but what I ended up doing on my truck was 'carefully' sandblasting the underside of the wheel lip on the driver's side. Plenty of surface rust had started to develop under the paint. It wasn't rust-through ...but eventually it would become that way if not arrested. So I sandblasted the under-lip of the box wheel arch 'clean', then 'feather-edged' the existing paint. Primed with an etching primer and then epoxy primer and sanded it smooth. Then repainted/clearcoated under the driver's wheel arch. I did it in such a way the repair didn't go around to the vertical part of the box ....so you can't see the repair. And of course I gently blended the clear in with some slow reducer.

I did the something similar with my truck's lower tailgate lip. By the time I bought the truck, a small fairly significant rust spot had developed on one segment of the tailgate. Overall my truck is really clean except for a few boogers. After sandblasting the inside lip of the tailgate, I soaked the lower seam with phosphoric acid to 'eat out' any rust that had developed in that lip (and there was some). Washed the phosphoric acid out with water (to neutralize) and let dry. Then I had to cut the rusted section of the crimped-over (inside) seam (this is the lower inside 'lip' of the tailgate), ...probably 6-8" long. Then I weld a new piece of metal there (so it looked like a continuous seam/lip). Again, the vast majority of this work was on the inside of the tailgate seam ...except about 8-10" on the outside where some surface rust had worked around to the back of the tailgate (the part you see looking at the truck from the rear). Did regular bodywork and repainted and re-cleared those areas (knocked down the overspray with slow reducer). After all that I applied oil to the lower seam and it has migrated around the crimped area.

All that was several yrs ago.. still looks great. No re-rusting. I just throw this out there for guys who DO have a couple minor rust spots. Fix them before applying oil or FF, etc. Oil is the enemy of paint work. So make paint repairs first if you have any. Then do the protective steps.