Just a quick HI before I start spamming questions all over this board. Picked up a 2003 extended cab XLT, 4x4, 4.0l, automatic from Craigslist. I bought the thing in the rain with the guy getting calls from other buyers on the way to look at it. Once I got it home and in the sunshine I found that he rattle canned over a bunch of body rust! Then I took it to get inspected and they came back with a quote of ~$3000!

Anyway, I'm going to make the best of it. I bought some tools from Harbor Freight and so far I've replaced the Muffler, Rear Drums, Lower Ball Joints, Upper Control Arms, Outer Tie Rod Ends, and Wiper Blades. I may let the shop do the Rear Shackles due to the stock brackets being riveted to the frame.

YEY!

 

Welcome

Reads like they use lots of salt on the roads in your area

Ball joints, control arms and tie rod ends is unusual, vehicle must have alot of miles on it or was off-roaded very very hard

 

I bought it in Philly, so it's not like they are shy with salt around here, but not more than any other northeast city. It was a work truck, so I don't think they were hitting the trails with it either. Anyway, it has 110k miles, so I guess I have to expect some problems. Once I clean it up I'm sure it'll be awesome.

 

The good thing about Rangers are the fact that compared to a ton of other vehicles, replacing body parts is comparably a lot cheaper.

The most expensive part of repairing rust on a Ranger's body would probably have to be the rocker panels and cab corners.

Where is most of the rust at?

 

It's all over, but in small random spots...I think that's why i didn't see them at first. Most of the spots are in flat areas where I could probably get away with those fiberglass patches. One place that is pretty bad and looks like it has a lot of contours is under the tail light. I also see some between the cab and bed, so I guess I'll have to take the bed of at some point.

 

With bed off it is much easier to do the leaf spring hangers.
Rivets are ground off, new hangers come with bolts.
Also check the Filler tube/vent tube carefully for holes/cracks

Grind off the rusted areas to bare metal and use Naval Jelly(phosphoric acid gel) on inside and outside, it turns any remaining rust to an inert material.

Also check out what body panels cost, some are not to expensive vs time it would take to repair
LMC truck has some: http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fr/full.aspx?Page=13

 

Hey, Welcome to RF.
I'll say this. As a former Pennsylvanian, I fully understand the body rust problem. My parents used to have this 2003 Chrysler T&C that had similar rust. We lived in Luzerne county area so we weren't shy about road salt either.


Here in west Tennessee, we still use road salt, but not as much. Mainly because we don't get that much snow. It's mostly ice, and even ice isn't even that common here.


Anyway, have fun with your new toy.

 

Wish I had time to pull the bed to fix the hangers. Unfortunately I need to get it past inspection ASAP. Thanks for all the tips. Once I get it legal and the weather gets warm I'll get to really play around.