I have rust. Is it saveable?

[Yeyo]

Hello guys. New to the forum, hoping somebody here can help me. Here is the deal:

I have rust on the cab of my truck and by the looks of it, it is bad. I do have a '51 truck I bought with the intention of learning how to do body work on, but this is my '84 (my baby). I have zero skills so far, and am not capable of tackling a job like this yet. And don't think the truck can wait for me to learn either, I need to take it to a shop.

Is this even saveable? How much would a job like this cost, just for fixing it? Leaving it in primer patches with no paint matching etc?

Here is the carnage:

[Yeyo]

Now I have seen patch panels for cab corners, rocker panels, but not for these sections.

I'm just trying to get a ball park figure. Not exact quotes or anything.

The thing is I'm torn between my truck and car, and short on cash. I don't want to spend money on the truck to buy the 4 tires, new battery, and little misc stuff to take it to the body shop only to realize: I don't have anywhere near the amount of money I need to get it fixed, and then end up stuck in the middle with not enough money for either the car or truck

[Phil V]

NONE of the rust I saw in your pictures is permently repairable without major surgery. Take that rust cab corner seam for example. The rust is at a seam where the cab corner overlaps the inner sheet metal of the door jamb. The rust started in between those two panels and the rust is hidden inside of that overlapped metal seam. The ONLY way to permanently stop the rust there is to remove the cab corner sheet metal then sandblast the door jamb rusty metal. Then weld in or use panel adhesive to install the new cab corner sheet metal. The rust at the upper front of the door jamb near the upper part of the windshield is a bad one. The metal there is rotted all the way through. All that rusty metal will need to be cut out and new metal welded in. don't want to hurt your feelings but the cost of those two repairs alone would most likely exceed the value of thevehicle. There are a lot of those old Chevy trucks down south and out west that are rust free for all practical purposes. Hunt for a rust free body and if the mechanicals age above average in your truck then switch the driveline over to a rust free truck. Even if you were to pay to have the rust repaired the only thing you can count on is the rust popping through somewhere else on the truck. You will be fighting a losing battle with rust on your truck.

[rustyramblers]

The best fix may be another cab that isn't rusted like that. Switching the cab would be a lot of work but would be doable at home with a factory shop manual and a couple buddies.

Matt

[Yeyo]

DAMN! Its that bad huh? Well, I love this truck. It's got sentimental value, so I can't replace the entire truck. But I guess I will have to go look for a rust free cab then. Oh, man I fell like crap right now. I have no clue as to why this happened. This is a Texas truck and has always been here. I guess it must have been bad body work done under the paint or something.

[Len]

I've never seen a cab rust like that. I wonder if the truck was in a flood. If you want a temporary repair you could grind off all that loose paint and rust then apply a moisture resistant filler but if you want it to last you'll need to replace the metal. If it was mine and I didn't have the money to replace the cab I'd use fiberglass filler and vent the problem areas by drilling or somehow venting the back side of the metal since that's where the problem is coming from.

[JeffsCustomPaint]

I agree with Matt,get a clean cab or if at worst get a clean body and
transplant the driveline.Chevy pick ups are famous for rusting and that
is common.It will just pop out somewhere else later and thats whay all those parts are available.those A Pillars(windshield posts)are not available and
would have to be repaired which isn't cheap nor is it guarenteed to last.
find yourself another cab or body or drive it till it completely falls apart
and you can't drive it anymore.Just depends on what you perfer to do
but fixing one or two areas will most likely result into more showing later
those rust from the inside out.What you don't see is all the other aread
that have n't broken through to the surface.It's all fixable but hardly
worth it if you can't do the repair.The labor involved would be expensive,
not so much the parts or the metal and materials to repair it.
a cab tranplant would be easy enough just have to remove fenders and hood
then unbolt the cab amd jack or lift the body up to get the frame out.
I lift is the easiest way to remove a cab cause you can raise the cab high enough to roll the chassis out to clear the motor.Another way would to put a sling thru the cab and lift the cab off with a forklift or a front end loader
with the sling.Like a giant engine hoist but picking the cab off instead of a motor.

[Yeyo]

Well, I have around $1,500 to spend on it. But by what you guys tell me, that will get me nowhere. I guess I will just spend the money on a donor truck. Shouldn't be too hard to find one for that price, maybe a longbed or something. I feel like I just got my dog ran over or something, jeje. Bad feeling, but hey there's nothing I can do about it.

[JeffsCustomPaint]

Actually i think it was a problem with all the Chevy Metal used for Pick ups
they all rust and I have seen that alot.Texas is a dryer climate but it may have come from a state that wasn't or if you have had it since new or most of it's life it's really just impure metal used.The could have used impure
or reclaimed steel when they made that sheetmetal and it has the impurities
in the molten steel and they Rust from the inside out which is very common for that year Chevy.It's nothing you did or did not do and that is whay there is so many repair panels and sheetmetal available aftermarket for those
cause they all rotted out in time..A Arizona body is the best but Texas
is still a place where they will rot.Heck the ones in Florida especially near the coast make that truck look fairly new.The bodies rot off the frame and there are huge areas of rot and holes.
you could do some temp repairs to lengthen the time it takes before nothing
is left,till you can get a another cab that isn't rusted.Good luck cause
like I said that is a common problem with Chevy P/U's in the 73-87 body style.

[Yeyo]

Actually i think it was a problem with all the Chevy Metal used for Pick ups
they all rust and I have seen that alot.Texas is a dryer climate but it may have come from a state that wasn't or if you have had it since new or most of it's life it's really just impure metal used.The could have used impure
or reclaimed steel when they made that sheetmetal and it has the impurities
in the molten steel and they Rust from the inside out which is very common for that year Chevy.It's nothing you did or did not do and that is whay there is so many repair panels and sheetmetal available aftermarket for those
cause they all rotted out in time..A Arizona body is the best but Texas
is still a place where they will rot.Heck the ones in Florida especially near the coast make that truck look fairly new.The bodies rot off the frame and there are huge areas of rot and holes.
you could do some temp repairs to lengthen the time it takes before nothing
is left,till you can get a another cab that isn't rusted.Good luck cause
like I said that is a common problem with Chevy P/U's in the 73-87 body style.

Thanks. I always felt guilty for this, but I guess its a common problem and I had nothing to do with it. Thanks again, I feel better now. I live in South Texas about 3 hours from the coast, so maybe that has to do something with it. But its no use beating myself over it, the rust is there and that is that. Time to go look for a donor truck!

[Phil V]

If the bed and the front end as well as the frame are relatively rust free then I agree that your best bet would be to hunt for a just a rust free cab. Then swap out the cabs. Its a pain in the butt to change cabs because of the wiring, steering etc but its not that big of a deal. Figure it for a weekend project.

[rustyramblers]

One other thing with the cabs. The last couple of years of that body style don't rust as bad as the earlier ones.

Matt

[Yeyo]

One other thing with the cabs. The last couple of years of that body style don't rust as bad as the earlier ones.

Matt

Is that right? Do you think its the fact that they are newer or was the steel used to construct the cabs improved? I should look for a 85+ cab.

I just now remembered that in Mexico, they made this body style up until around 1990. Don't know if putting a Mexican cab on my truck would be legal though.

[rustyramblers]

I don't know what the difference is but the last couple years of those trucks still running around locally (Cincinnati, OH) have much less rust than earlier models. I wouldn't think that using a cab from a Mexican truck would make any difference. I wouldn't think that GM would have made the cab different for Mexico.

Just remember to look on the bright side: you at least have something capable of hauling a replacement cab.