even when i bought my truck that i ordered i noticed surface rust under the body on the frame and rear end. my friends dodge doesnt have any on his. maybe my truck was sitting in a lake before they shipped them out? they must use crappy paint for the frames on these trucks!! looks like ill have to clean it up in the spring. anybody else notice this on there newer rangers?

i remember my dad's '94 B mazda started to get fairly rusty within 3 years of having it. i still remember setting under it with him grinding and painting the frame. and my '00 only has '72k miles on it, and it's getting some spots imma have to grind down and paint in the summer. heck, i know a kid i went to school with replaced the entire back half of his frame in his '99, but that truck was a POS anyway

but just because your friend is lucky enough to have a rust free dodge dosint mean they dont rust out. drive something in the salt they put on the roads in the northeast and eventually it'll rust.

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2000 XLT 4X4, 3.0, Auto, regular cab - throttle cable mod, K&N drop in filter, taylor thundervolt 8.2 plug wires, autolite sparkplugs, Accel coil pack, AVS Ventshades, Rampage LED tailgate light bar, BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tires, Trail F/X toolbox, cruse control pod light fix, Cobra 19 ultra II CB, lil wil antenna, pioneer door speakers, expo woodgrain radio bezal, 06+ mirrors & tails, powerdome hood

2000 XLT 4X4 Offroad, 4.0 / auto, supercab - the project truck!

They all get that, I recovered my truck using a grinder and a paint/rust stripping pad like this

Then repainted and coated 3 times with VHT satin black

similar to the these steps I painted

I didn't think about rust until I noticed one day that my truck was sitting funny.



Yup my shackle mount broke off of the frame. Thats why I hate living in the SALT belt.

eeeekkkk!!!!!!

wow. yes im here in nj. man if it even snows a half inch they salt the stupid roads which i hate. doesnt pay to have a nice truck in the salt belt.. i better get mine done this yr or it will look like yours. thats really sad. good luck with it.

Yeah, agreed. Especially with the salt solution they spray now, that stuff gets all over your truck!

Mine is a month old 890 miles (2011) and has rust on the rear differential, drive shaft and rear axels. I had it in for an issue with the instrument cluster and told them about the rust, but they said ford isn't going to do anything about it. they have had other customers complain about similar rust problems with there vehicles.
Regards,
Dewking

Haha this reminds me of the time I walked out to my truck and one of the exhaust tips was hanging WAY low then the other... Went and touched it and it was just dangling... Just pulled the thing straight off... I do not miss the Illinois Salt

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man now thats rust.. hope you fixed it.

surface rust is really common even on new vehicles. automakers dont coat every component, especially drive shafts, steering knuckles, parts of the axles ect. you can avoid rust like in the picture posted by washing your truck regularly in the winter. if the surface rust bugs you that much get some POR-15 and coat those parts with it.

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