Rust will never go away until cut out! Cut all the bad out and repalce with sheet metal and or fiberglass. surface rust it easy sand it off and repaint... the deep stuff has to be cut out and repalced....rust is not a fun job thats why body shop peeps make bookoo money.

 

that's a prety abused / sorry lookin truck

I say its time for a short flatbed and a new paint job

 

the cab on the truck looks pretty solid. check the bottoms of your doors for rust. if they are bad then don't bother fixing them just get some decent used ones. if it was me i would get the cab in shape first to gain some experience. the paint is rough it needs stipped but you could get by just knocking the loose stuff off and feathering everything out and then priming.

for the mirror just sand it down, prime it, and flat back it. be sure to do both sides so it matches. for the door dent i would take the door panel off and try to push it out first.

decals that are that old will probably have to be scraped off. i used a razor blade but i wasn't too worried about scratching anything because i was priming the whole truck.

the toughest part is going to be the bed, it is in rough shape. it is hard to tell until you start grinding how bad it really is. depending on the extent of structural damage it should be fixable. cut out the nasty stuff, clean it up with a wire wheel, and treat everything the best you can before you start with the repair.

 

Great, thanks for the info. So to do it right I should probably strip and prime the cab just like I will the bed? What do you recommend I strip it with, can I do it with a sander instead of chemicals?

One other question, because there is so much prep work involved I'd like to do it over a long period of time, like a little bit each day over a few weeks. Is there anything I need to be careful of doing it that way, like leaving it exposed to the weather as I don't have a garage. I can do the painting in 2 days or so, but the prep work I'll have to do just a little bit each day.

Thanks again...

 

yea most of the finish is gone on the hood and roof so those will need stripped. i can't tell about the tops of the doors and fenders though. if the paint is not completely shot you can just feather it out and prime it.

no problem doing it a little bit at a time just don't leave bare metal exposed spray a little primer over it when you are finished for the day. as for stripping it depends on what tools you have to work with. don't chemically strip it. you don't have as much control, it is nasty to work with, and you end up sanding a lot anyway. i like to mechanically stip mine, you can use sandpaper or one of those paint wheels. i would start at the top and work down, but you could work bottom up to gain some experience. large flat panels like hoods and roofs show imperfections the most and require the best prep work to get a quality finish. or you could start with the mirrors and door handles, if you black the mirrors you should do the handles to match. plus if you screw something up they are cheap to replace.

you can use laquer thinner to soften up those decals or get a rubber decal remover wheel. they aren't that expensive and don't damage the finish as long as you don't get it too hot, most of the time anyway. don't be surprised on decals this old if it lifts the paint with it.

 

Yea that rust sucks. But yours isn't all that bad compared to the huge holes in the one I got. I found another used bed for 200 dollars. That sounds like the solution but it wasn't. Because the second bed was a longer one, the holes didn't line up with the ones in the frame. I cut some large pieces of the second bed and they fit pretty well. I am gonna mig weld the floor panels and epoxy the side panels (i'm afraid of it warping if I weld it). Next, I plan to duraglass the seams and small holes, use some body filler to smooth it all out, sand and paint it. ....Wow i still got a long way to go. ill post some pics if i can figure it out lol.

 

Hi TurkeyKiller,

I feel your pain but at the same time good to hear someone else is tackling this! Please keep us posted on your progress!

I am hoping to get the rust cut out this coming weekend, body work done by the end of the month, and painting done by 1st or 2nd week of August.

 

actually, I used the epoxy glue to join the piece of the second bed to the first one yesterday. Like i said i drilled holes into the area where the pieces overlapped and used screws to keep the pieces tight while the glue set up. Today, after the glue had dried to full strength (8 hours) i ground the screw heads off with an angle grinder. now all i gotta do is sand blast the thicker surface rust, use some putty to smooth everything out and paint. This is taking forever and costing a lot but it should be worth it. Ill post pics.

 

Yes rusted truck bed is fixable with proper instructions. This guide helps me a lot in fixing my rusted truck bed. Read Here

 

If you can get a sound, straight used bed for $700, I'd call it a bargain.