Gutter Rust Repair
 

Hi guys,

I need to touch-up paint on my front top, including rain gutters
Attachment 113895

The rain gutter is merely spot welded to the A-pillar, Then body filler WAS used to seal the seam and then it was painted.

Inside the narrow, vertical portion of rain gutter looks like dried/cracking body filler or caulking.
Attachment 113896

This causes rust in the gap between A-pillar and gutter.

I already started on the right side because that's where I usually load my kayak which drips saltwater.

So far...
1) Removed the cracked and crumbling body filler, making minimal rust is left,
2) Coated it with Permatex Rust converter-primer (because I haven't bought POR-15 yet - altho the Permatex had proven rust resistant even without paint on it.)
3) Painted over the Permatex primer. (used thin and wide watercolor brush to get in there, both on paint and primer)

Attachment 113897
Attachment 113898

Now, What seam sealer to use to take care of that gap?

I do not think body filler would be a good thing to use for reason mentioned above.
Silicone may work.
However, I've seen seam seals on newer truck beds, like the Tacoma. It seems flexible but paintable, so it must not be silicone.
Marine sealant like 3M 5200 came up in searches. Makes sense for my application because I have saltwater drip on the roof and gutter.

Does anybody have success stories they can share? TIA

i have the same problem, same side, but maybe worse, i think it leaks, because i have some cancer bubbling up where the door seal hits the windshield column.

did you wire brush the rust out first? i'm gonna try that.

paint doesn't stick to silicone: http://www.autopia.org/forums/machin...bad-paint.html

body filler is too hard, so it'll have to be an automotive paintable seam sealer... there are multiple choices, i'm not sure which is best.

http://www.autobody101.com/content/a...g-seam-sealer/

I would recommend using 3M seam sealer. I used P/N 08300 for most of my truck when I was redoing it. It was unavailable when I ran out and I used a generic one from Advance Auto which was branded Dynatron. The 3M stuff is easy to work with and dries in a few hours. The Dynatron is slightly thinner and takes about a day to dry. I'd say after it's all done they'll both be fine. 3M costs about $30 a tube, the Dynatron was $12.


As far as the rain gutter goes, the rust you can see and remove is only the tip of the iceberg. You're right, the rain gutter is spotwelded to the inside of the A-pillar and then seam-sealed. The seam sealer cracks and lets water in between the rain gutter and the a-pillar. Here's a picture dump from me examining a junkyard truck (white) and working on my 4Runner (gray).


Here's the rain gutter peeled back a bit on the junkyard truck. As you can see, there is rust all along the entire length of the inside of the rain gutter. None of this was visible before peeling the rain gutter off.


Attachment 113883


Down at the bottom was the only rust that was visible before disassembly.


Attachment 113884


Up at the top you can see where the roof skin is brazed to the A-pillar.


Attachment 113885


Here's my truck after removing the rain gutter. You can see how bad the metal was pitted. One spot was eaten all the way through.


Attachment 113886


Here is the pillar with the spot welds ground down and the metal wire brushed.


Attachment 113887


And my solution. Pits all filled in and sanded smoothed.


Attachment 113888


Primed.


Attachment 113889


And painted.


Attachment 113890


Obviously this is a bit involved if you're not planning to repaint the truck, I just wanted to show what you can expect. My solution was to simply remove the front part of the rain gutter and fix the damage that had occurred so far. If you just want to buy some time, I'd say you've gotten off to a good start. Simply remove the cracked seam sealer and visible rust as much as possible, and re-apply new seam sealer. This will probably buy you years of time before it creeps back. It's not permanent but if you just want to keep your truck looking decent and dramatically slow the rust, this is a perfect solution. For color matched paint, you can try to find something close at your auto parts store, or for about $25 a can + shipping AutomotiveTouchup.com can send you rattle cans of color matched paint. I used them for my door jambs and I'm very pleased with the results. It sprays nice and even, matches good, and seems to be durable so far.

great post lindsay... that rust spot at the bottom of the junkyard door pillar is a bit worse than what i have on one side, but very similar.

the bottom of the pillar needs to be cut out, with sheet metal welded back in, but in order to possibly buy some time, i was thinking about flushing the gutter first with jasco: http://www.jasco-help.com/uploads/do..._SDS-405.1.pdf

problem is, i can't see any potential holes in the gutter, except at that area where the brazed roof seam is; it's a low spot in the side of the gutter, on both sides.

in a perfect world, the jasco acid wash would drip onto the rust inside the pillar, and covert it, but it would only be useful on the upper layer of the rust... you really need to wire brush the rust down as far as possible first, keep the area wet with the phosphoric acid/alcohol wash for a period of time, then flush it with water.

if you do that on the side of, say, a flat body panel that was freshly sanded to bare metal beforehand, the acid wash will flash right over, as soon as it's dried... a bit disconcerting, but it doesn't seem to rust back through a properly applied paint job.

i even thought about drilling small holes in the gutter, just above the cancer spot, and dripping jasco in there... but that won't help the upstream area of the gutter, where it's rusty at the seam line.

pics of rust in the drip rail joint: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=79346.0

Thanks a lot for the inputs, guys.

Yes, I have started removing as much rust as I have access to then using rust converted as primer.

I like the specs of the Dynatron. It is actually the 3M sealant part no 550. Was initially looking at 3M 5200 marine sealant (because I'll have saltwater dripping on those gutters), but not sure if 5200 is paintable.

Arlindsay1992, when you said a tube, do you mean the same size as the tube of caulk (12 oz?) that one uses the manual grip applicator on?

Cheers!

Oh interesting, I didn't read the label enough to realize it was made by 3M. Yes, when I say tube I mean the ones you apply with a caulking gun.

Could you fill it with windshield adhesive like 3M Autoglass Urethane if that 3M seam seal doesnt work? I believe it is paintable and since it seals windows I would assume it wont shrink and crack.

Thanks, FAD9567.
3M Windshield Adhesive is a little too pricey, altho, I've seen how VERY good it is for bonding.
Based on above discussion, the price and the specs of Dynatron, I'm leaning that way...
Provides excellent adhesion to bare metal or painted surfaces...
Brushable and paintable
Great because touched up/reworked body work, especially a tight spot like the A-pillar gutter would be a mix of primed, and painted surfaces.

and according to Arlindsay, "a little thinner" - meaning it would penetrate little cracks/thin gaps more easily.

if you want the best, you'll have to step up to a two-stage seam sealer, which usually requires getting a special gun that does the mixing automatically, as it's dispensed.

i ended up getting a tube of dynatron today, not sure how it's going to get spread inside the drip rail, since the rail gap is way too narrow to even get a little pinkie in.

Thanks, OSV.
I just ordered Dynatron from Amazon, too. :) I like the fact that it's thinner, brushable. If applicator tip could not reach the A-pillar gap, I'll brush it on using thin watercolor brush like above.

gutter rust
 

Hey man, I know this is an old thread but I have a similar problem with my hilux. Thinking of pulling the gutter off up to where you did, only issue is I wouldn't know how to seal the door from rain? What did you do? Thanks

I didn't do anything special. My door seals were replaced a couple years prior and they work just fine to keep the water out.

I second that (altho I have not removed my gutters). Newer vehicles d not have gutters and they do just fine.

no problems at all , I did it on my Trekker ,many years ago

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...1b3b68f76f.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...84b7b8c3ec.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...115edc0f44.jpg

I used Dynatron Gray Auto Seam Sealer Caulk when I reinstalled the fenders and door hinges. Was easy to primer and paint, too.