here is a design flaw I have found, after it was too late.

The inside rear fender liners on our trucks is metal, at the very middle, and traps salt and sand inbetween the exterior skin and inside liner. It sits there and eats away from the inside out. This is a veiw of the stagnant sand sitting in my fender

I have a solution if you want to save your rear fender exterior sheet metal...

 

this pic is looking from the right rear fender inside, looking out.

Drill holes here in the inside liner and flush out with water several times each winter. Make sure you paint any bare metal exposed from drilling.

Caution! The exterior metal is only 1/2 inch away, dont drill thru both

 

What do I do now?
-cut away fender flares?
-weld in new sheet metal?
-leave like that, its rugged lookin?
-bondo?
-build a wide body kit?
-duck tape?

 

Inski,

Mine is going through the same. It hasn't popped through yet anywhere, but it's just a matter of time.

I looked, hoping to find some formed plastic edge guards similar to the new trucks but didn't find any. The only thing I found was flares.

Mine will be better left alone for now, but I don't see any easy and effective solution. I might just live with it to decide how long I'm keeping the truck, and at that point paint it. I also have some of the famous rocker panel rot under the extended cab.

If I do decide to keep it and paint it, I'm going to cut out the inside cover, and fill it with epoxy filler first.

 

get a repair panel. if thats too much work, try fiberglass.

 

Repair panels are a pain in the butt. I just put one on an 88 pickup that rusted exactly like yours. It took forever and still didn't look perfect when I got done. Next time I will get a whole bedside. They are more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

 

Thats how this "hole" started. I was going to sand the "surface" rust and repaint it. Well, after 2 or 3 pokes with a small screw driver and 2 or 3 holes punctured thru, I realised it wasn't surface rust. It was from-the-inside-out rust, every bit of metal in this area was toast.

I think I'm going to bondo or fiberglass it and paint it, and maybe find some conservative flares to cover the bondo look.

I washed this truck once or twice a week in the winter to avoid this kind of mess

 

Yeah, but think how sharp you looked driving around in such a clean truck!




Okay, I tried.

Take care,
~Chris

 

I did look sharp! After snow storms people will drive around for days and months with salty-gray vehicles. Not me, I am bright and shiny the day after every storm

 

I have that same problem just need to figure out how to fix it.