My new Dodge

[KerryAll]

Nice truck, silver is a practical color up here in Prince Edward Island.. our soil is red! Silver doesn't show the dirt as much...

 

[dodge man]

Thanks for the link, it looks pretty simple. Yeah, I'd like to get the exhaust where its all the same size (4") all the way back. I see a place on the engine sticker where it says "catalyst type", so I'm assuming it had a covertor that the previous owner removed.

 

[RobertN]

Now I'm curious what they use here on I5 around Mt Shasta, and I80/H50 over Donner and Echo Summits. I have seen DOT sanding the roads.

Here in Missouri the DOT uses Salt to de-ice roads. Very corrosive!!!!!

 

[Diamondpilot]

Here we also use liquid salt. Its worse yet.

By the way, salt will not work in cold temps but works great in the 35 to 20 surface temps.

Chris

 

[Dmace]

Not starting a brand war but rust around the wheel wells and inside of the door bottoms of Dodge trucks is common in my parts. Both my 03 2500 Hemi and my work Dakota had rust after the third winter.
Chris

First off, Yes you are starting a brand war as you do in every thread about a vehicle. Second, it's NOT just common in Dodge trucks, it's common in ALL trucks. The biggest problem is that many of them don't come with wheel well liners (which my RAM did) and others just get used more, especially in the winter (eg: plow trucks). Before you go praising Ford for their trucks as usual, take a look around and you'll see more Ford trucks with rusty panels than any other. GM's tend to look better as they usually have the plastic fender flares blocking the common rust areas.

Typical Ford rust:

 

[RobertN]

Appears Ca uses salt, sand, and has tried liquid magnesium chloride. The article Ired was interesting. No comparitive use data though; hard to tell if they just use less, so we see less rusting?

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/snwicecontrol.pdf

Here we also use liquid salt. Its worse yet.

By the way, salt will not work in cold temps but works great in the 35 to 20 surface temps.

Chris

 

[frischtr]

Thanks for the link, it looks pretty simple. Yeah, I'd like to get the exhaust where its all the same size (4") all the way back. I see a place on the engine sticker where it says "catalyst type", so I'm assuming it had a covertor that the previous owner removed.

Look at the sticker on the valve cover. If it says Rated hp: 305, then you have an early '04, no cat. If it says Rated hp: 325, then it's an '04.5, and it had a cat originally. If the build date was 12/03 then it should be an early '04. '04.5s were built after Jan 1, '04. I just went through this myself to confirm my new truck was an early '04 for inspection purposes.

Edit: sorry, missed your earlier post about 305 hp. Yours definitely never had a cat.

 

[Diamondpilot]

My 04 and 06 Fords have no rust now but I know they will sooner or later. My 08 Nissan has no rust. I can say for a fact my GM trucks were showing rust in the cab corners and my Dodges on the door bottoms and fender area and front quarters at the bottoms near the doors.

My import cars and GM cars did very well.

I wonder if no fender liners help or not. All my vehicles get hand was ed once a week with a electric power washer and a sponge. Maybe fender liners hold dirt and crud which holds moisture that I can not wash out????

Chris

 

[Dmace]

My 04 and 06 Fords have no rust now but I know they will sooner or later. My 08 Nissan has no rust.

So what?
My 03 RAM doesn't have any rust either and I guarantee it's been through much longer and harder winters than your trucks. Point is, the rust dodge man's truck is showing is not a "common problem" and any truck including a Ford will have the same issues if not properly maintained.

 

[kenmac]

My 07 Dodge came from the salt state of FL. No rust:thumbsup:. BTW. Mine is also silver. I use the Baldwin fuel filters & Fleetguard oil filters from Cummins