A tale of two 5yd dump trucks....

[farm boy00]

Yeah, I definitely don't want to make it any thinner.

When you try to take the galvanized off you wear down the metal

 

[George2615]

Thanks...it's not pretty, but it'll keep my feet inside the cab

Great repair job.
The before pic looks like Fred Flintstone drove it. Go for the CDL.

 

[paulharvey]

Great repair job.
The before pic looks like Fred Flintstone drove it. Go for the CDL.

You do loose some rights by having a CDL, but it seems the cops try to not needlessly put points are your license too. Half legal alcohol limit, think there are several other things also that you have less rights once you have CDL.

 

[GManBart]

Great repair job.
The before pic looks like Fred Flintstone drove it. Go for the CDL.

LOL....yeah, it did look like that! I may actually be able to convince work to let me get my CDL training requirements during work hours since we occasionally (rarely) need someone with a CDL, and we haven't had anybody with one in years.

 

[GManBart]

Aha...part 1 of the mystery is solved! We had a bunch of rain late last night and early this morning. On a hunch, I went to look at the truck and sure enough, there was a very small puddle on the floorboard where the cab mounting bolt recess is. There is a leak in the cowl/windshield trim area letting water in. It was hitting the angled part of the floorboard and must have been going under the carpet, getting it wet, and around here it's too humid for anything to dry quickly, so it rusted, just as you'd expect.

I was wondering why the rest of the floor is so solid, but this makes total sense. I plan to keep it in the barn soon, but I'm still going to try tracking down the leak and sealing it. The nice thing is that the POR-15 creates something like an epoxy coating that is seemingly impervious to water...so it should be okay until I get it sorted out.

 

[hutchman]

Aha...part 1 of the mystery is solved! We had a bunch of rain late last night and early this morning. On a hunch, I went to look at the truck and sure enough, there was a very small puddle on the floorboard where the cab mounting bolt recess is. There is a leak in the cowl/windshield trim area letting water in. It was hitting the angled part of the floorboard and must have been going under the carpet, getting it wet, and around here it's too humid for anything to dry quickly, so it rusted, just as you'd expect.

I was wondering why the rest of the floor is so solid, but this makes total sense. I plan to keep it in the barn soon, but I'm still going to try tracking down the leak and sealing it. The nice thing is that the POR-15 creates something like an epoxy coating that is seemingly impervious to water...so it should be okay until I get it sorted out.

I have the same problem. I think the window seal is letting water in my door and the door drains must be clogged because the very bottom of my driver door has some holes in it so once my pole barn is built it will probably live under the lean too or something ... I have to figure that one out since it is such a beast (16ft bed). I'll probably TIG in some replacement metal and fix it up but that way down on the priority list and will probably be years away. The passenger door is good!

 

[GManBart]

I can't tell from the pictures, did you paint yours in flat or semi-gloss?

Sorry, I missed this earlier. I honestly didn't pay attention...I was just looking at the color, but I'm guessing it's a semi-gloss because it does have a sheen once you get a second coat.

 

[GManBart]

I have the same problem. I think the window seal is letting water in my door and the door drains must be clogged because the very bottom of my driver door has some holes in it so once my pole barn is built it will probably live under the lean too or something ... I have to figure that one out since it is such a beast (16ft bed). I'll probably TIG in some replacement metal and fix it up but that way down on the priority list and will probably be years away. The passenger door is good!

That sort of stuff seems to be common...it's almost like they put interiors and seals in trucks that should be reserved for passenger vehicles. Once you get some dirt/dust/etc buildup, and add a little water stuff like drain holes plug up and cause problems.

I can't recall if I mentioned it, but the place I bought the Ford at had a pretty nice S1900 for sale as well. They weren't sure which version DT engine it had, and it had been a salting truck, so the whole underside had that white corrosion film/dust everywhere...just scared me off. If the frame and underside looked better I may have gone with it even though they weren't sure which engine it had...wouldn't make much difference really for what I'm doing.

 

[hutchman]

One of the ones I looked at was a Ford L9000 with the L10 engine. It was a salt/plow truck and the double frame was cracked (more like split) all the way on both sides. Had less than 100K miles on it. Had nice features on it too but I had to walk away. One of my criteria with equipment is I need to work more with it than on it!

 

[GManBart]

One of the ones I looked at was a Ford L9000 with the L10 engine. It was a salt/plow truck and the double frame was cracked (more like split) all the way on both sides. Had less than 100K miles on it. Had nice features on it too but I had to walk away. One of my criteria with equipment is I need to work more with it than on it!

Yeah, it's amazing how bad some of the stuff out there is...not worth the hassle.

We got some rain today, so I was able to find the leak....upper left corner of the windshield was dripping. That's directly above where the rust was, so it makes perfect sense. Hopefully it's nothing more than pulling the windshield trim, cleaning the area and resealing......fingers crossed.