Searching for a truck I may never find?

[Hay Dude]

Of course that’s something most people avoid doing during freezing weather.

Then you’ll have a rusted out truck.

 

[jjeff]

Yep county I used to work for rinsed the trucks down with fire hoses during eventual downtimes sometimes not for a few days though. Still smaller consumer type pickup trucks with boxed frames would always get clumps of salt inside that rectangular tubing.

 

[jyoutz]

Then you’ll have a rusted out truck.

Yep. Probably why there are so many. I run mine through the car wash and get underbody spray whenever I travel through salted roads.

 

[mrmikey]

Simply wash the truck off, topside and especially the frame, axles, brakes, springs, everything before you put it away.

Yup, there's no other way to do it...it's called maintenance.
I've seen new tandem trucks rusted like a 10 year old truck after a couple of years because of no maintenance. Come spring there'd be so much salt built up in around the crossmembers it turned the darkest shade of green.
I still remember one area got a brand spanking new CAT 938 loader for use in their yard loading salt and sand. It was in an out of the way area at one end of the province. The loader was a rusted, squeaky (no grease) POS after two years as no one was made to look after it, makes me sick to think of it.

 

[Hay Dude]

I will probably have to look outside my area= long trip to see truck.
Maybe I can get a TBN member to look at one and test drive it if I find non-rust southern or western truck.

 

[jjeff]

Kind of a drift but curious if anyone uses a salt neutralizer in the injector valve of pressure washers etcv.when rinsing down plowing equipment . My local West Marine constantly sold out of it in previous winters, bought by local plowing contractors I believe, and it's normally used in saltwater marine environments. Is it worth the price or just snake oil?

 

[Renze]

Get a real plow truck

Unimog ?

Or wheel loader ?

 

[big bubba]

1st place i stopped off the showroom w/my new truck was a commercial under coater
sure glad i did, no rust prob 32 yrs & 319k later (& runs like a champ) Winters are fairly mild here, but seems to me cities are more aggressive now in their chemicals, at least around here.
OP: good luck in your truck hunt

 

[Renze]

Yep. Probably why there are so many. I run mine through the car wash and get underbody spray whenever I travel through salted roads.

I only wash it in spring. My previous Volvo was 23 years old with no rust on the panels, and just some minor rust on the unibody reinforcement rails where the towhitch is bolted to.

Rust is a problem found in Europe only 20 year old cars when environmental rules forced manufacturers to try different paint systems, or currently on light commercial vehicles because fleet owners write them off and trade in before rust diminishes the resale value, so manufacturers save a few pennies on the paint system.

It wouldnt surprise me if pickup truck manufacturers do the same by deliberately skimping on rust protection to increase the resale value of ex fleet vehicles, because consumers frequently need another used one because used trucks rust out.

They can make rust free cars, so rust free vans and pickups are posssible too..

 

[Renze]

1st place i stopped off the showroom w/my new truck was a commercial under coater

Most cars come with that from the factory nowadays. Only Ford did a recall on Modeos and Focuses the let the dealer coat the inside of the doors because some rusted before the warranty expired.

The commercial underbody coater is extinct here for 30 years...