Drip rail fix?

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Zorm
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Drip rail fix?

Post by Zorm »

Alrighty, still working on the ole girl, was doing some work on the door seals and for some reason, looked at the roof and found an "ah heck". Rust bubbles above the drip rail sealer. Now this truck has been in the family for 46 years, spent most of its life out in the Arizona desert. Now, in Pensacola, Fl, actually Pace. and I get this rust. See pics.

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here are pics of the inside, really cant see anything.

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Spent some time yesterday afternoon removing the sealer, what a pain!

So since I want to paint the cab roof and rear around the window white, now would be a great time to tackle this. Since its just starting, and the sides above the doors look good, how do you body folks think I should move fwd. Cut a small 1-1.5" strip, in sections and cut out weld in?

thanks
1971 F250 Camper Special, family owned since 1972
1983 Cherokee, last of the big ones, bought in Italy, family owned since 1998
1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible, 140 engine, 4 speed.

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jzjames
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by jzjames »

I’m a believer that after that rust has gotten to that point, it is a MAJOR job trying to patch back that roof skin with welding in new strips of metal
Yes the salt air of living near the ocean will speed up that rust in that area BIG TIME! It rusts from the inside with the roof condensation mixing with the salt air - and it runs down into that sandwiched metal of the drip rail seam.

I had shipped my ‘67 to Hawaii for a few years and boom! Got rust bubbles there in a otherwise solid roof. Damn.
I vowed to save the roof, get it completely sealed up so no rain could get in from the outside, AND seal up that seam all across the front of the roof on the inside. I started with the hardest part - the inside.

Cleaned out all the heavy scale in that wedge area of the interior roof. Cleaned it out good, vacuumed it, blew it out, wiped it clean with damp rags. You can actually look into that area with a flashlight if you try. I used a flexible hacksaw blade to chip out the big rust scales. It was just surface rust and holes when I was through!
But not a pleasant job.

Now the scary part…. I pressed in TAR with my fingers to completely seal that wedge area from ANY future moisture. The tar applied to that seam prevents any moisture from ever hitting that metal again. I put alot in there, and its not visable from the cabin. Your fingers and that goopy tar will seal it and halt the rusting.

Of course as you know, the outside drip rail is completely cleaned out. Tar will have squeezed out the holes, I let it harden up a bit and then shear it off flush. Do your body work on the outside, I used the tar, up to level, in the drip rail too.

Going down the street, you can barely notice the sealed up roof rot - depending on how neatly you do the cosmetics on the outside drip rail.

That was my hack, an my :2cents: FWIW :D
Zorm
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by Zorm »

here is what I have used on rust and it seems to work well as far as stopping it

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After a few shots inside and out this is what it looks like. Some of the orange may be the old sealer

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so do I still cut this out, maybe or another way?
1971 F250 Camper Special, family owned since 1972
1983 Cherokee, last of the big ones, bought in Italy, family owned since 1998
1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible, 140 engine, 4 speed.

HE guides my path, forgives me when I stray and lights my life
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basketcase0302
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by basketcase0302 »

Sadly that same area is why most of our bump dual cabs got sent to the boneyard.
I found a guy that had two dual cabs for sale in NE Georgia about 15 years ago and I almost jumped on them, till I saw both had the typical roof rot.
I used OSPHO in the HVAC industry here in Florida where our salt air, (and salt water in our rain clouds that form) rot anything in short time. We specifically used OSPHO on gulf front condo AC units where I'd seen the salt air eat through aluminum condenser coils in less than two years with success.

What I was getting at was that OSPHO also turned the metal black neutralizing the rust so I'd say you're on the right track.
I can't honestly answer what next if it were mine as it's one of the hardest areas of our bumps to repair.
Did you goggle our pages here and see if anyone else had a better way to do the repair?
Jeff
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SOLD-71 F-350 dually flatbed, 302 / .030 over V-8 with a "baby"C-6, B & M truckshifter, Dana70/4.11 ratio, intermittent wipers, tilt steering, full LED lighting on the flat bed, and no stereo yet (this way I can hear the rattles to diagnose)! SOLD!
Many Ford bumps / one 76' EB / and several dents through the years.
A lot of "oddball" Ford parts collected from working on them for 34 years now!
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by FORDification »

New product at LMC...drip rails and roof side patch panels. The front pieces are under development, should be available soon.
2022-05-09 19_16_41-Roof and Drip Rail Panels.png
https://www.lmctruck.com/1957-72-ford/f ... ail-panels
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sk65
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by sk65 »

I agree with jzjames. It is a MAJOR job to weld some strips of metal in, but I think that it is the only right way to do a repair. When you open it up, grinding some of the rusty parts away , you will find more rust. The roof is not painted inside. I have done mine, and it was a major job :( .
Greetings from Denmark, Soren.
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Zorm
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by Zorm »

wow sky65, extensive work. Does anyone have a pic or a diagram of how the drip rail/roof area looks like from inside the cab? maybe a cross section pic/diagram? thanks
1971 F250 Camper Special, family owned since 1972
1983 Cherokee, last of the big ones, bought in Italy, family owned since 1998
1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible, 140 engine, 4 speed.

HE guides my path, forgives me when I stray and lights my life
Raiver
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Re: Drip rail fix?

Post by Raiver »

sk65 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 2:25 am I agree with jzjames. It is a MAJOR job to weld some strips of metal in, but I think that it is the only right way to do a repair. When you open it up, grinding some of the rusty parts away , you will find more rust. The roof is not painted inside. I have done mine, and it was a major job :( .
Greetings from Denmark, Soren.
That's a lot of work but definitely the best thing to do!
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