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2014 Silverado High Country RUST Nightmare
- Thread starter ZombieK5
- Start date
2014 Silverado we bought for our 16 yr old. Turns out the rear frame is suffering the normal total corrosion issue
So far we have started needle scaling the frame and cleaning the wax off the frame rails.
The pile of rust that fell of he rear end so far. Only two days of needle scaling and hammering.
So glad I live in the south.
I know lots of people parking/junking these things because of the frames going away. Obviously a frame swap is the best fix, but I don't know where to get one. It might be easier to have a tweaked collision frame straightened than all of the patching required to fix the old one. I've heard of guys climbing underneath the truck to patch it, but they're just doing the hollowed-out section of the rails towards the back and it's just to get a couple more years out of it.
If I was fixing one for a truck I wanted to keep, I would want the frame media blasted, but it's a ton of work getting it ready for that. Then cut, patch, repeat until it's strong and follow up with epoxy primer.
I bet somebody could sell a kit of frame patch pieces.
If I was fixing one for a truck I wanted to keep, I would want the frame media blasted, but it's a ton of work getting it ready for that. Then cut, patch, repeat until it's strong and follow up with epoxy primer.
I bet somebody could sell a kit of frame patch pieces.
Believe It or Not There are companies out there that make all of the pieces to fix these trucks. It is such a huge problem that there are several companies and small businesses making a mint selling the steel for repairs. I'll send pictures tonight of the tube kit that I bought for the cross members. They were only $400 on Amazon for the four cross members located under the bed. There's also a guy on YouTube that makes a bunch a videos describing the frame rail repair. He also fabricates the steel for the repairs. His videos are quite good. I'll also post pictures of his stuff when I get it. There have been worse examples than this truck that I have seen. This one should be very repairable. The cross members are shot, at least three of them are. A couple cuts with a plasma cutter and a day or two welding and she should be done.
I'm just going to use POR 15 to paint the frame and cover it with a decent frame paint from eastwood.
So far the most difficult part has been removing the waxy frame coating that GM put on. That has to go down as one of the worst ideas ever in the history of automotive design. The frame off of my 1977 Blazer is still in fantastic condition even after surviving 30 years of winters in the northeast. The frame on my 1990 Silverado is also in pretty damn good shape for also surviving decades of winters in the northeast. The frame on the 2014 appears to have gone to total s*** in LESS 10yrs.
I know one guy who hooked up a trailer and the hitch dropped a few inches. Looking underneath, the frame was basically held together by the body. "Maybe we'll tow this with a different truck..."
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/my-saved-rant.346045/
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/my-saved-rant.346045/
I've read all the pro vs con threads for POR15. My experience has been nothing bit good. My Blazer frame is covered in the stuff and has been sitting in my driveway waiting for me to start putting it together for a few years. It has dulled to a flat black finish but it has kept it from rusting. Years ago I painted a custom bumper with the stuff, and I'm talking more than 10 years, and it is still holding solid.
I am not going to remove the cab from this Frame and have it sandblasted. That would take weeks and dozens and dozens of hours of work. POR15 Works Fantastic in the exact scenario I am presented with. The frame rails are still covered for the most part in rust with a few sections of clean raw steel. If I use POR15 I won't have to take a DTM. For the new cross members I plan to take it down to bare steel and spray with Eastwood two-part epoxy. The rest of the rear frame will be POR 15.
It's crazy that from what I can see in the pictures, the body looks very clean but the frame is that bad.
My daily driver is a Silverado of this generation, although with the previous owner and now with me it's lived in North Texas its whole life. But this still makes me want to crawl under there and poke around... I have always thought the frame coating was weird, but didn't think much of it because where I'm at it doesn't seem to matter one way or another. In your case it does seem like even cheap spray paint would have protected the steel better.
I don't have any helpful advice unfortunately, but it's cool you're fixing it rather than scrapping it! Good luck and looking forward to seeing the progress.
My daily driver is a Silverado of this generation, although with the previous owner and now with me it's lived in North Texas its whole life. But this still makes me want to crawl under there and poke around... I have always thought the frame coating was weird, but didn't think much of it because where I'm at it doesn't seem to matter one way or another. In your case it does seem like even cheap spray paint would have protected the steel better.
I don't have any helpful advice unfortunately, but it's cool you're fixing it rather than scrapping it! Good luck and looking forward to seeing the progress.
There's a guy on YouTube, FarmCraft101 that just did a bunch of this on like an '03 Dodge Ram. I think he's in PA. His was nowhere near this bad.
Dude, CHECK IT OUT! I've seen Texas Silverados that have rotted out too. The heat melts, or softens, the coating. There is zero protection under the wax
Well thanks a lot, I guess I'll add "crawl under truck and poke stuff with a screwdriver" to my weekend to do list now
I've never seen a frame that bad on a ten year old vehicle. That is nuts!
And POR15 works amazing, but only if you follow the directions. Acid-neutralize the rust first, rinse, de-grease, clean and rinse, and thoroughly dry the surface area. Contrary to the name, you can't just paint over rust. The paint itself is very high quality and very permanent. I spilled some on my pants like 100+ washes ago ... some stains go away but THAT stain is barely even faded and is still hardened in the fabric.
And POR15 works amazing, but only if you follow the directions. Acid-neutralize the rust first, rinse, de-grease, clean and rinse, and thoroughly dry the surface area. Contrary to the name, you can't just paint over rust. The paint itself is very high quality and very permanent. I spilled some on my pants like 100+ washes ago ... some stains go away but THAT stain is barely even faded and is still hardened in the fabric.
POR15 as a material is very durable. The problem is that no matter what prep you do to the surface, rust can form between what the POR is stuck to and the base metal. That's why the entire part has to be coated, so there's no edges, and you have to inspect for nicks/cracks. Once water gets it, it never gets out because it's trapped under the plastic (POR15 is urethane). Eventually, it peels off in sheets, showing you everything is rusted underneath - but the POR15 still has the surface of the metal stuck to it!
Fanboys like to blame all shortcomings on the prep, not the chemistry.
There's no way the expensive marketing is wrong.
Fanboys like to blame all shortcomings on the prep, not the chemistry.
There's no way the expensive marketing is wrong.
Day 3
New crossmembers came in. I did more rust removal and waxy coating removal. The Diesel fuel works wonders.
I put the new braces across the frame to show bad vs good.
Also, the new frame end repair pieces came in too.
Hope to get first brace cut out soon.
New crossmembers came in. I did more rust removal and waxy coating removal. The Diesel fuel works wonders.
I put the new braces across the frame to show bad vs good.
Also, the new frame end repair pieces came in too.
Hope to get first brace cut out soon.
I have scrapped trucks for less rust
I'm stubborn, plus I'm not gonna scrap it after we just bought it. I'm actually using it as practice for when I need to weld the frame repairs on my 1977 Blazer frame.
PLASMA CUTTER! GAME CHANGER!
Oh I understand that.
I had 25 years of practice living on the coast in the middle east, I am now in California, the only time I buy a rusty vehicle it's for the parts
Just looking at the pictures, did you pull this thing from the ocean?!?! Serious rust. I wore socks older than this truck today. Good luck!!!
