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Doesnt make any sense.

79rustyk10

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Why do the bodies on older Chevy trucks rot away into nothingness, while the frame and suspension brakets genereally hold up almost perfectly.

However for ford trucks, The bodies seem to hold together better, if not pretty well, while the frames and all suspension brackets and everything else disintegrates?

I dont get it, My dads 94 bronco hasnt been washed since I washed it while I was in high school (I graduated in 04). everything underneath is trash, but the body isnt too bad yet. The thing looks like ****, needs quaters, a tailgate(all in Mn do) and fenders. somehow by the grace of god the doors are still pretty cherry, but the body structure underneath is still sound.

One 79 chevy I had the body literally rusted off of the frame. There was NOTHING under the drivers feet that GM put there, all the braces were gone, it has a 2.5" gap at the bottom of the door, while binding up top. the boxsides had angle iron holding them together and attatched to the bumper, with 2 feet of actual bed floor left towards the front of the box.

However with that truck having stock suspension still, quite a few bolts came right out, and every bracket was completly sound with the exception of one rear spring hanger getting soft.

I dont get it.:dunno: Has anyone else noticed stuff like this? My 89 f150 is like that too, pretty decent appearing body overall, with alot of suspension brackets needing to be replaced, the frame itself still appears solid though.

Fuking roadsalt and rusty junk.
 
Well, 73-87 Chevy were never know for being rust free.
There was just a lot of little areas which held water....or big areas
 
I've noticed the same. I have holes rusted through on my body, but the frame/suspention look like something off of a 2-3 year old car up here.
 
I have seen photos of GM's truck plants during the 70's--one showed huge rolls of sheet metal in the basement of the factories sitting in 6 feet of water,from flooding,and the metal was very rusty,yet GM still used it to make body panels,doors,fenders and hoods..also recycled steels were starting to be used in that era,add in road salt and body designs that trap water,and no galvanized panels (which Ford used in many rust prone areas),your GM truck was lucky to go 5 years without major rusting going on,especially in the rust belt states...

Dodge trucks dont seem to rot much compared to GM's in the 70-87 year era,the later Dodges do though!..I've seen 2002 and newer ones with rockers missing already,and they made the cabs very flimsy out of thin gauge steel..their frames seem to hold up OK though..
 
I cant explain the GM frames holding up but I can say that a large downfall to the body rot is crappy window felts and poor designs trapping water.

I dont know whos idea it was to put two layers of sheet in the rocks/cab corners when stuff can and will get in there...
 
ford trucks, The bodies seem to hold together better

+

odies on older Chevy trucks rot away into nothingness, while the frame and suspension brakets genereally hold up almost perfectly

Maybe ford body, plus, chevy frame equals Super Truck!
 
Bob touched on a few issue I'll add to later......
 
I have been told that during the 70's the steel mill here in Baltimore, that did produce a lot of sheet metal for stamping, used sea water to quench the steel during the actual production stages. Which would basically trap the corrosive properties of salt water into the steel :dunno: it would make sense, and I know it was a process they used to do before the enviro days of now.
 

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