GM Exposed! Why the rockers rust on Blazer

[Metrodps]

OK my 1987 Blazer has never had anyone monkey with running wires in the door sill area. I was taking the little plates off and removing the rubber matt when I found this.

The two little holes on the lip where the rubber goes over for seal had black heavy duct tape over them on both sides. I got all the dirt out and was wondering about this so I went to the donor truck I have and looked at the half rotten rocker on it and sure enough there was the darn tape on the one hole that was left.

Was this a coincident or a GM employee screwing with the trucks. Wonder if any one else with solid rockers had or have this on theirs.

BTW my truck was in North Dakota so never saw salt only sand.

 

[k20]

My rockers are fine, and I didnt have any tape over my drain holes.

 

[daleearnhardt01]

Rockers rust because crap gets caught up inside of them. They are open on the underside of the truck so crap can get it (mud, salt) but isnt easily removed. Im pretty sure the tape isnt the main cause if at all for your rust problem...

 

[ZooMad75]

(Edit---beat me to the post) It's the fact that the rockers are hollow with open holes on each end. These get packed with mud and snow and cause the rockers to rot from the inside when not cleaned out. Even without salt on the roads, if you leave something in there long enough it will rot.

 

[R77K10]

they get totally and completey packed full of mud and crap,

plus they arent painted inside

and plus living here in the midwest everything is always wet all the time and that includes the air and then theres salt factor and constantly dropping below the dewpoint so everything is even more wet again,

rust

inevitable cant avoid it

you have to accept rust, you cant beat it

impossible

i live with and accept rust, its just part of life




good luck

 

[73k5blazer]

rust

inevitable cant avoid it

you have to accept rust, you cant beat it

impossible

i live with and accept rust, its just part of life

Unless you got one of these

 

[1985_K5_Silverado]

Well, I guess we needed a new conspiracy theory for the month of May.

That's right, like a previous poster knows, rust is like death and taxes here in the midwest. Rust is actually even worse than taxes, and more like death, if you think about it. In fact, you can go to prison to avoid taxes, but your car will still rust in the midwest road salt and you will still die. Salt is cheap, and so they use a lot of it whenever it gets icy, and any body, frame, or running gear parts that aren't fiberglass, stainless, or some other material that isn't easily corrodable will rust eventually, and probably sooner than later.

Corvettes and other fiberglass rides? Not safe from rust in salt hell, look for the rust in the birdcage and windshield frame, on the suspension and frame, and on and on. The only way to keep a car rust-free for decades is to move out of the midwest and set up camp by Morongo Indian Bingo Casino. If you stay the midwest, never take your car out of the garage unless it's sunny and dry, and there has been enough spring rains to wash the residual salt off the roads and into the sewers. Treat your 4x4 like many trailer queen 1953 Vettes and never drive it at all, just put in in an enclosed trailer and dust it off at car shows.

 

[surpip]

now this might cost a little bit, but why not hose it down every cupple of days, keep the salt at bay?

 

[ZooMad75]

Best idea I can think of is a full fiberglass tub like 73k5 has. But that's not cheap. I think the next best would be to cut the crappy open rockers out (proabably easy since they are thin anyway) and replace with a 1/4" wall thick 2x3 steel tube. (AKA rock slider) close off each end and paint to match and you would be hard pressed to know it's not a regular rocker from 10ft. The enclosed tube won't rot out like the sheetmetal will. If it does you got bigger problems.

Just look at the rockers on mine. My truck has been in Colorado all it's life and it's dry as a bone out here. Plus we don't use salt on the roads (well mag chloride now). This is the good side too. The other side has left chunks of rocker on the ground in my driveway.

 

[Leper]

Unless you got one of these

Where did you get that? Are they still availiable? How much was it?

 

[Masiony]

'suppose i should consider my self lucky then. my 85' had plastic things that covered that gap between the floor board and the inner fenderwell. when i tore them out of there to get to my shackle, i found this:

not even a hint of corrosion. but then again, im not in the rust belt either.

 

[ZooMad75]

Like I said, its pretty dry here in Colorado, but I think the first part of my trucks life was spent on the farm or something. Because it was packed full-o-crud in the rockers. Even in a dry climate, if something gets in there, its going to rot it out. You got lucky!

 

[4xcrazy]

rust

inevitable cant avoid it

you have to accept rust, you cant beat it

impossible

i live with and accept rust, its just part of life

what is this stuff you are talking about??

 

[Brians89K5]

haha yeah rust... whats that stuff? My first two blazers, a 74 and a 79 had holes for rockers. My 89 is cherry though and will be treated with undercoating soon. Its nice not looking down at the road when Im driving now. lol

~Brian

 

[adamforsythe]

I live in maine....RUST/SALT HEAVEN. My k5 is a 1986 I tore those plastic (THINGS) off and I had NO rust any where. I am hoping that with all of the rust bullet and paint and all of the other little things I am doing to fight rust. My truck stays rust free for a few years . Before I add the rust bullet I am replacing any bad floor sections, floor frame, and everything is getting sanded down real good. I am painting over the rust bullet and sealing it. The reason why I am sealing it is because I am spraying Gloss Black over the rust bullet ans I want the gloss to stay glossy .
Thanks
Adam

'suppose i should consider my self lucky then. my 85' had plastic things that covered that gap between the floor board and the inner fenderwell. when i tore them out of there to get to my shackle, i found this:

not even a hint of corrosion. but then again, im not in the rust belt either.

 

[jjlaughner]

I replaced both the inner and outer rockers on my blazer. Got the parts of JC whitney, I ordered the long inner and it was still several inches short of replacing what needed replaced. (at the time not doing much metal work and being new to trucks) I dug out a couples cans of triple expanding foam! The kind that says does not absorb water.
I filled both rockers solid, took a knive and trimmed off the extra that squished out, then painted it with rust tough paint and sprayed the bedliner spray paint under the truck to seal everything up. The rockers are solid, make thunk sound when they get hit, not a dink (hollow) sound. I ran over a trailer one day.... don't ask... I couldn't see it and forgot it was there made a sharp right turn out of the driveway right over the corner of the trailer.... the toung came up and hit the rocker made the tinest little ding in it and scraped some paint off. I think if that rocker was not solid it would have made a much larger dent and chipped more paint off.

 

[dhilgenberg]

my 91 rockers rusted away due to the salt and mud eating them away they are thin exposed and not the best metal plus getting the paint scrape dwhen off-roading. i replaced them then line-xed them for no further rusting