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Potential rust issue / preventitive

rick119

PM 2014
PM 2013
Full Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2013
Messages
78
Location
Stanly County, NC
May have been covered before and if so just a refresher.

While installing the LED tail lights I found dirt packed in the quarters 2 or 3 inches deep with all the drain holed clogged. I broke it all up, sucked out what I could with the shopvac then blasted as far as I could reach with the garden hose. Once it was dry I sprayed a liberal amount of my non EPA approved rust proofing  >:D  I am glad I saw this as down the road if left untreated could have lead to a major rust issue. I guess once warmer weather hits Ill look over the rest of the truck for similar spots.

Before and after on both sides.....

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Take the rear lamp assembly out. Put hand down inside that opening and that's where this is. Cleared mine out this past Spring. I couldn't believe how much junk gets sucked in there. Seems like once a big enough chunk of sand/rock gets in there it never gets a chance to drain out. I'm hoping my new mud flaps prevent this from happening but it's probably just the air flow and nothing I can really do to stop it.
 
I'm wondering if this is for 07 up.
 
Yes, as far as I know this applies to 07 and up only. I don't think that area is designed the same on the previous generation to have this issue.
 
This is on an 08, I would think all years are similar. As mentioned this area is below the tail lights and extends forward to the front of the rear quarter panel or everything behind the rear tires.
 
I found the same with mine it was full of gravel took me about 45 mins to clean them out now i have fitted mudflaps i hope its stopped it or cut down the amount that goes in so that the drain holes don't block.  Mine is a 2010 model :B:
 
That should help, I ordered a set myself. I am also thinking about adding a rubber flap that will block off the open area where all the dirt is getting in. Kind of like a mini mud flap that will deflect debris but still allow air flow.
 
I just purchased a 2007 and noticed the panel behind the rear tires seemed solid when tapping with my finger.  I first removed the two plastic hole plugs on each side and discovered dirt packed in solid.  After removing the rear tail lights I discovered the entire area filled with dirt and small rocks.  About 5 hours later with a pressure washer blasting 40 lbs of dirt out of the rear fenders they are now cleaned out.  Now to figure out how to stop the surface rust from progressing on the inside of the fenders is my present worry.

I will add a rubber piece under there to prevent future accumulation.

Pretty poor design imho...
 
BighornBob said:
I just purchased a 2007 and noticed the panel behind the rear tires seemed solid when tapping with my finger.  I first removed the two plastic hole plugs on each side and discovered dirt packed in solid.  After removing the rear tail lights I discovered the entire area filled with dirt and small rocks.  About 5 hours later with a pressure washer blasting 40 lbs of dirt out of the rear fenders they are now cleaned out.  Now to figure out how to stop the surface rust from progressing on the inside of the fenders is my present worry.

I will add a rubber piece under there to prevent future accumulation.

Pretty poor design imho...

Wow- that sounds like a lot of dirt accumulation.  I cleaned mine out the other day after noticing dirt and gravel bits in the drain holes.  

If you have some surface rust on the inside of the quarters, I'd first soak the rusted areas with the liquid version of  'barkeepers friend' (Oxalic Acid) for 10 to 20 minutes to remove as much of the rust as possible, then rinse well.  For rust prevention of that area, I'd coat the affected areas with Rust Bullet. It's the best one step rust treatment on the market imho.
 
I was swapping tail lights and decided to take the shop vac and get some of the rocks out of there.  :E:

What a crock of poop that there is such a huge place for road debris/dirt/water/rocks to build up and get this deep!!!!!!

I had about 6" deep of mud, dirt, rocks in there. Oh and the metal is holding up great....  :beating: There is a huge area that you can't even access to clean and is piled up just as much.


I recommend this for everyone to do before it becomes a problem. I will be pressure washing this out when it gets warmer and it will be on my yearly to-do list for the truck.  :E: :beating: :help: (n) :eek:


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It was too late for me guys  :E:.


Seriously tell all the AV owners you know to get in there and clean/flush this area out. The area fills up starting all the way down at the bottom of the rear rocker drain slots. This is not fun and can be prevented.  (n)



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Yep... just recently noticed some rust bubbles formed on the drivers side down there. :E: Didn't realize this was all open in there. Couldn't for the life of me figure out how rust was forming in that spot. Will have to pop the lights off again and take a look. I have had mud flaps since my last flushing so if I see a load of crap in there, I'll be disappointed. I still may be able to save my metal though if I act quickly.

blu_fuz: Out of curiosity, how much is it costing you for that body work?
 
$3k. That includes the front fenders and the patches on the rear quarters.

I have had quotes for $6500, $8000, $8500, and $9k. These estimates included replacing the entire bed side, not patching the rusted areas. Each bed side costs $800-1000.


I simply don't want to spend $6k on body work.
 
since this thread doesn't seem to be 07+ specific, I'll post my rust disaster I found too, when I pulled the cladding off I wanted to cry. this is pretty much the same type of pocket as above but in front of the rear tire on cladded trucks, when I get this panel repaired I am going to put a drain hole in the bottom of the new piece and drill one on the driver side.
 
blu_fuz said:
It was too late for me guys  :E:.


Seriously tell all the AV owners you know to get in there and clean/flush this area out. The area fills up starting all the way down at the bottom of the rear rocker drain slots. This is not fun and can be prevented.  (n)



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You know something ... that is exactly where our '05 4x4 is rusted out totally above the exhaust pipe, and the driver's side is showing the rust signs ... now I know to remove the tail lights and look into this more !!
 
Whelp, took out the lights just now and cleaned both sides down. Passenger side looks good. Driver side isn't as bad as I was expecting. Cleaned it out, cleared the flaking paint and will be putting a rust converter down and then fully cover everything on both sides with primer/paint. Thankfully the rust is minimal and I should be able to contain it. Then I will make this a quarterly cleaning and maintaining item to keep everything under control and to watch for any signs of new issues. Since my Z71 has the wheel flares I sometimes wonder what else am I not seeing...

Seriously blu_fuz, I thank you thank you thank you!!  :notworthy: If you hadn't posted this I'd probably end up with a huge rusted out hole after the winter and be trying to figure out what happened!

I wonder if putting a filter sheet of some kind over the big open hole where the light wires come through would greatly slow this issue down. Even with my mud flaps, I still have a ton of junk getting in there.
 
I was always surprised by the amount of Sand and Volcanic debris CalTrans and Colorado DOT used on the winter roads that would collect in the back bumper and under the tail light area. California usually employees cinders as they can be swept up between storm events and reused. The sand in Colorado has clogged up many creek and roadside streams from years of use.

Strangely, the only hits I took to the windshield were in Colorado from them not filtering/screening/sizing out the rocks during the crushing process. The volcanic stuff just didn't have the density to do any damage to the glass and I never noticed any dents or paint issues either.

Every time I'd return from a Winter Season in Colorado, it would take most of the late Spring and early Summer to get most of it out.

This was with my all of my Avalanches and a 92 Yukon until 2003.

I believe I did change out a brake light bulb on the 03 Avalanche in the lot at a parts place in Aurora, CO once. I don't recall looking down the hole to see any collection of debris there.
 
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