Rusty Cab Gutters

I Guess there is no easy way, but wondered how others have tackled this problem.The rest of the cab is in pretty good nick.Any ideas would be appreciated.

My Benz was not as bad but did have gutter rust , you have to find a good panel bloke who can remake them and the paint it.

Benz,
Take the easy option maybe?

CONVERTIBLE.

Hi Ronny G .. the roof and gutter has obviously been bogged before, so don't be too shy to do the same exercise all over again...

...grind it all back, cut out any really offending areas, give the whole lot a good blow out, and then lay the fibreglass in as carefully as your hand will permit. Tidy up your fibreglass work with some body filler which is far easier to sand to a decent finish..

...unfortunately i've only been doing this kind of stuff for 35 years and cutting, shaping, welding etc, etc is a noble idea, but really a waste of time when she will sit more often than not in her later years...with all the condensation that usually pervades a truck in this situation...

...the fix i've suggested is a good one if two golden rules can be followed...firstly leave the windows down just a little to let any heat accumulated through the day able to escape, and secondly, try to park her under a shed roof to stop the cold and dew forming on the roof of the cab..

...hope my suggestions aren't too sloppy Ronny, but i'm just trying to help in a cost effective manner....cheers

The old boy had the same problem with his Acco recently. A few thousand fibreglass splinters and a couple of decent coats of paint later and he had one new looking cab...

Detective's advice is good to keep you going but may come back to haunt you if you intend to keep it for years to come. Either a labour of love or very expensive to do it the all metal way. I am currently rebuilding a cab which in decades past had that treatment and once stripped it turned out there were parts which weren't structuraly joined. I would also suggest that it has rusted from the inside out, so in addition to the condensation that Det mentioned there may be moisture getting through holes under the roof lights and air con fittings and dripping along inside the roof to the gutter join. You will need to hit all of the inside area with rust killer, especially the bits you can't see, otherwise it will keep rusting while you sleep.
Good luck with it.

Thanks for the info Detective and Mammouth.What is a good rust killer now days to use if I can get inside? Also once the paint and rust are stripped off in the affected areas is it better to do the repaire then prime and paint or is there something that can be applied to bare metel to prevent rust and then apply fibeglass or whatever over the top.Finally I presume it has been painted with 2 pack paint, could I match the colour and use acrylic laquer over the repair as I haven't got the gear for two pack.

As for treating inside the roof cavities good old fashioned fish oil in an aerosol, get one of those lil tube things they give you with WD40, fit to the fish oil nozzle, lets you get right in there. Did a Dodge cab ages ago, has never had rust breakout again.

Fish oil for preventitive maintenance is the go but it won't be much help when things have gone too far. In this situation once you have stripped the lining out and sand blasted or cut and ground the rust away you can use a phosphoric acid spray. This converts rust to a stable oxide and puts a protective layer on bare steel (which will have rust you can't see). I got mine in concentrated form from the local cleaning supply house, cheap as chips so you can put it a garden type sprayer and go mad so it runs into all the tiny crevices. Alternative or next is spray or brush with epoxy etch primer. Being epoxy it can be be followed by any of the paint systems around. Have no knowledge of fibreglass so can't help there..
As far as matching paint goes would be difficult as what is there will have faded to varying degrees. I have heard of putting etch primer over old finish to start again without total strip back. Also while you are getting serious with one section it would be wise to check for 'unseen' rust on the other side of the roof and above the windscreen. In some respects it would be easier to paint the whole roof than just a part of it (same setting up and cleaning of spraygun) and at the end of the day wouldn't use that much more paint. Just some ideas as lots of ways to skin a cat.

Or a thought from the Looney Left;

Why not eliminate the gutters all together?

As the rodder/ custom guys would say, shave them.

It might save you some fiddly metal fabricating effort too.

-b

(Then paint the whole roof off white.)