Inspect Your Drip Rails!

[Machspeed]

Hey gang, my little project over the past couple of days has been the drip rails on my truck. Back in the day, Ford used some kind of crappy sealer in those drip rails that is very rigid and with expansion and contraction will eventually crack, allow water seepage and subsequent rust and rot. From what I've read, this is not uncommon. Unfortunately, I did not notice this going on until just a couple of months ago.

   

[86 1/2 Brutus]

The ones on Brutus are pretty rough as well, when we painted it, i took a wire wheel and scrubbed down in there as best i could.  I dont see any rust, but is still rough looking down in there.  do these things come off?  I know the ones on my ranchero do, but these look like they are part of the cab

[Gary Lewis]

Wow, John, those are ugly!  What are your plans?

[ArdWrknTrk]

I don't think the caulk was crappy and brittle 35 years ago.
Time takes its toll, and certainly in the building trades materials science has improved a lot since then.

If I returned to an exterior trim job I'd done back then I'd be amazed if it were still sealed.
And houses don't flex and vibrate nor see 60 mph winds every day.
They also don't reach the scorching temperatures of black metal in the sun.

I'm not saying this to be contrarian. Just pointing you to the perspective of the drip rail.

Yes, I have taken a scraper and ripped that caulk out to replace it.
But I didn't use butyl caulk like it was. I used a low modulus urethane in hopes that it would flow into the joint a bit and bond tenaciously.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

You make a good point Jim.  you know alot of times, I find myself saying stuff like that " what were they thinking"  " boy this is crappy work" etc and then you realize the truck is Old, heck, i still think of the 95 vic as a newer car, well it is newer then Brutus, but it's old too.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Best practices change over time as we gain better understanding and newer products to work with.
You do what you can with what you've got.

Sealants have come a long way from pine pitch and tar.
But it has also been a long long time since I've installed Fir gutters on a house.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Thats just like the cowl behind the hood, we had to take ours off because , well first and foremost, it was full of leaves ( now that is just a bad design on Fords part and was fixed for 87 model year )  but the sealer they used had all rotted away, it was back in the day of foam weatherstripping.  It's what they had at the time and nobody had any idea that it would just get hard and disentigrate over time.
We ended up using some leftover sealer strips from our roof.
You could also understand because the truck is out in the weather, but even inside of a climate controled environment it happens, just at a slower rate.   I replaced the foam surround on my warfedale speakers about 15 years ago, i could have used rubber, but i wanted to use what they used, but needless to say, it's time to do them again as the foam is beginning to disintegrate.  They did the best they could with the tech they had at the time.

[Machspeed]

Jim, agree on the product of the time, though my 69 Mustang never developed this issue. And, this is not a common problem on those cars as it is with our trucks. Be interesting to see if they used a different product then. The stuff I took out of there was like bondo, only much harder. The products available to us today are far superior, though. I will be using a 3M 2k product to seal the drip rails.

Gary, l used a rust converter, cut out all the bad metal and welded in patches. Sprayed epoxy primer last night and will use some metal to metal filler to clean it up before repaint of the roof.

[ArdWrknTrk]

As i said, it seems like butyl to me.
That stuff was tenacious! (and stringy)

It used to be used a lot on storm doors and triple track windows.
Would be resilient, almost gummy once it dries.
Too much VOC's and cleanup was a problem.
But it stuck to everything and did not let go.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

John  the ones on my 79 ranchero are perfect, i went take a closer look at Brutus and i do see some small rust down there.   do these things come off?  does anybody know.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

They don't come off non-destructively.
I suppose if you had a jig to hold the pillars in place while you removed the roof from the door jamb you could do that.

Or you might cut them off superficially. But that wouldn't remove the rust in the pinch weld.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

I'm going to go dig down in there with my wire brush and check it out, from what i can see, it looks like is only surface rust toward the front, everything else looks ok

[Rembrant]

I have decided the best way to deal with this on my 1980 is to not inspect the drip rails...lol.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

John.  In the end, i am grateful you posted this, if you hadn't i probably would have been in for some trouble.  I never really paid attention down in there.  I did find some rust toward the front, but it was just  beginning.  I managed to get it all off with the wire wheel, hit it with some primer and will paint it once the primer is dry.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Lay a bead of seam sealant down or you're going to be revisiting it sooner than later.

More than one of us has walked this path.

[Machspeed]

Rembrant wrote

I have decided the best way to deal with this on my 1980 is to not inspect the drip rails...lol.

LOL! Too funny! Likened to, "Wow, what was that pain in my chest. Meh, it will go away!!!"

George, yours may not be as bad as mine, but dig that sealant out, clean up the rust and reseal. Rust never sleeps.      

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Jim what do you recommend?

[ArdWrknTrk]

There are plenty of seam sealers on the market.
I would probably go with a moisture curing urethane rather than the faster drying ones most body shops use to 'save time'
It's not like you can't wait a day to paint.

[Machspeed]

Here's what I'musing: https://www.grainger.com/product/2KUU4?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm9LhoOr47AIVEdvACh3X-Q3eEAQYByABEgLsavD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIm9LhoOr47AIVEdvACh3X-Q3eEAQYByABEgLsavD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!264955915808!!!g!438656176991!&gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231

This is a high end 2K product that requires a special applicator gun. Might be more than you want to spend. As I'm doing my Mustang, this was the only way for me. There are other products out there and while not 2K, are better than what was in there. Look up "Lord Fusion" sealer.

[ArdWrknTrk]

How much is 3M's plural component gun, to apply that stuff?

IIRC Gary borrowed John (the body man's) gun for the panel bonding adhesive used to extend Dad's transmission tunnel.