Nice. That's the plan here. To remove the body kit that is on there right now. Cut out the worst of it, arrest the rust by removing the problem area of the fender liner to panel joint, patch fill with fibreglass matt to add add structural support back in there, cover it up with larger fender flares.

That will be good enough for me and the use of the truck. I have no intentions of selling the truck ... if I ever do the new owner will be made well aware of the patch job.

 

LOL. LMFAO.
For a short day or so I had removed the Lund body skirt and boards system, and just put some patch paint over the scars. Today I put the rotary turbo nozzle onto the gas powered pressure washer and hit to knock off anything that was loose or about to become loose. Look at the results! Aaaaaahahahahahaaaaaa what a ****ed fender. Note the truck is a 2004 all original paint.

I did buy some of those ugly *** big fender flares to cover this up. Have started with primer. I will paint to match the truck. If we do not like that then I will repaint black.
The repair plan is to zip cut out all the jagged edges and grind/sand to bare shiny metal. I will then use heavy woven glass matt and resin to tie the thing back together and fill it out to level that I will be able to shape and sand. The only thing left , thankfully, for me to go off of is the bottom fender well ridge/lip still has good strength integrity to build off of. When the glassing is done, it will get primer and paint over the patch and then those flares will go on over top.

Anyone saying that these trucks do not rust from the inside out, obviously has no idea, drives only in fair weather, or has a truck that has already been patched. The rust comes from those beads of whatever that rod looking material is. I think it is suppose to be glue. All it does is setup a crevice for moisture and dust to sit in where the rust festers until it comes right through from inside out.

Enjoy the pictures and have a good laugh. I will try to upload some more as this progresses over the next couple of days.

 

For what its worth....I bought an 03 1500 when new. I noticed the 2500s had full rear wheel liners compared to my 1500 which had none. I ordered the wheel liners which fit perfect. Every year I remove the liners and have the truck oil undercoated. I then reinstall the wheel liners in preparation for the salt and brine covered winter roads. My rear fenders are perfect after all these years.

 

Today's progress. Fronts done. Asphalt undercoating done. Scabs of rust cut out. Grinding to bare metal. Wire brushed wherever could reach. Generously sprayed and layered in all crevices and every direction with Rust Check Rust Convertor.

Tomorrow, re-assess the repair plan now that everything is exposed and either goto sheet metal shop for some plates to weld on or get started on structural glassing.
It is remarkable that the cutouts are pretty much an exact size and shape as those weld in preformed and shaped patch panels one eBay and such. Coincidence? I think not.

 

This is progressing. One side done. Turned out pretty well. Working on the other side today.

 

Looking good Ace. Good job.

 

Great chronicle. Please keep it going through the rest of it. Thanks!

 

 

This repair is DONE!

Took me awhile to build myself up to finally doing something with this. ... Years actually. I knew it needed attention but was not looking forward to it. I also liked the sleek look of the truck as is (less the rust) and any reasonable economic repair would have to also result in a change in the overall look of the truck - aka flares. So basically I put up with the surface blemishes as long as possible, procrastinated as long as possible. Fully knowing there was going to be more to it than scuffing off the flaked paint and repainting. The "push" came with extended fair weather, no rain for 2 weeks and none in the forecast; making conditions perfect to work on this outside with not being wrecked or delayed by water in the middle of the job. Further, I do not want to do any such work inside my home garage!
Biting my lip, squinting my left eye just so, and cringing my shoulders - I hit with the high pressure turbo nozzle to see what will be dealing with. Blew holes right through! LOL. That was the kick in the pants that it is time to get this done.

I did check with local auto body shops on what they had to offer. Frankly it was appalling the money numbers they were throwing around. It was like they wanted to support their family for an entire year from doing this one patch job on my old rusty truck. NFW.

So, repair options pondered over while I was procrastinating.

1. - cut out, weld in metal patch panels, smooth repaint whole panels, perfect sides as original. $$$$ ... and will rust out again in 2 - 5 years
2. - new or used entire box replacement. $$$$$ ... and will rust out in 2 - 5 years
3. - cut out, leave open holes spray with rust paint, big ugly *** fender flares cover the holes. $ ... and will eventually just fall off. <--- this is what most people do, just look under their truck in the parking lots.
4. - cut out, weld in metal patch panels, no finishing effort, area rust paint only. Big ugly *** fender flares cover. $$$. ... and rust out again in 2 years or less.
5. - cut out, reconstruct by layered glass matt. (NOT filler). area paint only, big ugly *** fender flares cover. $$. ... neither fiberglass nor plastic rust.

Drawing on my glassing experience, which I do not necessarily enjoy but am decent at doing when I need to, I went with option 5. Properly done, glass holds to metal firmly. Glass will not re-rust like steel patches would. It is also easily repairable, maintained, if this needs attention again every couple of years, no problem. The repair done is much stronger than the original way this was put together.

Materials:
- Resin and glass which you can get at Walmart, NAPA, any other local such type store. Shop around, prices vary greatly. I used up roughly 2.5 cans of resin, 950 ml cans to do it all. The glass must be matting and cloth, NOT filler or bondo-hair. The repair is structural layering to reconstruct the missing sections of the side panel and the fender liner. Those are then glassed together, closing joint, and the inner joint filleted. Future water and dust if it settles there will be settling on glass, not metal so the problem will not recur.
- TygerAuto fender flares off of Amazon. The set for my truck was very reasonably priced, combine that with free shipping and it was a steal of a deal. They are simple plastic, gets the job done. No idea how long they will last but even I have to replace them in 2 or 3 years, not a problem.
- Duplicolor paint; primer sealer, perfect match, and gloss clear cote. 2 cans of primer, 3 cans of color, 2 cans of clearcote. Did all the fender flares and the fibreglass repair area.
- 1 can of rust check rust convertor
- 1 can of asphalt based undercoating spray.

Timeline
- 6 hrs to prep the flares. Wash them with soap and water. Prime, paint, clear coat. Let set for 4 hours. Install decorative bolts and the rubber edging. Set aside.
- 3 hrs prepping the truck. Removing the other boards and flares. Wash / clean.
- 1 day installing front flares and prepping the rest of the truck. Wire brush cleaning and undercoating of the rocker panels and inner wheel wells. Install flares on the front. Do a bit of other front end touch ups. Take the grinder with a zip disc on it to the rear panels and cut out, within reason, the jagged rusted sections. Cut back enough to get to good structural sections and enough finger clearance to be able to work with to build off of to attach repairs to. This took literally 15 minutes. Zip zing done. Wire brush and grinder cleaning of edges and surfaces. Generous layering spray of rust convertor to all areas can get the nozzle into. Let dry overnight.
- 1 full day passenger side rear. Glass reconstruction, layered from the inside top of the fender liner outwards to the panel then lapped on the outside of the panel. Basically have 5 to 8 minutes of working time per mixed batch of resin before it kicks. Then 5 to 10 minutes wait for it to firm up and work off of it. While waiting, cut some more glass mat pieces, sip a coffee, talk with the kids, watch a bug fly by, ponder the boundary of the universe, solve a Lagrangian equation, ... Then get on with mixing the next batch of resin and set down the next layer. Repeat. It is a non stop progressive but pretty casual day. When have it built out nearing final level, get out the grinder with a sandpaper wheel on it and get on with cutting it to shape. Before doing this clear the area of all other people and wear a quality dust mask and eyewear. This generates a cloud of GLASS dust you do not want in your lungs or eyes, a day with a good breeze is helpful. At this point you can spend an awful lot of time shaping and smoothing. I didn't since my plan was to put the flares on anyway. Get it close enough. After rough shaping, final layer is woven glass cloth smoothed with a spatula just before the resin kicks. A light sanding with 120 grit then prime it, paint it, clear coat it. Wait 1 hour. Put the flares on. Done.
- 1 day driver's side rear. Same process.

I procrastinated until it was absolutely necessary to do something. I do not regret putting it off. It was timely to get it done and the job went very smoothly as I had envisioned. Though I did not really enjoy doing it as I have alot of other things on my mind and other things I should be doing rather than bodywork on the truck. I am satisfied with the end result. Everyone in family and friends really like it. Me, I am more of a sleek look type of guy, not a fan of the fender flares. I did what I had to do and what the truck needed. Next will be some nice wide mud flaps to compliment the flares as the finishing touch.

I hope this to be helpful for folks reading this and needing ideas as to how to deal with the same rust problem.

ENJOY!