Is it normal to have a rusty drive shaft on a brand new truck? And i'm not talking about a truck that was at the dealership for months. I had my truck custom built in december, arrived a week ago and the drive shaft is rusty!

I called the dealership and they said it's normal. What do you guys think?

 

its normal...the driveshaft is not painted at all...so it rusts easily..mines the same way

 

That surprised me when i worked at the B van plant springs, rear ends, front end parts would sit out in the yard until needed inside, not the way they do it now, sometimes running the plant short parts with them an hour away. I questioned this when first starting employment was told just put the rusty parts on your cheque will still be green.

 

They'll all surface rust, as mentioned they are unpainted so it's inevitable. It's common for all manufacturers, just cosmetic.

 

Yep it's common. The rear axle is painted really poorly also. Plan on touching that up with paint real soon.

 

As long as the rust is uniform with no pitting or bubbling that rust is a good thing for the parts. It acts as an environmental barrier and prevents further corrosion. So if you are truly concerned give the part(s) a good once over and make sure there are no irregularities due to rust.

NOTE: Do not remove surface rust unless you intend to paint the surface. As stated earlier, this corrosion layer is protecting the part and removing surface rust will cause potentially destructive corrosion to begin.

 

The third gens must have different shafts. The shaft on my brothers 03 ram is flawless, no rust at all.

 

My 05 driveshaft had a lot of rust also so it's not just the 4th gen trucks.

 

rusty drive shaft, ok. on my truck, im starting to get rust on the rear axle. is this normal also?

 

Thanks for the feedback...i't's like a big weight's been lifted off my shoulders. I was starting to think i might have gotten a lemon. (They just had to replace the whole transfer case 4 days after i got the truck).

It would be nice to clean it all and paint it, but i dont have the bucks for it right now. Maybe in a few years, i might do the job myself.

Thanks