To the members here that have been there to answer questions, and I have been lucky enough to share some of my own experience with, I look to you for any advice, and thank you in advance.

I am sure all of us keep our Rams in Mint condition, that's why there are these forums, for people that take pride in their Trucks/Cars. My 09 has been kept in pristine condition, usually kept in a garage during the week, and has under 50,000 miles on it. I recently discovered this on both sides of the truck, the rocker panels have been 100% rusted away, with extreme bad perforation. This isn't a older style Ram, this is the newer body style, and the dealer has even said they have NEVER seen this extreme damage, and never on the rocker panels of my model. I do NOT live in a salt belt state, and this truck sees the dealership more than it needs to for routine work. I have been screwed by Dodge/Chrysler as they will not pay the claim, its a 09, so who gives a crap it is in Mint condition, low miles, Chrysler in their typical "Who gives a .." attitude is doing Nothing, Zilch. I could use some help, I cant afford to hire a attorney, and not sure what that would do anyway. Dealer is useless, they push it off to the "Mysterious Area Chrysler Rep" that says, they wont cover it. Any advice on options would be greatly appreciated.

The Ram Facebook site is a Scam, they could give two $hits about customers and posts, same for the Dodge, and Chrysler FB pages. They don't even reply to their own customers positive feedback, why the hell would they care about my issue.

Its sad when a so called "American" Truck and a customer that bought in a time where Chrysler was in the bucket for Gov Loans, and they had customers stand by them, guess what, those customers mean squat now I suppose.

Sorry for the venting, but again, any help is appreciated as I don't have 4-5K laying around for this repair.

Regards
J

 

I'm in a similar boat, although not nearly as bad off as yours. I posted the "fender rust" thread. Mine is also an '09. Although I live in Cleveland, I have oil sprayed the crap outta it for the past 3 years. The truck has 62k on it and is absolutely mint, even according to the service manager. If anyone wants to know: Do these trucks rust as bad as the older generations? You bet they do! I've filled my rockers with oil, so hopefully I don't run into the same issue as you.

 

What type of Oil would you spray, and where. Thanks for the Reply.
I'm debating whether or not to post a link to this thread on the RAM FB Page.
As this is valid information, and not made up I dont believe this would be either 1) Harassment or 2) Slander.. Thoughts?

 

warranty is 5 years/100k miles so seems you are SOL. It looks really bad, how is it that you didn't notice it before the warranty ran out? My '09 is in perfect shape, but I do live in sunny southern California.

Did you ever drive the truck on the beach with ocean water spray?

The repair costs seem high to me also, get another body shop for an estimate.

 

For what it's worth, the old "oil in the panel" trick only works to keep water from eating the panels out from the inside, it doesn't help with exterior/surface rust. Dodge trucks used to be notorious for the bottoms of the doors rotting out, so people would spray oil into the door panels to help remedy the problem...sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Your rust issue appears to be coming from the exterior of the rocker from road debris consistently wearing away at the mediocre paint application in these areas. You may not live in the salt belt, but it doesn't take much for salt to completely destroy your paint.

 

I mix kerosene and old motor oil about 60% oil/40% kerosene. Fill a manual pump sprayer from Home Depot and go to town. for the inside of the rockers, I use a small hand oil pump with new 5w30 (in case it gets on my clothes getting inside, not as bad as used oil) and squirt it inside all of the drain holes in the bottom. I also poked tiny holes in the all the rubber plugs along the bottom of the rockers and squirted it inside. The process makes a huge mess of the driveway, and is a general pain in the rear, but (knock on wood) I've only got one rusty front fender (where I couldn't get good coverage) up to this point.

 

I just didn't notice it, I'm 6foot 6inches tall, so getting down to that level doesn't happen that much. I would think the Geniuses at the Dealership would have picked up on it at some point, but guess you are stuck with what you get nowadays for dealers

 

it's always a good idea to get under the truck to see what else is going on. I don't know where to get the panels, but that is a common repair. Usually, they are less than $200 a side plus body shop installation & paint. I would guess $1000 for the whole job.

I've searched for the 2009 panels and haven't found any, best to go see your local body shop for an estimate. Get the cancer out of there ASAP before it keeps spreading. Good luck

 

well...get some pl400 and glue the holes up...or start looking for used parts, At this stage in the game its going to cost more to repair ( and its still going to rust )

I agree this is a **** off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ( new name ) and perhaps you can look at this as saving grace as you not going to invest anothier 35 grand + into any chrysler product again..

AS much as it hurts you can repair your truck any way you want to, Im filling all my holes with glue and wire mesh and praying I will one day find a rust free parts truck..

 

I would imagine that you will not see any aftermarket patch panels available for this generation for a good 5 more years. Right now, there is just not a lot of demand for them. You could go used, however cutting apart complete rockers just for the outer is a tedious process and there would be some labor involved there. I would see if Chrysler has a replacement rocker that does not involve the entire side of the cab. Make sure that the shop you choose uses plenty of weld through primer and seam sealer. 8 years working at a body shop in the rust belt, you learn a few things.