Yeah theres no reason only one cross member would be toast and not the rest of the frame. Go get a second opinion from a different shop.

 

I just filed an odi hope this helps and more people take the time to do it

 

My frame is all rotted out . Just about 90k miles. It started with the gas filler pipe to tank, then the middle gas tank bracket, and a rear shock mount, and now most of the muffler brackets are gone. Body shops cant do anything because the rot is so bad, they are not able to make any welds or rig any fixes as there is not enough "good" frame to connect anything to. I think Ford knows very well what is going on?
Jeff

 

living near the ocean in a northern state will cause rust/rot to attack every vehicle without mercy.

I'm not saying you don't take care of your truck and I'm just asking a question, but how often does the underside get thoroughly washed?

I don't live near the ocean but I do live in the same state and my has absolutely no rust/rot on it aside some rust on the shackles and hangers.

 

I have a 98 Ranger XL and just recently got it from a friend because they didnt need it anymore. Its my DD and runs perfect, I noticed under neath the frame is rusted out. looks pretty bad. so doesnt seem like it was taken care of. pressure washed by any sort.

I could do a complaint like you state, but I dont see i have a right to since it never was my fault. however I am replacing the bed in two weeks and could maybe work on grinding down the rust it has, hoping it stopped at one point.

anyone know a good way to remove rust and add under coating spray or anything that works the best to prevent more rust in the future?

 

I had to replace both of my spring shackles on my 2001 Ford Ranger. They rusted away and broke

 

I see this is a very old thread but as a new member drawn here by searching rusted rangers i'll tell my experience. I currently have a 94 ranger 4x4 extended cab. 250k Generally driven in the winters of Ohio. Youngstown up until 2005 when I moved to Columbus. I replaced the rear shackles back in 2006. They just rusted away. The fronts looked ok at the time. The front drivers side shackle just gave out. The passengers side was still holding out but didn't have much time left. So I pulled the bed off and I'm in the process of replacing the front leaf spring hangers. Front and rear shock, exhaust from the cat back. And the fuel tank straps. All new bed mounting hardware since the 4 bolts at the rear did come out but are not looking that good. The two forward bolts just snapped off. I have a good amount of surface rust on the frame but it's just that surface. I have cleaned most of It off and the frame itself is still solid. The only part that worries me is the section at the back of the frame that supports the spare. Its not looking too good. And after reading the other post about the spare falling off I think I'm going to put the spare in the bed until I can get that replaced or fabricate a replacement and fix it myself. The areas on my truck that have rusted badly are the fuel tank straps, the leaf spring hangers, The fuel tank skid guard is going to need to be replace and the spare tire support. But this is a 22yr old truck. I do find it interesting though that the rear leaf spring hangers that were bought from ford and installed 10yrs ago are not really showing any rust. Where the factory installed hangers rusted out in about the same amount of time under about the same driving conditions. Do I think Ford is liable? no. But it's pretty clear to me that they skimped in some areas. Call it saving money. Whatever. But there are parts that are not as sturdy and resistant to rust as others. Otherwise they wouldn't be rusting out as quickly. All the parts on my ranger have been submitted to the same conditions. And it's not really fair to compare trucks from the south with northern trucks. Cars and trucks subjected to the salt and snow are going to experience a higher tendency to rust. So there you have it. First post.

 

Similar situation. I'm about to pull the bed off to replace both rear shackle mounts. 2003, underside washed after every snow. These things are literally flaking apart.

 

 

Those that live in the rust belt or near the ocean, it is imperative to maintain a high level of rust protection. I oil my frame and underbody, inside the sheetmetal with bar & chain oil twice a year. Vermont not only uses a high lever of road salt per mile but also uses a nasty product called salt brine, an enhanced rust producing monster that devours anything made of metal.

Here is a pic of my frame after 12 winters in this hell hole of a state. As you can see, maintenance works. Left untreated, my perfectly good running truck would have been toast by now.

 

my 96 explorer frame looks immaculate compared to my recently purchased 99 ranger frame, and I didnt do any real maintenance.

right now I have the bed off the ranger and im cleaning the loose rust off it to por15 it before it gets worse. it has no holes yet, but the evap mount is not great and the gas filler had a hole in it and the rear shackle mounts and shackles were shot

now my explorer did rust through the shackles and the rockers and the rear fenders, but that's been it so far, the frame is great

 

I wish I never found this post.

Ranger frames made by toyota??

Makes me want to puke!!

 

Does this mean we can recall guns and knifes for murdering people?

 

my '02 Ranger lives in southern Ontario where road salt is used. Body looks great but when the springs started to come through the box, I knew I had a problem. Both sides the frame brackets and the hangars were rusted right off. The frame looks a right rusty mess. Did my best to rustproof everything under there.
Dealer says, Oh Ya all those Rangers have that problem, but its out of warranty. Was able to replace them with no problem. Just google removing the bed on a Ranger. I tipped mine over the side with two large planks.

 

Rear Spring Hangers ALWAYS rust out !

 

Any news on frame recall?

 

Baloney! My 08 Ranger was taken care of , has less that 65000 miles and is a rust bucket! Thankfully at this point the frame does not have any holes in it yet, but I suspect over the next few yrs it will. I owned a Toyota Tacoma that also rusted through but at least Toyota bought back the truck! So saying if it was taken care of it wouldn't rust is just wrong. Otherwise, why would Toyota have bought it back???

 

Thank you for your post! It is infuriating to read opinions saying the vehicle was not taken care of. Mine was taken care of. With less than 70,000 miles and washed often, it should not be the rust bucket it is!

 

I just traded a 2000 S10 in on a 2019 Ranger last October.

Around here, the County puts more salt on the road than the snow that falls, sometimes. You see the white stuff on the road, but it's all salt.

Anyhow, the S10 did npt get a lot of washing,. I do not think I EVER had it in a car wash, but it might have been one time. I DID, if it warmed up in winter, stick the hose underneath with a spinner-type sprinkler on it, and pull it through a foot at a time. But I didn't do that regularly.

When I got rid of it, the frame was very good, the body had rotted behind the doors, and in one fender in front of the passenger door. That's all. After 20 years of crazy salting.

Most all the S10 frame was u-channel. If any places were boxed, they were small.

It sounds as if there may have been a designed-in area on the Rangers that collected dirt and caused rust. I had a brake line rust ouut on top of the frame on the S10, over the evap container. It was a spot you could not see, and would need to be a contortionist to clean off, even with a hose. That was probably a design error on their part at GM.

People do not expect to have to keep the underside squeaky clean so you can eat off it. And it is actually very hard to do that, not something that should be expected of the owner. On the other hand, most carwashes do have a "bottom blaster" that would go a long way toward cleaning off salt. But not from closed frame members that trap dirt, salt, and water.

Nothing lasts forever. I think the S10 had a lot of the panels galvanized.

 

On the 2019, now that it is warmer and I have more time outside, I notice that the new Ranger has a number of "rust traps".

The easiest one to see is a tube across under the bed and visible in the wheel well. It already has a significant accumulation of dirt in it at each side, and will need to be washed out regularly.

The frame rails seem to have more closed box sections. Nearly all the S10 was u-channel, and there was almost no rust on it after 20 years and 207,500 miles. It will be work to have that happen with the Ranger

 

I know this is an old thread - but there are still a lot of these trucks on the road.
I bought my used 1996 Ranger 8 years ago ( June 2013) with 307000km on it - most of those miles between Huntsville and Toronto Ontario on the Hwy 400. It had been Rustchecked from new -there is a double layer section inthe back of the box lower corner that had not been properly rustproofed and there was a hole the size of a nickle or a quarter. I cleaned it up and patched it with a peice of steel glued on inside with panel adhesive. By dall 2019 (370000km +/-) it was about the size of a dollar bill, there was a quarter sized spot on the right side, and rust was coming through the wheel well lips. I pulled the box this spring and found the box floor crossmembers were also about half gone.. I cleaned the frame with a needle scaler and degreaser, then treeted it with Ospho and painted it with Sico rust paint. I found a rust-free box from down south and had it repainted to match. The frame is solid. I rust-proofed the inner side of the box sides while it was off and had the bumpers powder coated. I expect the truck to last another 5-10 years as the cab is virtually rust free - including rockers, cab corners, and doors - not to mention the rad saddle. This is in the Southwestern Ontario snow and rust belt and the Ranger is 25 years old in April.

cleaned and descaled

Frame repainted

Box as removed

It's had a liner and cap on it since new.

back together with re-done bumpers - original tailgate not touched - the match is better than it looks in the picture

 

The ford frames are not "painted" they are coated with an asphault based coating. This coating DOES dry out over the years, and DOES get washed off if subjected to solvents - and even oil. I nave found oil spraying on a regular basis and hosing the bottom of the truck occaisionally goes a long way to preventing rust.My "rust belt" 1996 frame is still solid. It had some light rust scale on the frame when I pulled the box off last summer so I de-scaled it, treated it with Posphoric acid, and painted it with rust paint then oiled it. I finf the car wash with the underbody spray does a pretty good job of keeping it clean - washing off salt in the spring etc.