I am lucky as my 92 EB has no visible rust on the rear fenders upper area or lower tailgate. What if anything can you do to prevent future problems in this area? I would love to preform some preventative maintenance to forgo the rust problems that plague these area on my and I'm sure a lot or the Bronco zone members.
Thanks
Mike
There are a lot of things you can do, but it will take a bit of work. If you get your head inside the rear wheel well and look along side the quarter panel you will note a ***** design by Ford to prevent rust, or a great design to sell more trucks. The "Mud Guard" is in fact a "Mud Collector". You will note a nice gap designed in facing the rear and one facing the front. Check out the Bronco major rust areas on the side, (the B post and the back corner of the 1/4 panel), did you ever wonder why? You are looking at the answer. Those gaps allow the mud and crud to be thrown right into some nice shelves that are designed to catch it.
My solution for that problem was to redesign the guards so they seal against the quarter panel and don't allow crap to be thrown in those places. Further I went over the areas with a rust preventer and then used a high quality undercoat. I also did the same for all the exposed underbelly of the cab. Of course if the rust already has a head start on you the job may include metal replacement.
The tail gate is the bane of all Bronco owners. As far as I can tell is that the water drainage isn't at the lowest point in the bottom of the gate. When I replaced mine because it rusted out I went through a process of cutting drainage holes right next to where the skin wraps on to the inner gate. Usually they start rusting right between the two surfaces because the water sets there and eventually gets past the sealing caulk used to seal seam. I scraped out the caulk, used a rust converter preventer and then sealed it with an ample coating of POR15, (did this with all the seams and coated the inside of the tail gate with it and the bottom surface outside the gate where the wrap holds on), naturally I did this with no guts inside the gate. I did the same along the inside and outer surfaces that contain a skin wrap contact area.
I did basically the same thing to the inside of my front fenders when I replaced them, works for doors also.
Someone said, and I don't remember who, "Rust never sleeps". You can only keep fighting it back, if you relax for a year, you will see it creeping back. Oh yah, another area is in the area between the front floor boards and the fire wall section that attaches to them. If you look behind the front wheel well splash guard there is an oval hole, which is supposed to have a rubber plug, often it is missing and allows water and dirt to collect in there also rusting out the front part of the floor board. Speaking of floor boards, especially on the driver side. The rug holds moisture and rots the floor board out. It is probably worth it to you to remove the seats and take up the entire carpet to check the condition of the flooring.
Keep in mind, if you find places where it is starting to rust through, the only long term solution is to cut the rusted area out and replace it with new metal. Watch those little round blisters or rust spots you see on the surface, they are often only the tip of the ice burgh.
Good luck,