What are your thoughts on this rust? Can I repair or do I need to replace?

[Boots97]

My tubes are certainly rusted a bit in that area but still seem structurally sound. That area held a lot of dirt and moisture in there.

As I said before, clean it up with a wire brush and maybe paint the metal if you want. @Schurkey will disagree with me on this one, but 10 bolts are ok on STOCK power. They also last a while when you don't abuse them. My 2 10 bolt axles both rusted away before I said f*** it and got a 14 bolt.

 

[99xcss4]

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Here's the 14 bolt from KS

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for being a rust belt truck your truck looks great to me. they do not rust like that down here where I live.

 

[Boots97]

for being a rust belt truck your truck looks great to me. they do not rust like that down here where I live.

The joys of living in the Southwest.

 

[Boots97]

No doubt there are places in the states that have worse rust than I experienced in KC, Mo. I have seen real bad and some not so bad but it is all bad when you compare to PNW area. This is Nirvana out here compared to where I lived.

I'd be the same way if I lived where you live now.

 

[Boots97]

Given the sheer amount of rust/scale on the exterior surfaces that face the
pumpkin, I was concerned about a possible loss of structural integrity. I
decided to remove the backing plates & ran them through my blast cabinet
in order to be able to prove/disprove to myself that they were still fully
functional. (See 2nd attachment.)

After blasting every square inch of both backing plates, I was impressed
by just how robust GM has made them. Actually confidence-inspiring
enough to reuse them, as opposed to sourcing a minty used set from down
south or possibly lucking into a set of NOS ones.

That's what I love about my 14 bolt. Much thicker robust case which I wanted after having 2 10 bolts rust away. 14 bolt semi floats were the base axle for 2500/3500 trucks and you could also get 10.5 inch and 11.5 inch full float axles as options.

Would've been nice if GM made 1/2 tons with 4L80Es and 14b sf as standard instead of us DIYers having to hack apart trucks to get what we want.

But then again...this is GM, not Toyota lol.

 

[99xcss4]

The joys of living in the Southwest.

we may have little to no rust but we have to deal with sun rash and old plastics that like to crack window tint and dash covers are mandatory here

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[99xcss4]

Would've been nice if GM made 1/2 tons with 4L80Es and 14b sf as standard instead of us DIYers having to hack apart trucks to get what we want.

But then again...this is GM, not Toyota lol.

you could have got them if you ordered a diesel

 

[Boots97]

we may have little to no rust but we have to deal with sun rash and old plastics that like to crack window tint and dash covers are mandatory here

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Oh well, I guess we can't have everything in life lol.

 

[SDgunner]

for being a rust belt truck your truck looks great to me. they do not rust like that down here where I live.

But then I wouldn't need an ice fishing/Winter vehicle anyway! haha

 

[Boots97]

you could have got them if you ordered a diesel

Forgot about that. If only gas trucks could've been that way. Especially the 5.7 since it was the base engine for the 2500/3500