Should I take out the bed liner and have a look?

We have a 98 Tacoma that had a Pendaliner installed when it was purchased. The truck lived outside all of it's life.

However, it never hauled very much - just an occasional piece of furniture, camping gear now and then, sod once and a few trips to the dump. Otherwise it was basically used as a car.

I've been reading that bed liners can trap grit that wears the paint over time and then rust sets in.

Should I worry?

 

Yes, just have a look. Those liners trap a lot of grime such as dirt and leafs. That combination can hold alot of moisture and can really rust metal.

 

Crap didnt think about rust. I need to check mine too then. Will eventually get the spray done. This plastic liner blows.

 

It's what something like 16 years old? Is my arithmetic right?

Do you want to know? Then look. If not, then don't.

Don't worry either way.

My personal vote is to totally enjoy the low cost and freedom. Love it. For that avenue just fix shit when it breaks. Don't overthink it. It's not a 2015. But it is a warrior that has, so far, had the spirit to persevere. Don't go looking into its closets. Enjoy.

 

Good call. Until I have money for a spray/brush in I ain't gonna look.

 

not sayin do anything about what you find but its worth taking out just to clean out all the crud in there, at the very least if there is rust or whatever it will slow it down a lot to clean out the crud so it can stay dry and stop rusting any further then it might already be.

who knows, it might look new under there and you just leave it off to sell it.

that brings up an interesting question, are these plastic liners easy to sell and if so whats the going market for these things? might be taking mine out next week but I hate to just throw it by the curb.

 

I took mine out to clean it out and I was glad I did. I ended up finding out that I had a hole rust all the way through the bed. I ended up cleaning it all out, spraying in some cheap bedliner on all the locations I saw scratches, fiberglassing the hole shut, and then putting the liner back.

What was underneath:



The hole is right by the wheel well.

Where I glassed:

 

why not weld?

 

Take it out. I guarentee you the paint is all rubbed off and there is at least surface rust.

Better to fix it now than let it getout of hand. I took my factory bedliner out after 8 yrs and the entire bed was covered in surface rust. Took me 3 days to go over everything with various wheels to get it the way I wanted it before I sprayed on 3 coats of rust converter, then primer and 3 more heave coats of tractor paint.

After all that I scuffed it and had a herculiner sprayed in.

 

I didn't have access to a welder or knew friends who welded at that time so I only had the option of doing something I had experience with at the time.

 

around here there is little to no market for plastic bedliners. Most people just pull them out and toss them, as you can see they're horrible on your bed and I also hate how everything you put in the bed with one of these just slides all over hell. About the only good use I can think of for one of these is to cut it into strips and lay it down on a snowmobile trailer for ski glides.

 

They do help with impacts IMO. I can toss logs and bricks in all day and the liner absorbs most of the impact compared to going to metal with rubberized liner.

 

After 18 Years here was the little surprise that was waiting under my bed liner. My brother-in-law has been a body man for 40 years, he cut out all the rust and glued new sheet metal over the holes. Painted it with Por-15. Also painted underneath with a heavy coat of Rust-Oleum. I believe the rust started underneath by rocks being thrown up by the tires and then salt and moisture. Bed-liner was a problem also once the holes were in there the moisture sat and corroded the metal more. Also painted the bottom of box with Rust-Oleum where the paint was rubbed off then put the liner back in.

 

That's the same exact spot that mine rotted. I did a hack weld job with a patch but need to do a better job next year. What do you mean he "glued" new sheetmetal?

 

This is what he used. Its widely used in auto body work. He just cut out a rough patch and bent it to match the bed. It was very rough but that didn't matter since i was planning on putting the liner back in. Main thing is all the rust is gone and the bed is now tightly sealed and coated top and bottom. It is a 18 year old truck so its good enough for me. He said if you wanted to do a better job you would have to get a donor bed and cut a section out of that to use as a patch.

Fusor by Lord, 100 EZ was the product

http://www.lord.com/Products-And-Solutions/Adhesives/Lord-Fusor-Products.xml

He had a special dispensing gun to apply. Its like a 2 part epoxy.

http://www.lord.com/products-and-solutions/adhesives/automotive-repair-adhesives/product.xml/365


http://www.youtube.com/user/lordfusor

 

This. I have a bedliner and really like it. I have no dents or heavy scrapes in my bed. The surface paint is rubbed off obviously on top of the ribs, but where I live rust has not been an issue.

 

Or you could flip it upside down, mount it on top of rails, tie it down somehow, and you'd have the most ghetto camper shell ever.

 

Is it hard to take out? Put back in?

 

lol I dunno, they make pretty good dog houses if you build a frame to support it

 

Yes, most just clip in under the bed side rails, so just pry it down and inwards, and then lift it up.