Patching small bit of bed rust

Had a topper and camper set up in my taco bed, took it all off to discover a small spot next to the wheel well has rusted through. What’s the best way to go about patching it? My frame is good to go on rust so that’s not an issue, it’s been in Colorado it’s whole life (no salt). Even right under the rusted bed spot where frame is, it has no rust so I’m not worried about that.

I searched for this but there’s just so much to sort through.

thanks guys!

 

what kind of rust is it? rusted through? surface rust? deep rust?

also, a picture would help

 

Here’s a couple pics. Really isn’t too bad but I’d like to patch it. The front of the truck is to the right in the pics.

 

Mine had the same exact thing. I ground out the old rusty metal and patched it with bondo. Got a kit at the parts store.

Then painted with rustoleum rust primer and professional undercoat.

Has held up great for almost 2 yrs. Does not look perfect but I do not care. It’s sealed.

 

ah, they all do rust there, right on the seam
What you have to do is cut off what is rusted through then weld a new patch in place, so stab around the rust hole with a screwdriver to find what is good and what is bad

Once you have done this, wire brush throroughly to remove as much rust as possible, weld the patch, treat with a rust killer/converter and repaint

here's a good tutorial video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0M5tUQSaps

By the way, is that spray-on bedliner on your bed? Good luck, this stuff is rock hard....


Here is my repair:

I used L-flashing angle, the type you use for roofs, to patch my bed. It's pretty much the same thickness as the wheel well section but it's also a tad thinner than the corrugated bed floor

 

does it start perforating topside first or in the wheel wells? which is more common
i did not notice much in the top of my bed after i removed the plastic dropin liner a year ago, just a fair amount of naked steel rubbed from the liner and minimal surface corrosion around the rails

 

No, it starts on the underside of the bed. I think it's because the wheels do throw rocks at the bed, eventually cracking the kind of bedliner/rubberized undercoat layer that is on the bottom face of the bed, allowing moisture in and making the seam rot from within

 

thanks
i was spraying FF in the wheel wells last fall and some piece of something undercoating related blew on out of there, not sure what it was!

looking into what to do about it... still on the fence of what's best suited for the taco

 

Thanks guys, figured it'd be a mostly easy fix. I might just go the bondo route for now until I can get it into my buddies shop to maybe weld a patch on, After doing some more digging around it seems that it is SUPER common for this to happen to our 1st gens, especially on the passenger side for some reason. I read somewhere a guy had a theory that since that spot is close to the muffler maybe heat and moisture combined affect something, who knows.

To answer the question above, yup its a spray on liner so thanks for the wishes of good luck hahaha

 

Bondo soaks up Moisture If your doing anything I would use some thing like Gorilla Hair fiberglass .

Unless your State mandates metal only repairs

Get as much of the undercoating off as possible