How come 20+ old vehicles have almost no rust???

[ichudov]

I have been thinking on the two trucks I bought recently, M927 and M931A2. Both are 20+ years old. A commercial truck this old, would typically be holed through and through, giant rust pancakes falling off, etc. My 29 year old Ford LNT9000 semi tractor is an exception, because it was stored inside.

And yet, these military trucks have essentially NO rust, even in highly susceptible areas like fenders, frame near rears, etc.

How come? How is that possible? Were they stored inside? What's the secret?

 

[Warthog]

Not driven much and not on salted roads.

look at the trucks from Puerto Rico and they are Swiss cheese

 

[jedawson1]

I agree with Warthog, I've got two 1986 trucks and one is clean, the other has cancer all over the bed and on select parts of the cab.

Still less rust than most commercial vehicles, especially considering these things leak rain water like a strainer.

 

[papabear]

As Warthog said...PLUS..., at least when I was in the military...er...longer that 20yrs ago, we did all we could do after a mission to wash every trace of mud/dust/whatever off the vehicles and "spot painted" any scrapes or bare metal etc.

Also depends on geography. Inland vehicles can be washed/cleaned as needed but vehicles close to the oceans are constantly exposed to salty sea air and all that entails.

You may also be the proud owner of some rebuilt trucks where all or most of the rusted/damaged sheet metal was replaced.

I don't really see a way to equate civy trucks with military trucks...thicker metal, paint, maintenance etc.

Ay any rate, I'm glad you got some good trucks....congrats!!!

 

[m16ty]

Salted roads and ocean air is the killer of vehicles. As has been said, most MVs while in service don't go out on the roads much during bad weather or much at all for that matter.

I try and shy away form trucks that come from bases near the ocean but can sometimes get fooled the way they move trucks around. You can line up trucks from all over the country and I can tell you which ones came from near the ocean. Trucks tend to rust from the bottom up due to salted roads but from the top down in ocean air.

 

[quickfarms]

I have two 1989 trucks.

Both have or had some rust issues.

The one with minimal, almost no rust, had been rust proofed during assembly. The rust issues were primarily located on the radiator and front of the engine. This truck appears to have been in both gulf wars and was in service until it was being surplused.

The other truck is having the cab replaced because the rust is so bad. This truck appears to have rusted so bad because it was in long term storage without maintenance. This truck has 50% more mileage but was only used for about 10 years before being put in storage.

 

[Suprman]

I remember before we could turn a vehicle back into the motorpool there was a wash area we had to clean it off. This was for humvees you couldn't go sign out a 5 ton if one was needed the motorpool would send their driver with the truck.

 

[05blackduramax]

I was told a lot of these trucks were stored on large ships for years and there is a ship full of trucks,tanks, in every ocean.

 

[Suprman]

Marine units go on floats they load up a naval ship and go around a world region usually stopping at different friendly ports.