Coug, at some point in the near future you're going to want to pull that front end apart and see what's happening at the cab corners. Unfortunately, this means you're not going to be driving during that time. You can pull the grille, emblems, doorhandles and (depending on local law enforcement) the bed; the exposed panels can be cleaned
in situ if you're very careful about the glass and gaskets (or remove the glass and wear a set of aviator goggles to drive
).
I had excellent results stripping paint with Citristrip and treating rust with Rust-Mort; neither of these do you want to get on rubber parts. I used a braided-wire cup brush on an angle-grinder and a rattlecan of ZeroRust on some ugly spots, but to avoid warping I would use something like a DA sander on flat panels (not really a concern on my rig; it came pre-wrinkled). Try to find ZR in spraycans so you can strip and shoot in small sections as time permits.
