I'm sure my budget of 8K limits me to the worst there is to see out there, but pretty surprised to see so many rotted out rockers on the Silverado 2500 '00 thru '04 .....So far, the 6.0L 2500 silverado has had the best ride and suspension for what I'm looking for and it's been really hard to find (especially here in the northeast) a good solid crew cab to match......Are there inherent problems with metal in certain year models?.....or is "Salt" mostly the offender here -or- would you not find the same problems with rotted rockers, say in Texas or cars in the south?

The road salt is the killer. They all get it after awhile, but the road salt compounds it. Try looking at trucks a little further south where the salt use isn't so prevalent.

For example:

http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/cto/3238378623.html

What he said, go south. Selling my 03 to a friend that plows a lot, his 02 won't pass inspection because of rust.

You don't have to go too far south to get out of the salt belt. Even Pensylvania and Ohio are improvements. From your location I would consider looking in Virginia.

Scippy,,what is killing those rockers is when going down rocky roads the tires kick up the rocks which hit the rockers then the rocks chip the paint off then in the winter months the road salt finish's thenm off likr mentioned..me personally i would look west or take a road trip to AZ and find a rust free one..then once you get it home apply chip guard to the bottom of the rockers and some good mud flaps..also would not hurt to get the vehicle undercoated..

That looks like my old GMC, mine was an 03 and I traded it for $8900, dealer sold it to a mechanic that worked at the dealership for $9900 and he is still driving it, just hit 200k miles.

under 10 k limits you to what you can find. But a vehicle thats in the snow belts and is 10 years old good luck as far as rust goes.