Frame restoration - did it myself

Excellent thread. Thanks.

 

Most welcome.

 

Did you restore those hard to reach spots such as the inside and top of the frames? I looked at mine when I applied those rust proofing craps on and shook my head in disbelieve. Unless I drop those frames, it seemed impossible to reach the inside and top of the frames.

 

Wow. Nice job. Read about POR-15 but thought it was just another high viscosity undercoating. Thanks for the great pics.

But my first question would be same as Max's.

My second question is whether you had a previous undercoating that had to be removed.

 

My guess is that whatever remnant undercoating is on there is better left on instead of trying to desolve it off with solvents and have it run onto (dilute) the otherwise dry, rusted areas to be treated. Or does the POR-15 react okay on film (or oil) undercoating.

 

Those type of questions can almost airways be answered by looking at the manufacturers product technical data sheets. In this case they are the crappiest data sheets I can remember seeing. http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Technical-Data_ep_69.html. But as a rule no matter what you are applying the first step is always to remove all oils, grease, silicones, and loose or flaking materials. It has to be clean and any remaining paint has to be well adhered to the metal. Then any remaining paints need to have the surface sanded and/or scuffed so that the new coating can adhere.

 

That looks nice.

 

I didn't have to remove any other undercoating. The frame was fine in some sections, but the needle scaler would remove areas that looked fine but had rust underneath. It is an amazing tool and it doesn't damage the metal that is solid without rust. I sprayed it with a degreaser/cleaner and then etched the metal and painted the whole thing.

 

i'd like to 2nd that needle scaler, i got one based on this thread, used it this week to knock off all the rust under the truck, it worked fantastic. Next i will use my grinder with a rust remover and wire brushes to get it down as close to metal as i can this weekend and try my best to get through the entire thing. The weather finally is cool enough in this area to do this.

 

I did the POR 15 3-step process on my old 94 Pickup. Full body suit/respirator/goggles is a little over the top - just don't breathe it in directly and work in a well ventilated area.

 

Looks like we all had the same idea. This was my weekend...

1. industrial degreaser and power wash
2. angle grinder with wire brush attachment
3. Corroseal rust converter/primer
4. Rustoleum Flat Black Camo paint

 

Full body suit prevented POR-15 in my hair, on my arms, back, legs more than once. I also used 50% concentration of phosphoric acid.
I did this in a closed garage in the winter time with some ventilation. Far far different than an open frame sitting out in the nice warm summer breeze

apples and oranges. I took off my respirator once and the por-15 drying in the garage was overwhelming (I had a propane jet heater to keep it warm enough to dry). As for the goggles thing, why would you not wear goggles while painting with something like POR-15? If that stuff gets on you, you wear it for 2 weeks, you really want it in your eye? I understand the odds are negligible, but I'll keep my vision and wear some goggles.

TL;DR don't do this in winter, or with a truck still attached to your frame, its much much harder. (worth it though)

 

I laughed at 'sheep squeezins' - I used a foam brush for the entire frame. I'm a masochist apparently. The fumes from just opening the can of POR-15 gets really bad really quick though; so an entire frame drying will give you a headache in about 1 minute.

 

Truck frame looks good! I really like what you have done with your rear cross members.

 

Looks like we all had the same idea. This was my weekend...

1. industrial degreaser and power wash--- which degreaser did u use?
2. angle grinder with wire brush attachment
3. Corroseal rust converter/primer--- is Corroseal the brand? where did u get? do u like the results?
4. Rustoleum Flat Black Camo paint

The frame looks great.
FYI, those rear springs look totally flat.

 

Springs and shocks are 200K miles old and ride terrible. Deaver and ADS on the way.

 

and my questions?

 

LoL sorry dude I didn't even see them. Let me find the name of that degreaser. It was pretty mean at full strength but was a bit pricey. I used one of those empty spray bottles you can buy to apply it and went through the whole quart pretty fast.

The Corroseal is a rust converter/latex primer and was very highly reviewed from my research. It goes on easy like a gel with a small paint brush and then turns black. Basically I covered everything with it including the axle and the diff and rusted hose clamps and all. I drove it several days in the rain with the bed off and most of the metal stayed black. In a few small areas where I didn't get the oil off the metal after the wire brushing there is some speckled oxidation but I have plenty left to wire brush and apply again. The paint should lock it all down but I think I will coat everything with grease/oil before I put the bed back on in a few weeks.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Corroseal-Rust-Converter-Primer-82320/202960538

 

thanks.
try fluid film to coat your frame. works great.

 

Good idea. Will do.

That degreaser is made by LPS. It is their "Super Industrial Strength" and is citrus based. I had bees flying all around me when I started spraying it

In the future I think the cheap purple or green stuff would work fine and is much cheaper. Most of the work is done by the pressure washer and the wire wheel anyway.