Should i be worried about rust starting on the hitch?

Eastwood Rust Encapsulator works really well. You can order a quart for like 30 bucks, get a cheap paint brush and just coat everything. Frame, differential, any rust you see. I didn't do any prep and it's been holding up great for the past year. Just ordered another quart though because I didn't take my time last year and I want to coat everything perfectly this summer.

 

May not be related but rust is rust. Anything is better than letting it go.
If your worried about the hitch the frame probably has it also.
Don’t trust your dealer!! They are gonna cover crap up with their crc to buy time.
Have a mechanic look at it or spend some time under it yourself.
This is a 2007 truck?

 

You need to start taking care of your undercarriage at this point with your frame, if you decided to paint, prep is the key.Painting is step 2, prepping is step 1. Most will get frustrated at prepping and paint away and there rust will return. Save time and frustration by applying an undercoating and keep up with it yearly. It’s easy to do if you have a small pancake compressor and a undercoating gun, but it’s not a one time deal.

 

How long has it held up? Do you paint anything over it?

 

Yes, it's an '07. The frame actually looks really, really good, i can't find a serious spot of rust anywhere. The hitch seems to be the only thing with that rust and i think that's because i got rear ended a few years ago so that may have exposed the metal.

Anyone know how effective the toyota undercarriage spray is? I'm wondering if i should let them spray the bare metal i wore down or put some POR-15 over it first, then let them spray on top of it

 

Don’t let Toyota spray it. That encapsulates the rust and it will rust anyway, spray it yourself yearly with fluid film. Either with a undercoating gun or rattle can. Period.

 

I was going to grind down all the rust first before bringing it in to them so they are coating bare metal. Them doing it saves me one year of having to do it myself. Wondering if what they use is as good/better than POR 15

 

My previous truck had lots of rust spots on the frame that I treated. The frame doesn't see much sunlight so I wasn't worried about the color fading, I never painted a clear over it. I don't hardcore offroad, mostly FSR's and gravel roads while hunting and it held up great.

 

Do you do any prep before painting it

 

Yea, it is. The factory tow hitch rusts faster than the frame. Just had my frame replaced and I can tell you that they do not cover the factory tow hitch under that program for replacement or spray. Maybe you have an awesome dealership that would do it for you though.

 

Wire wheel on cordless or angle grinder for the bigger jobs. Degrease and paint.

 

I would find out what they are coating it with before you go in with bare metal.

 

Maybe ill do the grinding and POR-15 first, then let them spray over that. I can do some rustoleum over it all

 

If you hit it with a 3M wheel on a cordless drill the rust and old paint flies off and you're left with shiny metal. Then give it a blast with brake cleaner to degrease and hit it with flat black rust paint. Then fluid film if you're paranoid. This isn't witchcraft.