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How to protect frame


exbass94

exbass94

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
3,340
Age
37
City
Guilford, CT
Vehicle Year
2006, 1994
Transmission
Automatic
Ford, like a few other auto makers, apparently don't paint their frames at the factory anymore. They use some kind of crappy wax coating that peels off after only a few years. My 06 already has many small bare spots on the frame and now has surface rust in said spots. I also found out a few months ago that ATF will strip that coating right off. I dropped the pan to change fluid/filter and inevitably spilled some on the crossmember. I wipe it off with a rag, and the coating came right off! :annoyed:

Anyway, what can I do to protect the frame? I would like to avoid sanding and re-painting the entire frame at once. I really don't have the time or patience for that. Could I just touch up the areas that are bad as needed? Should I sand off the surface rust beforehand? What type of paint or coating should I use?

I crawled underneath my Explorer the other day and....well, let's just say I'm trying to prevent the Ranger from looking like that in 10 years.
 
I bought way too much roll/brush on bedliner and had enough left over that I decided to roughly strip the rust (not a perfect job) and brush it on. Still holding up after two heavily salted winters.
 
I pressure washed my frame then took a wire wheel to it to remove big surface rust and flaky chunks. Then spray over it with the really cheap napa paint, it works awesome! and leaves a nice coat. :icon_thumby:
 
Oil.

Not sure how many places do it anymore, but I've heard of places around here that will spray the underside of your vehicle with an oil mix, takes a couple days to stop dripping, but works good. I've also talked with people that wait till they know where there's a freshly graveled back road to do it, then go barreling down the back road and coat the underside with limestone dust.


Or you can do it the way we did with our one dump truck.... "Alright, that's back far enough, dump it." GrrrrPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! "I think we just lost a hydro line..." And I watch a couple gallons of fluid appear from under the front of the truck and run down the concrete driveway... fun times...
 
Original_Ranger84 said:
I pressure washed my frame then took a wire wheel to it to remove big surface rust and flaky chunks. Then spray over it with the really cheap napa paint, it works awesome! and leaves a nice coat. :icon_thumby:
Click to expand...

thats what i did on my ranger about once a year. i used walmart "satin black" at .97 a spray can.
 
Napa makes rubberized undercoating. I think you can still opt for a undercoat when you order the vehicle.
 
Jspafford said:
Napa makes rubberized undercoating. I think you can still opt for a undercoat when you order the vehicle.
Click to expand...
I hate undercoating. Around here, once that stuff gets broken through and starts to rust, it spreads like wildfire and rusts the hell out of everything. Plus most of those guys are not very careful when they spray it on and they tell you to redo it every year to keep up the protection...

I'll stick to none or oil....
 
POR-15®

or get a needle and stick a hole in your crankshaft seal, automatic oiler.:icon_twisted:

You'll always have fresh oil, and the used oil gets evenly distributed onto your engine compartment frame all the way back past the rear wheels. I got a '84 that has a very good frame, IMO.
 
Undercoating never had anyone do it for me. What up ? rustol-oleum 5.00 a can why not its great. 3 m even better. 1 gal spray on bed liner even better Damm
 
Jspafford said:
Napa makes rubberized undercoating. I think you can still opt for a undercoat when you order the vehicle.
Click to expand...

We undercoat every new vehicle that comes off the car carrier at our dealership. They do not come from Ford undercoated, the dealerships do it in house. Undercoating is not a rust proofer at all, it is a sound deadener and is only applyed to the under side of the body, not the frame at all.
 
Moose snot

I use summer grade bar and chain oil, drop in a couple of bars of paraffin wax heat it in a pot until wax melts, then I spray the mixture using and 3M undercoating gun on everything, frame wheel wells, inside of doors, rad support.... Everywhere I think it might rust. Works well to protect the underside of my rigs but in heavy abuse areas like on the frame and wheel wells it needs to be reapplied every year. I call it Moose snot....:icon_thumby:

Wasp
 
Well, I didn't have the luxury of too many people having done this when I did mine in 2004, but I think I did a darned good job...

Remove cab and box and everything else...took it to a sandblaster (because I didn't want to rent one and have the mess to deal with)...took the cab back to sandblaster and had the underside cleaned down to the bare metal (the cab was oiled for most of its life so there was absolutely no rust on the inner metal)...

The guy who did the sandblasting coated both the cab and the frame with epoxy sealer...I covered that with several rattle cans of tractor rust paint (yellow on the inside of the frame rails so I could see under there)...then I covered the outer sides with rattle can rubber guard...

It should last a few decades before the rust gets my baby...
 
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