Frame Coating Ideas Needed

Clint,I guess that you cannot get a nut splitter in where those two bolts are? I used one with great success on my 70 where I could not get a sawzall. Regarding coatings, I used Rustoleum red primer, the fish oil based one. Smells bad and takes a few days to dry when you brush it on, but works well, have used it before. $30.00 ish a gallon at Lowes. I will cover with Rustoleum Black (semi gloss) when I am finished with everthing frame related. I plan on using a brush for that too. I am not in favor or rubberized coatings on frames for various reasons, including early crack detection. Line-X, Rhino Line, et all are getting pretty pricy out here also, most of them want to work with retail auto dealers and quote high on "odd-ball" jobs like JEEPS. If you can, find an industrial or ag sand blasting company, I got my frame on another vehicle done for $65.00 and a six pack of beer by chatting up the ag tank blaster down the road from me.

 

Me 3. Have a chasis sitting in the yard right now and cannot find anyone willing to take the job.

How much know how is needed to use the Harbor Freight blaster? How big of a compressor is needed? I am starting to lean this way.

Is this it? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=93889

 

Blast, Phosphouric acid, wash, dry, Epoxy primer and black paint Acrylic is tougher than Rustoleum for getting scratched off. I just picked up Valspars Cassis Black for 34.00 dollars for the gallon. I believe Eastwoods asks that for a quart!!

Shop around.

 

Another to tempt you. All done in the driveway. Everything got sandblasted, frame, drivetrain, even brake hubs and those aren't on it anymore. Didn't take the x-members out because it had frame black in good shape at each one and the springs were disposed of in favor of a lift. Frame recieved three coats of sealer then two coats (rolled and brushed) of TSC Implement paint. You can do the rust products too, but they are expensive and if you blast it there shouldn't be any rust there. From a painter's standpoint the best thing to do after sandblasting is seal. After that just use the toughest paint you can find. Powdercoating does both in one process and is undoubtedly the hardest but is more expensive and if your frame has pitting it'll look like crap. There are several brands of implement paint (probably all made by Valspar) that are high pigment, use hardener, and in the range of $30-$40 /gal.:v6: View attachment 15594

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That would be a good unit to have, but actually more than you need. I don't believe that 6 cfm either, it'd probably be closer to 16 cfm. A 40# unit will do the job and not kill your compressor. I can do a tank before pressure gets too low to blow it. I have a single piston 7 hp 60 gal compressor. It would take a bigger compressor to operate a sandblaster for 45 min or a dual piston unit.:v6:

 

Well we may not have road salt but you guys don't have mud or even know what the stuff really is.
Oh and if you don't want road salt to eat your frame spray it with used motor oil. My dads old Ford truck spent 15 years in Indiana and didn't have one drop of rust anywhere on it.

 

Sorry, guess I forgot to clarify: I got the two bolts out using a big abrasive cutoff wheel on an angle grinder. I put it in another thread specifically dealing with the tub removal. Got some buddies coming over Friday night to help lift it off.

MSCOTT: That's something like the stuff I was thinking of, but I'm being tugged by the wisdom of the guys around here to be persistent with the blasting. Like I say, I really think I might need to invest in some equipment and hang a sign because there doesn't seem to be ANYONE in Lawrence, KS that wants to blast this thing, with the exception of the Line-X people who are on a different planet, and I have my doubts about how much blasting they actually want to do (They mentioned trying to get by with a DA on the light areas).

My Crapsman compressor couldn't handle a frame blasting on a good day even if I painted myself in Ren1 stripes under a full moon in Toledo while offering up sacrificial parts to the JEEP gods. I called up a local rental company and what they've got is one of those tow-behind diesel compressors and blasting package that they rent out for about $180/day; it's a big mutha. The guy says you can't park any other cars within 30 feet of your project or else they get blasted too, and you've got to wear the full suit. I would have to buy sand on top of that, but right now it seems like my most economical option short of gas and time over to Topeka or Manhattan. Right now time is more valuable to me than anything else, so really considering it. After that my coating choice would be easier because I could pretty much go with anything glossy or satin without worrying about defect; I don't have any pitting that I can see, just some old welds from a botched suspension job that need to be ground off.

 

Call these guys and ask for a quote from their collision shop:

Dick Edwards Ford Lincoln Mercury, Inc.
7920 East Highway 24, Manhattan, KS 66502
Main: (785) 776-4004 | Fax: (785) 776-0291


It's out not too far from Sparky's place.

 

My compressor wasn't completely up to the job. I blasted until the pressure dropped then waited for the compressor to catch up. It's unusual for me to use so much air so I didn't think about getting a bigger one.
I didn't have to move everything 30 feet away, more like 10 feet away in the direction the wind was blowing. My piece of plywood backdrop caught most of the grit and used the shop-vac and a screen to re-use the stuff.
You'll want to blow yourself off with the compressed air and taking off your shoes before trying to come inside the house. If you have a place to strip off privately all the better. It's a dirty weekend job. I looked into having the frame blasted by a pro but the nearest place that would consider it wanted to charge me extra because it was an object they normally didn't handle and would have to change the jig inside the walk-in cabinet.
I like the quality control I had, especially the boxed section.

 

One consideration for you would-be home sand blasters is that once you do it, you'll be living with the sand for a long time. I once blasted an '83 Camaro I was turning into a road race car. I did it in the dirt driveway next to the house and in front of the garage. The sand just never seemed to go away. Maybe doing it on a slab would help some because you could sweep, but the sand goes everywhere. I've moved since then. Another thing is that once the sand got down inside all the openings of the Camaro, I never did get it all out. I'd be cleaning out the clumps of tire rubber after a weekend of racing and there would still be sand. And that's after I painted the car. The house I have now has a little more space on the side, so it might not be as big an issue, at least for me. I'm not so sure about the neighbors. R)

 

my .02. 76 F-250 in 1998 wire wheeled the whole frame( hours and hours and hours) coated with tractor enamal from QF&F(aka Tractor Supply now) rust finally showing through paint job. This has held up terrifically through 8 Michigan winters of four wheeling and fire wood hauling. IMHO look at the life cycle costs of the vehicle. When I did the Ford I never thought I would still me driving it today. Actually best truck I ever owned and worked on. As to the Zeibart coating the best thing is a heat gun and a scraper to get 90% off. I thinks once you get to some metal showing you will get more interest and better pricing on blasting.

I had my rusted 68 frame blasted 5 years ago and I then coated with the above mentioned enamal. It has sat outside languishing for attention since and the paint is still holding up with no rust showing through.

One other option I encountered working at GM installing stamping presses was a company that "pickled" metal. What they did was to chemically clean metal to a tolerance that met GM standards for the hydraulic system on the press. Very clean to the point they shipped the piping back to me in sealed plastic that had been evacuated to eliminate any moisture. The steel was so clean it would rust quickly when moisture was encountered. I priced out having my 68 frame cleaned this way and the price was comparable to blasting. Maybe this would be a more cost effective way to clean off the rust proofing if you can find them in your area.......

 

I have a wire wheel on a die grinder that I am using to take the rust off my frame of my 73 cj it seems to work very well, I will use that por-15 to coat the frame and I have the whole tub includeing the hood and fenders Line-x'd for a little over 800 dollars I thought it was a good deal I want my cj to last forever!!