Hey folks this is my first ever post on this forum. I have 94 ext cab pickup 3.0 4x4. Currently I have the bed off and wanted to clean up the frame. It looks decent but I just wanted to help it last as long as possible. I have some POR 15 but haven't used it considering I've heard mixed reviews. What would you guys do with this frame? I will attach pics

 

Check out what products Eastwood offers. Having used POR 15 once, i’d say it did what it was supposed to but a quality chassis paint is what i will use next time.

 

Amazon sells a $25 wet sand blasting attachment for a pressure washer. I did the bed frame rails stripped the bare metal, used about 8 bags of sand. Then i sprayed everything with 3 coats of Steel-It.

 

OP, your frame looks mint. No coating is going to stick as good as the OEM stuff. Don't remove it or blast it. I'd spray some oil on there and be done. Fluid film is a good product. They make wands so you can spray inside the frame. Oil based preservatives are the best way to go for rust prevention.

And just in general, I don't like POR15. Unless you 100% encapsulate every single inch (inside and out), moisture will get in around the edges and work its way underneath. The moisture won't be able to get out. You'll find after a time that the coating will peel off revealing a wet layer of rust below. This is true for rubberized coatings as well.

 

It depends how far you want to go, the time and money you want to invest in the project. If you want to preserve the frame, you will accomplish that goal spraying in it Fluid Film every year.

 

X2 on a healthy coating of fluid film.

I like to use Rustolem Industrial or tractor implement paint. Cheap and durable.

 

If this is happening, the surface was not prepped correctly. One of the reasons POR15 is so good, is even if it gets scratched, it won't leach moisture underneath it, IF it's prepped correctly.



My original coating was not really present, but I hit my frame with a wire wheel, washed, etched, and painted with POR15 and their prep products. That was my first time spraying POR15 with an HVLP gun, which layered it much thinner than I intended, so I will have to do some of it again. But I would do the same with that one, knock down the rusty spots with a wire wheel, but leave as much of the OEM coating in good shape as possible. Wash, etch, and paint.

 

X3 on fluid film

amazing stuff. GM even uses this on vehicles right from the factory.

 

i ground, wire wheeled, flap disked, etc., then i used gloss black chassis saver, time will tell how durable it is (right now its a vast improvement over the rusty swiss cheese i had before)

 

this looks

 

Thanks for the different ideas guys I really appreciate it. Nice welds by the way

 

POR 15 is all about the prep . I spend hours / days doing this .
I have done it many times , and always had great success ... my trekker frame is ~ 10 years old now , and it looks just as it did the day I did it .

 

I'm sure my results were exacerbated by a lack of prep, but it's not really realistic for me to completely strip the frame. Also, how do you properly prep inaccessible areas like laps and in between layers? For me, a spray on oil based preservative is a better solution. 15 minutes once a year and it creeps and penetrates everywhere. Also, a vehicle which gets daily driven, sees rain and occasional road salt is going to age differently than a fair weather Sunday driver. Which category does the Trekker fall in?

Loved reading the Trekker build. How's it looking since the battery fire?

 

Mine is a second gen 4runner.
I power washed my deck, and thought "hey, I might hit my frame on the ol' 4runner". I had cleaned and painted the outside of the frame prior.

So I crawled under, stuck the nozzle into the holes on the frame, and you wouldn't believe the dirt sand and gravel that shot out the frame at the back. Crazy.
So I ordered some eastwood frame paint I think, that comes with a long tube that basically extends nozzle and sprays in 4 directions. Hope its better than it was.

Frame had not outside rust really, just surface rust; but it was a SE NM and W TX vehicle.

 

Since you cant get inside the frame to restore metal I just oil the frame inside and out annually as well as rinsing out the frame as these collect crap which no doubt rots the frame from the inside. Currently using TONY from Napa. I used a petroleum based spray originally and later welding a patch panel on truck the oil ignited between body panels so now using a non petroleum spray