GenXr

Hello everyone!

Newb here. I'm from southwest Ohio and just got a 95 Xtra cab 4x4 w/ 22RE and 5speed. I have the downey header and exhaust system and CAI to install on it. The truck was my father's but he can't drive a 5-speed anymore as it messes up his back, so that's how I got it. Dad had a thermostat go bad and blew the HG and had a rebuild motor installed. The truck has 148,000 miles on it but now only 4-5000 on the new engine.

The truck was originally purchased in AZ and spent it's first 5 years there before coming to OH. (Original owner was AF officer). It was rust free when dad bought it in 2002. Well the annual winter salt bath is starting to cause some surface rust on the frame. Nothing alarming yet, but my dearly departed Nissan suffered rot in the typical places from the salt.

What can I do about the surface rust? Just prep and paint it? I checked out POR-15 but since there is still a lot of original paint/coating on the frame it would be too much work to strip the frame to treat it with POR-15. Is there a product that can be sprayed inside the frame that doesn't require tons of prep work? I'm willing to take the bed off the frame to re-paint/treat the frame but I don't want to take it completely down to bare metal.

I really like that truck and plan to drive for a number of years to come.

Although un-related to this thread, I can't believe how cheap a SAS conversion is compared to a well built IFS. The Nissan crowd only dreams of of gear and locker combinations like what we have available.

James

TNRabbit

Spray everything liberally with PB Blaster, available at WalMart for like $3. Wait for a couple of weeks, then undercoat! The rust will MELT off.

Sonofmayhem

nice, i take a wire wheel to the parts, and then coat it in rust primer and have my frame painted with this.

MMA_Alex

x2 the wire wheel. Then primer, and Rustoleum flat black. Its cheap enough that you can afford a couple coats a year. I usually do 1 coat in the spring after removing any visible rust, and 1 coat in the fall just before I leave for school (while the temp is still warm enough to spray paint).

thook

No sh$t?! Have you done this before? By undercoat, you mean the rubberized stuff? That's it? That simple? I had planned on sandblasting the frame and underbody and using rust converter then rustoleum or what have you. But, this sounds much easier.

TNRabbit

You can buy rubberized spray on undercoat in a can. It won't last forever, but this is the cheapest/easiest thing I've ever tried...plan to do my entire underside while my truck is down. I've only done this in spots up until now. Sandblasting & painting of course would be better, but that's a helluva lot of work...