Frame and under bed coating/ painting

[Big Jon 95]

I have read several post and am still not sure the best route to take. I will have spring break at the end of March and plan to take the bed off to get rid of the surface rust on the frame. I was going to do the whole underside of my bed while I was at it and don't know if undercoating, bed lining or using an oil based paint would be the best route. I will need something durable since I drive a lot of gravel roads and the roads get salted fairly heavy in the winters. I know por15 is probably the best option but I don't want to spend that much. I thought about using Eastwood rubberized undercoat and wire wheeling everything first but I have herd a lot of mixed feelings about undercoating. I liked the idea of paint because it would be a smooth finish and not hold salt or mud but and not sure how it will hold up to gravel roads.
I'm open to all options but am on a fairly limited budget. Any input is much appreciated.


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[twomanymontes]

I wire wheeled the frame and bed floor when the bed was off, painted it with POR15 and the bottom of the bed with bed liner. Once it was assembled I re sprayed everything with bed liner again.

It looks pretty good, But I need to give it a touch up every spring

 

[RyanMerrick]

I just did this last summer with a wire wheel attachment and Chassis Saver, which is very similar to POR15 but is a bit cheaper in cost. I posted a bunch of pics on my build thread: http://www.gmt400.com/threads/ryanmerricks-1997-c2500-rclb-build-thread.17114/page-6

 

[Big Jon 95]

I was talking with my dad and he thinks that the rubberized undercoating will hold up well if I put a couple coats on. I planned on wire wheeling it but would it be better to spray it onto bare metal or onto a coat of primer first?

 

[Big Jon 95]

I just did this last summer with a wire wheel attachment and Chassis Saver, which is very similar to POR15 but is a bit cheaper in cost. I posted a bunch of pics on my build thread: http://www.gmt400.com/threads/ryanmerricks-1997-c2500-rclb-build-thread.17114/page-6

How much did you use when you did the frame and the underside of the bed? At $111 a gallon I dont want to over order or under order.

 

[RyanMerrick]

1 gallon allowed me to do 2-3 coats on the entire underside of the bed, inside the rear wheel wells, rusty areas inside the rear fenders, the inside of the rear bumper, the rear axle and springs, the top half of the gas tank, the driveshaft, both rear drums, and 75% of the frame.

I ran out of time before winter, so I couldn't finish the front part of the frame; I'd say I have maybe 5-10% Chassis Saver left in the container. If you just want to do the frame and underside of the bed, 1 gallon should be just fine.

 

[Big Jon 95]

If possible i would like to do part of the cab, front fenders and bumpers as well, so it will probably require me to buy at least a gallon and a quart. Did you just wire wheel everything and then brush on the chassis saver?

 

[RyanMerrick]

Wire wheel, then I cleaned using degreaser or Goof Off, then I coated the frame with cheap disposable brushes.

 

[Tech-GeeK1500]

Take care when spraying rubberized undercoating products, I used to think the world of them as they appear to go on thick and seem to be quite durable, but unless they are applied in extremely light coats, the stuff hold A LOT of moisture. To the point where Ive seen water blisters under the stuff on a buddies frame. It's not that the stuff is bad, just make sure it's a very dry day, and let the coating breathe between applications.

On my frame I wire wheeled everything as clean as I could get it, almost bare metal. I used a product called Ospho to neutralize anything left (applied with brush or spray bottle), a couple coats of Rust-Oleum primer, then brushed on some semi gloss Rust-Oleum bed liner. The stuff looks really nice, is incredibly durable, and I have yet to see any lifting or orange spotting underneath, even a couple years later. Eastwood Internal Frame Coating was used to convert and rust inside the front of the boxed frame sections, and protect it from further corrosion. Good luck! It's a messy process but well worth it. You wouldn't believe how much better a truck looks when the underneath is all orange and brown. Hope this gave you a few ideas.

 

[Chevy1500]

I just recently did my whole frame and underside of the bed as well. I used all Eastwood products and it turned out great.
I wire wheeled the whole thing, did my repairs, and then coated the whole thing with the Eastwood rust converter. used two spray bottles to do the whole truck, but just the frame and underside of the bed could probably be done with one bottle if you stick to just the rust.
I then coated everything with Eastwood rust encapsulator. I used 2 quarts for the whole truck.
After that I sprayed two good coats of the Eastwood Chassis Black Extreme. It lays down nice and easy and the semi-gloss looks really nice when its done. I used 3 quarts of the chassis black for everything on the truck - frame, under truck/bed, wheel wells, engine compartment, under hood.
It turned out great and holds up real well. I ended up having to do some hammering in one of the areas and it took it well with very little damage.

I have the advantage of having an Eastwood store locally. I am just finishing up restoring my truck from the ground up and have used primarily Eastwood products and have been very happy with them.

Kyle