Trailer rehab

Squirtgun

Squirtgun

New member
It's come time to do some rehab on our trailer.The fenders are rusted and pitted badly a broken brace underneath and a couple of boards that are showing cracks.It's almost 9 yrs old and had some rattle can face lift,but no major over hauls.
Since I don't have access to a sand blaster or the attachment for the skid I'm using a side grinder.I'm hitting cleaned areas with primer gray,but have already found some surface rust forming in those areas.I'm thinking a rust converter is in order to stop the flash rusting.
Has anyone used this stuff before?
 
Russ at Southside Equipment has the sandblaster attachment and an acid blend that prevents the metal from rusting.

He has a couple of youtube videos where he is using the attachments.

Here is one of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj90zp0jwNw
 
Christopher said:
Russ at Southside Equipment has an acid blend that prevents the metal from rusting.
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Actually, not an acid based product. But it does prevent flash rusting and can be painted over without further treatment.


mike barrett said:
I have used Ospho, a rust converter before and it worked excellent. I bought a wet sand blast last year worked OK, I think the sand I had to much moisture in it (home depot play sand)
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Play sand doesn't work for sandblasting for the reason you stated. Sandblast media (silica, black beauty, etc.) is completely dry. Any moisture tends to clog the pickup tube.
 
I have used the rust converter several times as well, mostly on the salters and plow equipment that get coated with salt. It holds up great and the areas that are covered seem to last without rusting for several years. I found that after I clean the metal it works better than primer for coating the metal for paint.
 
I spent a few more hours today getting intimate with the grinder and various sander.I have 1 side completed...ground down sanded smooth,primed with red oxide and rolled a coat of black rustoleum.It'll get a 2nd coat tomorrow.
I'm going to skip board replacements until I can gather up all the odd nuts and bolts needed to put it all back in place.I'll also replace the broken cross member when I pull the floor out,as well as,sand and paint everything underneath at that time.
 
The end is in sight.I finished grinding,sanding,priming the second 1/2 this morning and got 1 coat of paint on.Paint the side I completed yesterday again with a 2nd coat and in a couple of hours will put the 2nd coat on what I did this morning.
after some advice from someone else I may replace the floor with 3/8" diamond plate steel,but I haven't checked prices to see if that is even an option.
I'm going to replace the pinstipes that were on much of the frame with reflective tape and it already has new lights that were put on last week because the old set kept shorting out.
 
Squirtgun said:
The end is in sight.I finished grinding,sanding,priming the second 1/2 this morning and got 1 coat of paint on.Paint the side I completed yesterday again with a 2nd coat and in a couple of hours will put the 2nd coat on what I did this morning.
after some advice from someone else I may replace the floor with 3/8" diamond plate steel,but I haven't checked prices to see if that is even an option.
I'm going to replace the pinstipes that were on much of the frame with reflective tape and it already has new lights that were put on last week because the old set kept shorting out.
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head, 3/8 DPL is about 17 lbs a square ft. Truck bodies use any where from 1/8 to 3/16. Steel is sold by the pound / weight. Steel is also subject to corrosion from chems you might use. Just a thought.
 
A lot of guys have done the Herculiner route, it is tougher than paint and is about $100 per gallon.

I am going to do that to the next trailer I get, probably even the boards besides the metal.
 
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