This was a great test with some interesting results. I'm currently restoring an old truck and I plan on approaching the chassis coating/protection stage as if it were an offshore oil platform. It may sound like ridiculous overkill, but I'm working on the assumption that whatever process is followed for an oil rig must be as good as it gets given the extreme harshness of the conditions it's exposed to and the importance of it being protected for as long as possible for both financial and safety reasons. Oil companies must have spent a lot of money and gone to a lot of trouble researching and implementing the best process for preserving such incredibly expensive equipment and minimising the similarly eye-wateringly expensive maintenance intervals. From my research, the process would be as follows: 1. Remove all rust to bare metal wherever possible, but if that isn't possible, remove as much as you can and then coat whatever remains in a high quality chemical rust convertor. 2. Once the metal is clean and dry, apply two coats of a zinc-rich primer (at least 80% zinc, the higher the better) onto both bare metal and any chemically converted rust. 3. Once the primer has fully cured, apply two coats of a 2-part epoxy paint (this stuff is expensive, especially glass flake epoxy which is apparently the king of them all, but it seems to be worth the cost). Then, to supplement the above for automotive applications, I plan on doing the following: 1. Add an additional coat of something with high stonechip and abrasion resistance to any areas likely to suffer such damage (Gravitex gets great reviews so I'll probably use that). 2. Treat all internal cavities with a sprayable self-dispersing and self-healing frame wax like Bilt Hamber's Dynax S50, which is thin enough to creep into any very small holes, seams, gaps etc. Finally, for ongoing maintenance, I'll spend a couple of hours every 1-3 months (depending on how often and severely the truck has been used) doing the following (on top of any standard washing/cleaning routine): 1. Clean the entire underneath of the truck with a hot pressure (or steam) washer. 2. Treat the entire underneath of the truck with a water dispersable migratory and contact corrosion inhibitor, like Bilt Hamber's Atom Mac. I'm hoping that following the above steps carefully, any truck driven in pretty much any conditions (even along coastal beaches every day) ought to last many decades before needing any more attention, given the extreme conditions oil rigs are exposed to and the number of years they can go between being repainted.
Fluid Film, WoolWax, NHOU, or any other oil based undercoating will work really well at stopping that rust. I've been usinging Fluid Film and Wool Wax on my 2013 Ram 1500 for 6 years now and the undercarriage has barely any rust. I live on the coast of MA so we get salt air and road salt/brine in the winter. You do have to reapply it every year but it does work well...
rubberized undercoating is the killer....all the newer best products are lanolin/oil based and never harden. I would wire brush again and hen that with oil.
You have to use a product with a creeping agent that gets into areas. Using a painting agent or rubberized product will actually promote rust in the long term. Krown or fluid film. Great video! 👍
Excellent video test. You definitely proved that lithium grease is the winner for rust protection. Dumb question - did you buy a certain kind/ brand of lithium grease, that you used before? It worked well.
Why did you not try your toilet ring+linseed oil reciepe. It is, maybe, less hard than your wax candle+autozone grease mix. And more flexible and less chips. I don't have à frame in my car and I do a toilet ring+linseed oil+ paint thinner to spray everywhere with an insecticid manual piston sprayer(4 coats)... but I don't have your 5 years testing. Maybe the next time I Will mix lithium grease+ paint thinner ... Thanks for your researchs!
salt makes water softer so it penetrates through! FAscinating!! I never thought of it that way - I wondered how the salt got through the paint so easily!! I use Cosmoline - seems to work well.
I took the time to watch the original and update in their entirety. I can relate. From NY, I scrapped an '81 K20 in just 5 years; the frame broke in half. Scrapped my Taurus in 7 years; the body disintegrated. And now my '01 F250 4x4; frame completely rotted. Moved to NC a decade ago, but the salt was already embedded into the steel. I still see individual frame pieces ('03 F150) that have fall apart, while others are still like new. And this truck has only been expossed to the spray they use here. Obviously, Ford's quality standards are lacking. Contemplating buying a rust free (just surface rust) frame for $800 to salvage my F250. I'm wondering, in hindsight, if you'd have taken a different path 5 years ago, given your insight today? I originally found your video, while searching for ideas to salvage my F150 cross members. The pieces are obsolete. One thing I did learn along the way was to wear old clothes while grinding. My almost new hoodie came out of the laundry with brown speckles all over the front from embedded metal particles.
Yep the paint and rubber coating's are all junk and expensive. I tried telling my buddy doing all kind's prep work using bedliner etc not to do it and just use fluid film, wool wax etc. His truck is probably already starting to rust again and the rubber liner is going to make rust way faster. I'm just hitting my heavy scale with an air hammer and using wool wax not even going to wire brush it. Good mention of new trucks having a thinner frame. This has came up in my mind too plus they are a boxed frame and hard to access
Yes the 04 Chevy frame I have is 1/4 inch think but I think it's DOUBLE that in places or the bottom of the box I think is double - so yeah pretty thick for sure....
Do you think that if fluid film had been applied on top of all your work it would have taken longer if I am planning to do the same thing? Only unlike applying a coat of Fluid film over the entire work.
Great test of different products to find what is best, especially considering looking for a one and done. I personally use fluid film but it needs a application each year. Pb blaster has a product called "surface shield" that claims to hold up 2 years. I will try it. And your right. I have used grease and it holds up better and longer than any of the oils I have tried.
Yeah it's hard to find long term solution. My brand new painted spare wheel rusted in 5 years. Michigan salt is no joke with lake effect snow every day. We get 130" of now yet towns just 200 miles south get 6". Makes huge difference having wet salty roads every day.
rubberized spray makes it worse..it lifts salt and water gets trapped and accelerates the corrosion process... way worse.. stay away from it.. those this thick sealers make it look pretty short term but that's it...... that paint you used and an oil based spray.... like Corrosion free or Fluid film would have been perfect.....
Gm and their tubes... Along with their wax frame coating... Just waiting for rust which comes quick for the frame.. Just get the truck oiled from the beginning.
I have a 2002 Suburban that has rust similar to your truck (when you first started). My truck may actually be worse than your in some spots as at least two of the body mount support brackets have completely rusted away. After seeing this update, I am really discouraged to even begin trying to remove the rust. All of your hard work and the truck is rusting out again. My drivetrain is in great shape with "only" 135,000 miles. Perhaps I should look for a less rusty truck and swap engines.
@@troutjunkie7330 you should spray phosphoric acid - the Klean Strip Concrete Etch is cheap - or the Rustoleum Gel spray sticks vertically. GM actually did a recall on their wax treated frames since they didn't prep the metal correctly with their phosphoric acid paint.
You're talking phosphoric acid (that's Krud Kutter) - yeah I used phosphoric acid. It works awesome. Only if you use too much then it causes rust. So sometimes it's hard to convert some rust without creating more rust. hahaha.
Maybe I missed it in the video but a question is how often was the truck washed during the winter? I know in NY we have to wash the cars often (like 1 per week) or the residue of salt will cause premature rusting.
Doesn't matter. There was moisture in the pores of the metal and he sealed it with the hard topcoats and "chassis saver". So its rotting from the inside out. That's why for a truck like his you should use corraseal and fluid film.
I'm starting to think that the best treatment to stop frame rusting is to just spray the frame down after every oil change, cover the exhaust system, put paper down to protect the driveway, then take the old oil and an airgun and drench everything, even the parts you cant see.
@@mriclean5175 Yeah my comment is more about how often people with really bad frame rust find that the parts of the frame that are fine happens to be where their leaky engine has dripped all over it. haha.
@@troutjunkie7330 meaning just use a grease gun to glob it on and spread it around with a stiff paint brush. My rig was undercoated by a previous owner/seller and is showing some bleed thru of rust in some areas. I take it I should use a wire wheel grinder and remove that coating and get the rust off where this is occuring BEFORE applying the grease....correct?
@@troutjunkie7330 Yep they are close but i got much better results with vaseline mixed with lanolin than any oil(engine, vegetable, silicon). Only copper grease seem to be quite good grease but not every brand is the same, some let water through and start rusting. u can try and make some steel samples.
Why are we the ones who have to figure out how to keep our hard earned money from being spent on this shit??? DOT needs to figure out how to not cause this crap in the first place... WTF? Tax dollars to cause us these kinds of problems, and what are they doing to figure out how to prevent it?
Hat off for making a solid 5 year followup. You've helped me a lot with this info.
Wish You well!
From Croatia.
This is a real world test and I appreciate it. 👍👍
This was a great test with some interesting results.
I'm currently restoring an old truck and I plan on approaching the chassis coating/protection stage as if it were an offshore oil platform. It may sound like ridiculous overkill, but I'm working on the assumption that whatever process is followed for an oil rig must be as good as it gets given the extreme harshness of the conditions it's exposed to and the importance of it being protected for as long as possible for both financial and safety reasons.
Oil companies must have spent a lot of money and gone to a lot of trouble researching and implementing the best process for preserving such incredibly expensive equipment and minimising the similarly eye-wateringly expensive maintenance intervals.
From my research, the process would be as follows:
1. Remove all rust to bare metal wherever possible, but if that isn't possible, remove as much as you can and then coat whatever remains in a high quality chemical rust convertor.
2. Once the metal is clean and dry, apply two coats of a zinc-rich primer (at least 80% zinc, the higher the better) onto both bare metal and any chemically converted rust.
3. Once the primer has fully cured, apply two coats of a 2-part epoxy paint (this stuff is expensive, especially glass flake epoxy which is apparently the king of them all, but it seems to be worth the cost).
Then, to supplement the above for automotive applications, I plan on doing the following:
1. Add an additional coat of something with high stonechip and abrasion resistance to any areas likely to suffer such damage (Gravitex gets great reviews so I'll probably use that).
2. Treat all internal cavities with a sprayable self-dispersing and self-healing frame wax like Bilt Hamber's Dynax S50, which is thin enough to creep into any very small holes, seams, gaps etc.
Finally, for ongoing maintenance, I'll spend a couple of hours every 1-3 months (depending on how often and severely the truck has been used) doing the following (on top of any standard washing/cleaning routine):
1. Clean the entire underneath of the truck with a hot pressure (or steam) washer.
2. Treat the entire underneath of the truck with a water dispersable migratory and contact corrosion inhibitor, like Bilt Hamber's Atom Mac.
I'm hoping that following the above steps carefully, any truck driven in pretty much any conditions (even along coastal beaches every day) ought to last many decades before needing any more attention, given the extreme conditions oil rigs are exposed to and the number of years they can go between being repainted.
That's some hardcore work there. Glad I live in the South and don't have to worry about rusting vehicles.
Dude howd it go
Fluid Film, WoolWax, NHOU, or any other oil based undercoating will work really well at stopping that rust. I've been usinging Fluid Film and Wool Wax on my 2013 Ram 1500 for 6 years now and the undercarriage has barely any rust. I live on the coast of MA so we get salt air and road salt/brine in the winter. You do have to reapply it every year but it does work well...
Very nice demonstration, much appreciated.
This was SUPER helpful! Thank you so much for the video and your effort!
Even 5 years later, it's still in pretty good shape. I would say that the metal doesn't look much worse
Thanks Brother for your hard working bringing this information to the rest of us...
rubberized undercoating is the killer....all the newer best products are lanolin/oil based and never harden. I would wire brush again and hen that with oil.
I used fluid film on my trailer. It lasted about 16 months. Most got washed away. Grease lasts for 5 years
Thanks for the update...great real world info.
You have to use a product with a creeping agent that gets into areas. Using a painting agent or rubberized product will actually promote rust in the long term. Krown or fluid film. Great video! 👍
Fantastic follow through on the project. Great info.
Thank you VERY MUCH for the education!
Thanks for the update and review.
Wow. Thank you ! You should have a million views on this money saving video
Excellent video test. You definitely proved that lithium grease is the winner for rust protection. Dumb question - did you buy a certain kind/ brand of lithium grease, that you used before? It worked well.
It was cheapest I could find at Walmart
Why did you not try your toilet ring+linseed oil reciepe. It is, maybe, less hard than your wax candle+autozone grease mix. And more flexible and less chips. I don't have à frame in my car and I do a toilet ring+linseed oil+ paint thinner to spray everywhere with an insecticid manual piston sprayer(4 coats)... but I don't have your 5 years testing. Maybe the next time I Will mix lithium grease+ paint thinner ... Thanks for your researchs!
salt makes water softer so it penetrates through! FAscinating!! I never thought of it that way - I wondered how the salt got through the paint so easily!! I use Cosmoline - seems to work well.
You put in some serious elbow grease on that truck. Very nice.
Cosmoline RP-342 - Military Grade Rust Preventative Spray would probably be your best bet.
elon musk coated the tesla he shot into space with that shit....so it'll be pristine when the klingons find it.
You did a great job. Thanks a lot for these videos. When can you come over and do mine?
I took the time to watch the original and update in their entirety. I can relate.
From NY, I scrapped an '81 K20 in just 5 years; the frame broke in half. Scrapped my Taurus in 7 years; the body disintegrated. And now my '01 F250 4x4; frame completely rotted.
Moved to NC a decade ago, but the salt was already embedded into the steel.
I still see individual frame pieces ('03 F150) that have fall apart, while others are still like new. And this truck has only been expossed to the spray they use here. Obviously, Ford's quality standards are lacking.
Contemplating buying a rust free (just surface rust) frame for $800 to salvage my F250.
I'm wondering, in hindsight, if you'd have taken a different path 5 years ago, given your insight today?
I originally found your video, while searching for ideas to salvage my F150 cross members. The pieces are obsolete.
One thing I did learn along the way was to wear old clothes while grinding. My almost new hoodie came out of the laundry with brown speckles all over the front from embedded metal particles.
The only way is to sand blast or acid dip the frame then spray epoxy. If you do it the way you did best spray fluid film yearly
I got appliance epoxy spraypaint - definitely made a big difference. Even if it's fake epoxy - still better than other paint.
Thanks for the update. I'm trying wd40 white lithium spray grease. I'm in northeast Ohio. I'm curious to see after this winter.
Yep the paint and rubber coating's are all junk and expensive. I tried telling my buddy doing all kind's prep work using bedliner etc not to do it and just use fluid film, wool wax etc. His truck is probably already starting to rust again and the rubber liner is going to make rust way faster. I'm just hitting my heavy scale with an air hammer and using wool wax not even going to wire brush it. Good mention of new trucks having a thinner frame. This has came up in my mind too plus they are a boxed frame and hard to access
appreciate you sharing your results
Yes the 04 Chevy frame I have is 1/4 inch think but I think it's DOUBLE that in places or the bottom of the box I think is double - so yeah pretty thick for sure....
thank you for this video, I think the grease is the way to go then.
Should have used corroseal which turns the rust black after drying then fluid film black.
Do you have any experience with grease VS fluid film or krown antirust treatment? Nice video btw. Really well detailed.
Do you think that if fluid film had been applied on top of all your work it would have taken longer if I am planning to do the same thing? Only unlike applying a coat of Fluid film over the entire work.
I did test to. "10 year of using cold galvanizing compound". Go to nr 28 and down.
Great test of different products to find what is best, especially considering looking for a one and done. I personally use fluid film but it needs a application each year. Pb blaster has a product called "surface shield" that claims to hold up 2 years. I will try it. And your right. I have used grease and it holds up better and longer than any of the oils I have tried.
Yeah it's hard to find long term solution. My brand new painted spare wheel rusted in 5 years. Michigan salt is no joke with lake effect snow every day. We get 130" of now yet towns just 200 miles south get 6". Makes huge difference having wet salty roads every day.
@@troutjunkie7330 that's a crazy amount. Try that surface shield. Seems like it really sticks!
rubberized spray makes it worse..it lifts salt and water gets trapped and accelerates the corrosion process... way worse.. stay away from it.. those this thick sealers make it look pretty short term but that's it...... that paint you used and an oil based spray.... like Corrosion free or Fluid film would have been perfect.....
Gm and their tubes... Along with their wax frame coating... Just waiting for rust which comes quick for the frame.. Just get the truck oiled from the beginning.
I have a 2002 Suburban that has rust similar to your truck (when you first started). My truck may actually be worse than your in some spots as at least two of the body mount support brackets have completely rusted away. After seeing this update, I am really discouraged to even begin trying to remove the rust. All of your hard work and the truck is rusting out again. My drivetrain is in great shape with "only" 135,000 miles. Perhaps I should look for a less rusty truck and swap engines.
Its part of living in rust belt. Once rust starts its very hard to stop it. Just grease the crap out of it
@@troutjunkie7330 you should spray phosphoric acid - the Klean Strip Concrete Etch is cheap - or the Rustoleum Gel spray sticks vertically. GM actually did a recall on their wax treated frames since they didn't prep the metal correctly with their phosphoric acid paint.
Was it just a white lithium grease in a spray can that you applied that you said worked the best? I have a badly rusted frame of my 2003 Dodge Dakota.
No. This was solid grease that comes in a tube. Any grease seem to work better than any other fancy rust stopping product.
Did you use any metal prep products (Ex: POR15 Metal Prep or Krud Kutter) before applying paint?
You're talking phosphoric acid (that's Krud Kutter) - yeah I used phosphoric acid. It works awesome. Only if you use too much then it causes rust. So sometimes it's hard to convert some rust without creating more rust. hahaha.
the solution for tubes... FILL THE TUBES WITH LITHIUM GREASE lol
use a dingle ball hone for the inside tubes
Have you tried spraying transmission fluid? I heard it worked great. Any experience with it?
do you think xion labs 2 in 1 would work here?
Maybe I missed it in the video but a question is how often was the truck washed during the winter? I know in NY we have to wash the cars often (like 1 per week) or the residue of salt will cause premature rusting.
Doesn't matter. There was moisture in the pores of the metal and he sealed it with the hard topcoats and "chassis saver". So its rotting from the inside out. That's why for a truck like his you should use corraseal and fluid film.
Hi tech undercoating spray works .lots of dirt Gm should have recalled this job
good job , je testerai bien un mélange d' huile ATF avec de l'huile de lin ou graisse
Time to do it all over again
Hey man, I’ve seen your videos on the repair.. and I’m curious how much you’ve been able to tow behind it after removing all that original rust
Now it's a 1500.
You should try corrosion free, it’s clear and has no funky smell like fluid film. I use it on my 1999 4Runner, and it’s black underneath.
Corrosion Free is made from food grade mineral oils.
...I am curious....which Trucks (or cards) are known to survive the rust belt the best?....Without undercoating...
Newer Toyotas. They learned their lesson on Tacoma (had to recall all frames) so now Toyota trucks don't rust
I'm starting to think that the best treatment to stop frame rusting is to just spray the frame down after every oil change, cover the exhaust system, put paper down to protect the driveway, then take the old oil and an airgun and drench everything, even the parts you cant see.
i was thinking the same i saved my old engine oil for this day but i think im going to mix it with tranny fluid. tranny fluid dissolves rust
There's another channel that compares coating and the old oil did about as bad and in some tests worse then just leaving it un treated 🙃
@@mriclean5175 Yeah my comment is more about how often people with really bad frame rust find that the parts of the frame that are fine happens to be where their leaky engine has dripped all over it. haha.
Impressive work but no match to rust belt corrosion! Wow!
which lithium grease did you use? how much to cover a frame on an SUV roughly? 32oz?
cheapest available. 2 tubes will cover frame of a truck
@@troutjunkie7330 meaning just use a grease gun to glob it on and spread it around with a stiff paint brush. My rig was undercoated by a previous owner/seller and is showing some bleed thru of rust in some areas. I take it I should use a wire wheel grinder and remove that coating and get the rust off where this is occuring BEFORE applying the grease....correct?
@@mackendw I just scoop it out from the tube. Brush loose rust and dirt off and apply with brush. Best rust protection
You should test 5 layers of wax and two layers of rubber coating lol
Did u think about Vaseline or lanolin?
They are close to common grease and oils I tried. I'm also trying Fluid Film right now
@@troutjunkie7330 Yep they are close but i got much better results with vaseline mixed with lanolin than any oil(engine, vegetable, silicon). Only copper grease seem to be quite good grease but not every brand is the same, some let water through and start rusting. u can try and make some steel samples.
Yearly Fluid film undercoat. Problem solved.
I had 2000 Chevy Silverado did the same thing you did just waste of time and $
Why are we the ones who have to figure out how to keep our hard earned money from being spent on this shit??? DOT needs to figure out how to not cause this crap in the first place... WTF? Tax dollars to cause us these kinds of problems, and what are they doing to figure out how to prevent it?
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Wow BS Gimmick products