Frame Paint
 

I got tired of looking at rust and crap, so I sprayed a lot of my frame, rear suspension, axle, hitch etc. I really didn't want anything super glossy so I used flat black, and now I'm wondering if that was a good idea. lol

The flat black looks really good. It will be really easy to touch up too. But I have to wonder if it is going to be a huge pain in the ass to get clean.

It's raining and humid right now, but it should warm and dry up a little within a couple of hours, then rain again tomorrow. I guess I can either go by some semi-gloss paint and try to spray it this evening (I have to take it to the shop tomorrow morning, it will be raining), or just wait and see how it turns out. I suppose if it looks like crap after getting dirty I can always pressure wash it again and spray semi-gloss over it.

What do you guys think? I'd get some pictures but it's dark and rainy out...

I've seen a few shows where they use bed liner to paint the underside of the truck. This not only protects it, is very durable, but also is a sound deadener,

I sprayed rubberized undercoating (from a can of course) in the rear wheel wells a year or two ago. It's okay. Rocks have cut into it in a few places, and it really holds dirt. But as an undercoating it wouldn't be bad. I'm not to the undercoating stage yet (body anyway), just trying to cover up the frame for now. I did spray some rust reformer stuff on a few spots to try it out, it turned the rust black and seems to have a hard coating. Once the salt is finally off the roads I will probably spend more time flushing out the body and at least hitting the easily accessible spots with rust reformer. Nothing is really bad right now but I don't want to wait until it gets that way.

When I have a lot of time (and space) I'd like to pull the bed off, pressure wash everything and use POR15 or chassis saver. Then I would cover that the sheet metal probably with a rubberized coating or something, and the frame/suspension with semi-gloss.

I bought a few cans of semi-gloss today but decided to wait on it. I do think it will clean up easier than the flat black but I'm tired of crawling around under the truck right now.

Would be nice to see the finished product.

Sounds like a lot of work. No problems with overspray?

I'm just painting the frame sections, there is overspray on the floor boards in places but I don't care about that. Like I said I'm not going all out on it right now, just trying to clean it up a bit because I was unhappy with looking at the rust all the time when I walk by it.
Mostly I've just sprayed the outside edge and bottom sections of the frame, the shackles, rear axle (kind of), hitch, that type of stuff. I haven't sprayed around the front wheel wells yet either.
I've never bothered with this stuff before but the salt here drives me nuts and I really want to hold on to this truck for a while.

Yeah, I'd probably go crazy if I lived in a place like that. I'm very picky with my vehicles.

You would, trust me. I'm really about the cars, the salt and rust drives me absolutely insane. lol




Okay here you go, this is what I've done for now. Remember, neatness was not a concern at this point! ;) This was just a "make it look better" type of deal. Also keep in mind that some of this was done days ago and is a little dirty. Some of it needs closer work since I hadn't masked anything off. You can see some rust forming on the lower parts of the rockers, back side of the cab, and plenty on the bottom of the bed if you can see it. I didn't remove the spare and spray under there because, well, I just didn't feel like it yet.

You'll also see the frame mounted camper tie-downs on the four corners of the bed, and that I oversprayed plenty on the muffler and the new rear sway bar, don't really care.


This is the worst side of the spare wheel too. I flipped it over a could days ago so I could access the valve stem to check air pressure in it, the backside has been holding some nasty amount of rust. I may pull it down again and spray it just for ****s.
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/1.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/2.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/3.jpg

The black areas on the floor boards are spots that were rusty and sprayed with rust reformer. And yes, I wiped this side of the frame down more before I sprayed it. I had to drive the other day after painting the other side first.
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/4.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/5.jpg

This lighter stuff is the rubberized undercoating that I sprayed on a couple years ago. It holds the dirt now. I should have sprayed over it but I didn't feel like masking everything off right now. The bracket is one of the camper tie-downs, it is powder coated but scratched bad in spots so it got flat black on most of it as well. The thick wire in there is the fifth wheel wiring in the bed for the slide-in camper.
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/6.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/7.jpg

Rock chips and rust on the rear bumper.
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/8.jpg

You can see where I sprayed a little of the undercoating here a couple years ago. Looks like it held up okay there.
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/9.jpg

Some semi-gloss I sprayed on the crossmember earlier this afternoon. Probably should have done it all with this... :doh:
http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/10.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/11.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/12.jpg

http://www.rotor-heads.com/images/f150/paint/13.jpg

I've also got new blocks (cast with bumpstop tabs from readylift) and firestone airbags to mount. One of my spring perches on the axle is cracked a little in front, probably due to my torquing the u-bolts improperly or something stupid. So I'm hoping when I see Zach we can pull the blocks, weld the spring perch, and install the new blocks and air bags. Oh and the traction bars if ballistic fab will ever send the parts! ;)

Nice!!! I need to undercoat mine this summer, it starting to show some rust now, they don't use salt up here to cold of it to work. lol