I bought an 06 f-150 4x4 a couple of months ago. First ford ever and i love it. I bought it used and the under carriage is rusted a bit and i was wanting to know if there is something i can put on the under carriage to prevent the rest from rusting anymore.

 

It depends on how freaky you want to get.
You can spray the entire undercarriage with cavity wax or even old engine oil if you want but really, the only way to fix it properly is to get out the chassis paint.
I use satin black enamel as its very durable.

 

West Marine or any marine store carries rust inhibitor products which work pretty good, I use a CRC inhibitor on my boat and vehicles.

 

EnglishAdam, do you first have to sand out the surface rust and original paint before applyling the chassis paint? Are there any other prep steps, etc? I have an 03 FX4 that came from Tenessee, and the rock salt rusted the **** out of the underside. I want to do this right the first time, and be done with it, with good results.

 

How hard is this stuff to apply...does it just come in a spray can? and where can I pick up some? I need a VERY HIGH quality enamel, paint,coating whatever...just something that will last for 10 years and look good with rutine cleaning. Thanks guys!

 

I just use a 1" paintbrush. It's not exactly a show finish but it looks good from about 3 feet away. I use a spray can to get to any areas I can't reach.
Eastwood does a good line in chassis paints or you could probably find something at any ships chandlers as they tend to carry a better product line.
If you have surface rust, just wire brush it off and prime with good old red oxide first.
Depending on where you live and usage, the underside won't last forever. We get ice in the winter and salt on the roads so I redo mine every year.

 

I had an A hole detail the inside of my truck. The SOB used my garden hose like he was watering the lawn. He told me not to worry because his shop vac was going to suck out all the moisture. I should have known when his shop vac looked like a pencil sharpener! Now the floor of my truck is rusted. The carpet is, for now, sitting on a saw horse getting rained on. It should dry sometime this weekend as they are calling for sunshine. I scraped the rust off and I will wire brush the floor this weekend. I will use a paint called POR-15. A friend of mine painted his frame with it. It stands for Paint Over Rust. The shiny part is the POR-15. He pounded it with a hammer and it didn't crack. Here is a link to their product and below that are some pics of the frame.

http://www.por15.com/

BEFORE


AFTER


JMC

 

POR also offers some stuff called Metal Ready that preps the metal by dissolving the rust and etching the surface. I would suggest using that as well. It leaves a zinc oxide(?) coating on the metal after use. I used it on a 79 T/A I was restoring and I was well pleased with the results.

 

just out of curiosity, what does it cost to remove the body and do a frame repaint??? I've always wanted to, but have never liked the idea of doing it in the street and never knew who and how much to do that.

Zinc Oxide is a great prep, by the way. It is what is known as the sacrificial layer--often used in oceangoing vessels. Their purpose is only to rust if there's no paint on them. The way it works is that it's more electronegative than iron. Interestingely enough, in theory, you shouldn't need to paint over it, but, who wants to risk a itty bitty scratch that would cause an inside out rusting problem???

So, if I'm not mistaken, the best order for painting the frame would be:
Primer/rust converter
Undercoating (For sound deadening---does it really help that much???)

Is this right?

 

how much of the metal ready and por do you guys think would be enough to cover the frame of an f150, scab 4wd, 1/2 gallon, gallon?

 

LOL! Are you serious? That's why me and me only does the detailing on my vehicles. When I shampoo my carpets/seats, they're almost dry immediately. I try to use the least amount wetness to tackle the job (I normally use Turtle Wax Power Out and it dries pretty fast.) That's funny though....garden hose in the interior...lol. Rock on!

On the underside, my frame came with a wax coating from the factory, but I still WD40 the underside of my truck at least twice a year to keep the rust and corrosion levels down and also keep it clean (actually, I don't drive the Lightning in the rain or bad weather anymore unless I get stuck somewhere and it rains now that I have a beater.)

 

½ gallon will be too much POR. A little bit goes a long way.

JMC