Your gladiator after a year or two in the rust belt

[GA D90]

during your touch up did you just rinse off the frame and spray? I did that yesterday (of course then it snowed today) and a lot of the surface dirt attached to the HD metal protect. I dont really want to high pressure wash it off since its a good thick layer already but spraying more HD metal protect over top of a thin layer of dirt just doesn't seem like a super great idea. Maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of it.


Hoping to get the cavity wax in it this weekend if the darn weather gets a tad nicer. Really dont want much more dirt/water inside the frame before treating it but can't keep waiting forever.

Yeah, power washed the underside pretty good. In the spring (soon) I use a salt neutralizer,the same stuff I use for my boat to try to get all the damn salt off.

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[Zybane]

2 winters in MA, they used rock salt, liquid brine and magnesium chloride on the roads. Hardly any rust on the underside except for exhaust which you can’t really do anything about. I sprayed everything with Fluid Film when I purchased it before the first winter.

Ya I fluid film'd my RAM Power Wagon and it had basically no rust underneath after five years. As soon as my new JTRD comes in, going to do the same. It's kind-a pain in the ass, but well worth it in the end.

 

[Rvalas]

Glad I live in Austin, Texas.

 

[chorky]

Yeah, power washed the underside pretty good.

So I did already rinse it down with low power water before the original HD coating which was a week after ownership, and again 2 days ago after having to be on a dusty road. That first week I got it I did do 2 heavy layers of HD metal protect on the outside of the frame and underbody, so even though that stuff isn't 'sticky' like other options the dirt still sticks to it some. I dont have a good way to fully power wash the whole thing and remove that HD layer, and not sure thats the best thing to do anyway with all them wires down there. So my only option at the moment is to spray another layer over whatever dirt is still stuck there, or do nothing - for the outside.

Now for the inside of the frame, again, I rinsed it down some but there is a little bit of dust from a day or two on a 2 mile dusty road. so my options are to coat it anyway, or do nothing and leave it uncoated. It's below freezing today and snowing. Tomorrow will be my only day to treat it as it will be cloudy but dry all day and in the high 30's. Monday also - so it should have time to cure considering the low temps. But then it drops back to below freezing, snow and road spray. So considering I can't just continue to stay home and not get errands done I have to either treat it anyway when it's dry tomorrow, knowing I will be spraying over some dirt/dust, or do nothing. Not really sure which is the best option. I have the materials, and really don't want to get corrosives inside the frame but can't continue to not go to town. What I dont know is if it's making an even bigger problem doing that. I can't imagine it would. and this summer I can find a way to fully pressure wash it and loosen up whoever I can on the inside of the frame, and then re-apply. But I would like to do something for these last few months of road crap - since winter came back with a vengeance apparently.

I suppose I could run my hose inside the frame today for a bit, but not sure how effective that would really be and if it would dry out in time since tomorrow is kinda my only day.

 

[GA D90]

Yeah, just wait till winter is really done and rinse it down well, even just a hose in / out of frame, let it dry , and hit with HD again. The frame seems well coated from the factory.

 

[chorky]

Well I finally had good enough weather for the last 2 days to dry out the frame and today it hit 55 even though it was snowing in the morning. But the inside of the frame was dry as far as I could tell.

It took all 4 cans of the 3M stuff to coat the inside of the frame with the recommended 3 passes. Although I did all the cross members as well, and even some areas that are difficult to get to and not likely to see much 'cleaning' when washing. I also took the time to lay down another heavy coat of HD metal protect. The frame was not spotless and I simply didn't have access to a pressure washer and lift to truly clean it all off. But I did hose it down really well a few days ago with as high of pressure as my hose would allow, including the inside of the frame. So it will just have to do.

For those interested in doing what I did, I highly recommend a minimum of 6 cans of the 3M cavity wax. That way you can do 2 coats, let it set for a bit, and do 2 more to just ensure full coverage. If you want to include spraying the inside of boxed portions of the body sheet metal then you would want 8 cans.

I also recommend a full case of amsoil HD metal protect. This will provide for 2 base coats on the entire frame, axles, suspension, AND underside of the body, and then another 2 full heavy coats after the first 2 cure.

Hopefully this works as I am wanting it to and lasts a while. I'm sure I will be doing some quick additional spraying of the HD metal protect in fall before the snow really hits hard. As for the inside of the frame....its probably as good as it will ever get. From here on out, once the steering situation is resolved it will be getting very dirty and cleaning the inside of the frame fully to re-coat would be difficult at best.

So far, I am happy with the results and it does not leave a sticky icky goo like the other products. I prefer a non-sticky surface. And according to plenty of videos and reports, the HD metal protect works very well.

Hopefully this will help others.

 

[IOS-XR]

So far, so good. I did a quick spray with Fluid Film just after purchase in May then had a Crown treatment in October. I also wash it at least once a week with an under wash spray.

 

[Bantam]

I had mine undercoated locally soon after purchase. Some thick, oily/sludgy looking stuff.

 

[AzGladius]

I got 98 problems but snow and ice aren't two of them. Send some of that water our way please!!! Rust inhibitors like Fluid Film may be a good idea if you're stressing about it. My JT had four small equally placed spots down to bare metal where someone either had it on a lift for some unknown reason even though the vehicle only had 11 miles on it, or it happened in transport. I hit those spots with some rustoleum matte black and some matte clear. In a year or two if you wheel, you'll be marveling over the remaining paint spots left over where you didn't make contact. ?

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Glad to see all the love for the 3M 08852 Cavity Wax. I ordered 4 cans of that.

Then after some videos, some reading, and talking to my brother in law who is head of maintenance at a fairly large airport, I ordered 6 cans of CRC 6026 for coating the underbody. I didn't read through this whole thread so maybe it's already been mentioned, but it's a heavy sort of waxy undercoat that takes a day or two to cure, dries hard, and should last a couple seasons. Doesn't spray off with pressure like the oil undercoats do.

 

[chorky]

Glad to see all the love for the 3M 08852 Cavity Wax. I ordered 4 cans of that.

Then after some videos, some reading, and talking to my brother in law who is head of maintenance at a fairly large airport, I ordered 6 cans of CRC 6026 for coating the underbody. I didn't read through this whole thread so maybe it's already been mentioned, but it's a heavy sort of waxy undercoat that takes a day or two to cure, dries hard, and should last a couple seasons. Doesn't spray off with pressure like the oil undercoats do.

I have been happy so far with the cavity wax. It is for inside the frame or in protected areas only as it does wash off somewhat easily with a pressure washer. Its not meant to be exposed. I suggest you get 6 cans though as 4 cans was barely enough to do the recommended application. Had I known I would have gotten 8 and done a double coat.

CRC is basically the same stuff as Amsoil HD Metal protect. It is designed for outside the frame, or exposed metal that may be exposed to sun, spray, etc... I used probably 12 cans of Amsoil HD metal protect in total to spray the frame and the entire underside of the body and bed. Including axles, steering and suspension components. Pretty much everything except electrical components and rubber hoses - although it would not damage either of those items. I did 2 initial coats of the Amsoil HD, and then a couple weeks later did another 2 coats. I plan to do one heavy coat each fall before snow hits and liquid salt spray begins again.

Only time will tell the true working (or non-working) power of these two products.

 

[BearFootSam]

Just want to provide a little insight here: for fish habitat, particularly spawning salmon and other salmonids, turbidity is usually a more important water quality issue than salinity. And when those fish are on the endangered species list and the river gets what's called a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limit for turbidity to restore/protect the impaired stream, then there is a legal obligation for the regulator to prevent continuing or additional sources of turbidity. For example, the South Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho had 25 miles of remote, low use road paved at considerable expense because fugitive dust and erosion from the road was blowing the TMDL and directly harming the salmon in a critical-habitat area.

That being said, salinity does need to be monitored and big contributions to small streams or chronic contribution can both cause toxic environment, low productivity conditions and outright fish kills. Happens to streams in New England sometimes.

FTR, I am generally against wholesale rock-salting of the road and am all for a 3PWSF (aka "snow tire") requirement instead in snowy states for the reasons you stated plus the fact that salt creates a "great until its not" winter road surface that encourages taking chances on vehicle tires, speed, skill, etc...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/08/salt-sodium-water-levels-dc/ It's becoming a problem near DC. For some reason, the states and counties around there go full out two days before a storm forecast with a 50% chance of snow. All that effort towards improving watershed health and then they dump tax dollars all over the streets because folks don't want to think about snow on the roads. Considering the number of lifted trucks and jeeps in those parts that have never seen off pavement and I'd figure they would be itching to drive in the white.

 

[BearFootSam]

My neighbour is from Afghanistan. He said what they use over there is to spray diesel under there. Not sure how much salt they use though. But he sprays diesel on his Tacoma.

What I did for mine was to have the dealership undercoat it before I took possession in February 2021. I then ordered 3M Cavity Wax with the spray wands and did the frame internals, inside my door panels and anywhere else that had holes the wand would fit and gave everything the “3 pass” wax application.

I also ordered CRC Heavy Duty marine corrosion inhibitor wax and sprayed all the parts that couldn’t get undercoating and sprayed another layer over all the welds. I still have no rust.

Afghanistan is a monsoon country. Eight and a half months out of the year it will be so dry your skin cracks and the rest of the year it snows every day. They do not salt there but the roads are extremely rough and hard on vehicles. The most common 'SUV' I saw there was a corolla wagon lifed on rear leaf spings that would embarass a 16ton MATV with triple lockers.

 

[tksmr2]

I have 50k on my 2020 and some small areas of super minor surface rust on the underside. Previous owner although he took care of just about everything did not have undercoating on of any sort. I guess that's better than putting the wrong stuff on.

So I'm going to take my 2020 Gladiator to Steel City Undercoating in Pittsburgh area/Monroeville and have them use their special commercial grade fluid film. But I may just lightly sand/wire wheel/brush the areas of minor rust and brush some Rustoleum oil based semi gloss or flat black first. The guy at Steel City told me don't do anything b/c no matter what paint will flake off. but I want it to look pretty until I get it muddy which is also pretty in my book. And if the Rustoleum flakes off in a few spots so be it.

 

[chorky]

Afghanistan is a monsoon country. Eight and a half months out of the year it will be so dry your skin cracks and the rest of the year it snows every day. They do not salt there but the roads are extremely rough and hard on vehicles. The most common 'SUV' I saw there was a corolla wagon lifed on rear leaf spings that would embarass a 16ton MATV with triple lockers.

yeah it was surprising. I am still partial to the hilux we had though

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