Your gladiator after a year or two in the rust belt

[Kilroy1941]

I had to remove the rear bumper and sand/repaint in the area around the rear tow hooks. Almost all the gladiators I see in the area rust there where it's visible. I go under the truck every year, touch up and recoat where needed. I would recommend some kind of undercoating from day one or it'll rust away. My rear axle wasn't coated and after that first winter I had to clean it up pretty good. Still holding up good after

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[chorky]

I meant keep the cans inside until ready to use.

ahh ok. Makes more sense.

I had to remove the rear bumper and sand/repaint in the area around the rear tow hooks. Almost all the gladiators I see in the area rust there where it's visible. I go under the truck every year, touch up and recoat where needed. I would recommend some kind of undercoating from day one or it'll rust away. My rear axle wasn't coated and after that first winter I had to clean it up pretty good. Still holding up good after

Good point about the bumpers. I was planning to coat that part heavy when i get them off for winch mounting. Might not happen till next year though.

 

[Mac]

I did mine in the driveway with rattle cans of FF, worked very well just sprayed into any holes and cavities, I also took down the spare, coated the rim and the area the spare covers when in place. One nice thing about FF it will not hurt or degrade rubber or plastic. I sprayed a lot in the engine compartment, all the bare fasteners and bare metal.

 

[Sting-Gray Neutral Pres.]

Apparently cutting trees and driving on roads a few hundred feet from streams causes significant and irreversible impact - but spraying mag chloride and whatever else it is directly on top of bridges that run directly into said critical fish habitat is of no concern and no big deal.

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...

 

[chorky]

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...

yep I am well aware of all of it Its part of my job. Just sad and highly irritating how all of industry and developement gets a free pass but folks freak out when someone tries to clean up an unhealthy forest. Not only do they use salt spray here but also TONS of sand and pebbles that destroy the front end of any vehicle. So that contributes a lot of sediment considering how much is used here.

few years ago a place I lived had a big dispute in town about a developement of 800 cookie cutter $700k homes that literally paved over a wetlands. Saying they could create a ‘new’ one to offset. Well. Hydric soils take about 50 years to create so all that habitat loss for developement. But a restoration project to release trees for a healthier hillside was squashed. very poor priorities.

i might also consider a junker truck for running errands. But still want to protect thr gladiator.

 

[Blade1668]

As a former rust belter F### zbart it's crap in my opinion. Especially for someone that and waxed cleaned off any accumulated mud flushed frame out even during winter.

I didn't snap a picture of the rusted out rocker panel since I started glassing it up years back. That was from dealing with not even 7 winters. 91-92 - 96-97 winter's the rest of my MJ life has been outside of the "Rust belt" but the damage was done by 1998. Not that Jeep or Mopar put top concern on sheet metal protection.
y

 

[Slyboots2313]

if your going to put shit down that eats vehicles then they should pay to have my vehicles treated for such things. Cuz I live in ny I can’t own a vehicle that last as long as a vehicle in the south!

Who is “they”? Cuz it’s your money paying for the salt to begin with unless you’re suggesting tax dollars be spent to winterize all vehicles ??

 

[Bbannongmu]

Got mine in January 2020 in PA and it’s doing ok. I had it undercoated before this winter. I plan to get under there soon and check it out closely.

 

[pbrevo64]

Michigan here (arguably some of the worst roads and highest salting rates), 52k miles, 3 winters, quite a bit of off roading - I have some rust. The first winter my JT was kept in a carport, the second two it was in a garage that hovered around 40 degrees. All my factory paint has been worn off the bottom of the skids and crossmembers, and some has been worn off the trailing arms and frame. If I did not take it off road (the cause for wearing off the paint on the skids), it would have fared better, but even still there is light surface rust sporadically throughout the underbelly. I repainted the skids last spring, which helped a little for this winter. The frame, axles, knuckles, suspension, and skids all have varying amounts of rust. Like I said, the skids are the worst, the bottom of the frame has a bit from bellying out, and the axles and suspension components (not including the springs, those are immaculate still) have small amounts of surface rust. All in all, not terrible, about what I would expect for what it has been through. I can try to get some pictures of what rust I have.

 

[chorky]

As a former rust belter F### zbart it's crap in my opinion. Especially for someone that and waxed cleaned off any accumulated mud flushed frame out even during winter.

I didn't snap a picture of the rusted out rocker panel since I started glassing it up years back. That was from dealing with not even 7 winters. 91-92 - 96-97 winter's the rest of my MJ life has been outside of the "Rust belt" but the damage was done by 1998. Not that Jeep or Mopar put top concern on sheet metal protection.
y

vehicles pre2000 did not have good frame coatings on them. I am not surprised by this to be honest. But i woild be surprised if this happened on any vehicle newer than 2015. Either way it sucks.

Who is “they”? Cuz it’s your money paying for the salt to begin with unless you’re suggesting tax dollars be spent to winterize all vehicles ??

i dont want any of my tax dollars to pay for any salt on any road. At all. That stuff is terrible. And its the dunbest idea ever. Only fueled by peoples ‘need’ to drive 80 in the middle of winter. Just dumb and not necessary.

 

[Glad_he_ate]

As a former rust belter F### zbart it's crap in my opinion. Especially for someone that and waxed cleaned off any accumulated mud flushed frame out even during winter.

I didn't snap a picture of the rusted out rocker panel since I started glassing it up years back. That was from dealing with not even 7 winters. 91-92 - 96-97 winter's the rest of my MJ life has been outside of the "Rust belt" but the damage was done by 1998. Not that Jeep or Mopar put top concern on sheet metal protection.
y

Was this vehicle band new when applied??
Did you go back every 12 months for the inspection and reapplication of chipped and or warn off coating ?? It’s not a one and done product. My paperwork states that I must come back for the inspection every 12 months to maintain there warranty. They chip off any loose stuff and reapply where needed. They re-spray the inside of all the body panels with a oily/ waxy film every two years for free.
If you don’t take it back and just roll with the one time application then you open up to all the possibilities of rust and rot working against you.
Z Bart is as good a product as any and the trick is to maintain the protection.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Unfortunately, the welds will typically have some paint flaking because the slag wasn't removed from the welds prior to the paint process. I would clean the welds thoroughly to remove any loose paint and then coat with RustOleum brush-on satin or semi-gloss black paint.

That's the case with any framed vehicle. It's the first place to go. There's also the fact that there are edges and lips that paint doesn't get into, even if it was dipped there can be "bubbles" trapped in the edges of welds.
Wire brush, clean it up good, use a rust converter and yeah, like you said- just repaint. Brushing it will get it into nooks and crannies better, IMO.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Been a couple threads on it, but I think the lowest mileage seen on a delivered Gladiator has been 3 miles. You are right though, is at least some single digit miles just from normal driving off the assembly line and transport movement at a minimum.

Almost all vehicles I've bought have been around the 4 to 5 mile range. I did tell the dealer to DRIVE MINE AROUND to make sure things were right - and picked it up with 24 miles on it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Was this vehicle band new when applied??
Did you go back every 12 months for the inspection and reapplication of chipped and or warn off coating ?? It’s not a one and done product. My paperwork states that I must come back for the inspection every 12 months to maintain there warranty. They chip off any loose stuff and reapply where needed. They re-spray the inside of all the body panels with a oily/ waxy film every two years for free.
If you don’t take it back and just roll with the one time application then you open up to all the possibilities of rust and rot working against you.
Z Bart is as good a product as any and the trick is to maintain the protection.

My 82 Eagle came from AMC with Ziebart - (factory applied) I've maintained the protection and to this day it's a rust-free car. There are still some Eagles around without rust.

 

[Glad_he_ate]

My 82 Eagle came from AMC with Ziebart - (factory applied) I've maintained the protection and to this day it's a rust-free car. There are still some Eagles around without rust.

Don’t get me wrong if you have poor adhesion due to pre contamination aka already dirty or rusty, or due to poor application and you don’t go back and get it maintained then your going to have problems lol. If it peals away cracks or whatever and water and salt get in and it goes unnoticed due to lack of inspection ? then absolutely going to have issues.
“Factory installed” or at least within the first several hundred miles preferably in summer, not after your first winter or even wet sandy road driving is the best way.
I think I had 400 miles on mine. For me that’s like 2 weeks if that. And bought it in July so hot dry clean roads then asap to z Bart. My zr2 i got used and it had a Bart on it. It was starting to surface rust on the frame and leafs but had the last owner taken it in for inspection it would have still been good!

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