Been working on shop projects lately. Fertilizer equipment is alwasy hard to keep in nice condition. It wants to rust worse than road salts it seems. We try to keep it clean and dry witch help alot. I also recently picked up an older service truck that has some rust spots starting. So this has me thinking about rust repair and prevention. So besides sand blasting and repaintiing does anyone have any experiance with chemical rust converters or rust stopping paint? Also interested in hearing about rust prevention coatings. There is alot of things out there from old school fluid film to newer paints and coating. So if anyone has any experiance with some good products maybe this would be a good place to talk about them. Thanks Steve
I’ve used POR15 and works well- wire wheeled some steel wheels and primed w POR. Also used the Gemplers “rust converter.” Both need coarse rust knocked off. Both want a cover coat of paint. POR speedy but, I think, worked better.
When I worked for a ag company it was a constant struggle every winter sand blasting and painting. I really don't think there is anything that will hold up to fertilizer. I had one set of grain trailers that I custom converted to stainless hoppers, there still going. It only takes one chip in the paint or coating and away it goes. Even powder coating, one chip and it will boil underneath and soon lift a area one foot square. High psi hot pressure washing after every use seems the best. IMO
The POR15 system works well for me.
I've become a big fan of the POR15 too, we've even been using it for wastewater stuff. Plus it seems to still be available. That Rust-Oleum rust converter stuff seems to work pretty good for quick and dirty stuff. Knock off the heavy stuff and spray. I use a lot of fluid film too.
I’m convinced the lanolin-based coatings like Fluid-Film, are the real deal. I use it as a undercoat on new pickup upfits. It does wash off, after time. It’s inexpensive. I’ve used it as a spray wax and wipe for a quick shine on equipment that gets stored outside or on docks. Easy to re-apply. Even appears to be a decent choice for battery terminals.
Very recently bought a what appeared to be a nice 2007 KW T300 with 13’ IMT Dominator body and 6025 crane. I purchased from an auction lot in southern Florida at a price that allowed for plenty of work to be done if needed. Flew down from Indiana to pick her up and upon my arrival found out that it came from the Cincinnati area of Ohio originally. Needless to say the rust on the tool body was plenty and had been shot over with paint to cover. Got it home and after the sickening feeling wore off, set to work making it right. Stripped tool body down, cut all rust through spots out and welded new steel in. Scraped all the spots that weren’t rusted though and used POR15 there. Bottom channel of all doors on curb slide of tool body we’re pushed out with rust scale so badly they would hardly close. Cut the majority of them off and patched in new sheet metal, no easy task as these are all crimped doors with no welded seams from the factory. Did body work and shot with a fresh coat of DuPont Imron 5000 paint and now it’s ready to reassemble. Rust can definitely be fixed but it takes a lot of time and resources to do it right. I’ve had pretty good luck with the POR15 in the past as I used it on my 02 Ford frame 3 years ago and is holding up well.
We hit a lot of stuff with Fluid-film and it helps. For repaints Por-15 over a phoshpho rust convertor is pretty good. A really good topcoat like Imron is good with or without the Por-15 underneath. Good quality epoxy primer underneath. Regardless, it is all about the prep work.
Always scuff sandblasted steel with maroon Scotchbrite after, it knocks the hi spots that want to stick up thru primers . When I want it to last use Corlar primer followed by Imron industrial to p coat.
Ospho makes a good spot treatment with little to no prep. I would knock off any scaly/flaking rust first.
Try NH oil undercoating for rust prevention. That stuff is thick and doesn't drip like conventional oil, and doesn't wash off as easy as fluid film. They even have a heavier option that's almost like grease for areas like wheel wells and such. They also have a black version and it makes it look like you just painted your frame