Rust Help

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JayPeeWhy

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Mar 12, 2012
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After a 5,000 road salt fest driving from BC I arrived in Tucson covered in a thick blanket of grey crust.

My 1 year old and rust free trailer now has rust on the scissor jacks and some around the hitch area. Also on the Equal-izer L brackets where the sway bars rub.

What is the best way to clean, remove and stop rust?

So far I have WD40'd the scissor jacks, run them back and forth a bit and then lubed with silicone. Did that yesterday. I was surprised by how quickly everywhere has rusted.
 
    Can't remember the name, but most RV shops sell a spray that will remove rust and protect against further rust.  You'll have to go in and ask at the parts counter, or someone with a better memory than me will jump in with the name.

Ed
 
Go to any auto supply store and get some Naval Jelly.  Brush on, it will neturalize the rust, and you can then apply paint and/or grease as appropriate.
 
Gemplers has a rust convertor that neutralizes surface rust and converts it to a primer that can be painted. Works very well
 
For rusted stuff I would wire wheel as much as possible off then spray paint as much as possible.

Like myself I live in Idaho where salt is used for snow and ice control. My vehicles are not rusty or rusted up. The biggest thing is if you operating in salt environment make sure to wash the vehicles often. The longer the salt and mud is left in contact with body metals and frame it will start rusting fast. So I wash my truck every weekend when the weather is mild enough. But still fairly rust free for 10 year truck!  8)
 
Their are dozens of brands of "rust converters", which use phosphoric acid  to convert rust (iron oxide) to iron phosphate.  I use the Ospho brand myself, but most any hardware store or home center will have one brand or another. Clean with a wire brush and use the converter to stop any traces of rust that remain. Then paint with a good quality primer and color coat.

If the rust is light, just the wire brush and a anti-rust primer, e.g. red lead, is usually sufficient, but use the rust converter if there is deep pitting or rust that cannot be brushed away.
 
I've been crawling under my Class C for various reasons, and noticing a lot of surface rust (especially on my hubs & rims, under my hubcaps).  My rig's 9 yrs old, and has been parked outside probably all of that time, most recently under a cover "RV sack" in the hottest months (in S Texas).

Any issues just hitting all the surface rust with rust converter (quite a few cans I imagine) and not painting over it?  It's all underneath, so I'm not worried about looks.  Everything I see is surface rust only, but I'd like to keep driving this rig for a long time.  I don't want to be dealing with more serious rust problems in 15 yrs.

 
Rust converters and rattle can primers are absorbent. I believe flat paint is absorbent also. Follow up with a satin finish black underneath. If you use gloss you might not notice the shiny wetness under a new leak. Don't use rattle can undercoat. It just hides the creeping rust. Rust never sleeps. Just get a big box to lay on, a rattle can or two of paint and take a nap under there, once or twice a year.
Bill
 
Any kind of satin spray paint, or something specific to auto/ metal, like rustoleum?  I rather go through a bunch of spray cans than fiddle with a paint brush laying on my back :)

-Thanks
 
Rustoleum makes an aerosol undercoat that is supposed to arrest rust.
 
Any spray paint that has a high zinc content will stop rust. Brush off the big stuff like chips etc, wire brush off the smaller stuff and blow all the dust off. Prime with a high zinc primer, then follow up with a high zinc gloss color of your choice. I think Home Depot had the best deal on it last time I needed some. We spend a lot of time at the ocean and it works very well. The sooner you catch it obviously the less work it will be.
 

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