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Norcal Frame Rust Cleanup Shop

Discussion in 'California' started by oogabooga289, Mar 5, 2022.

  1. Mar 5, 2022 at 12:15 AM
    #1
    oogabooga289

    oogabooga289 [OP] New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2019
    Member:
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    I've moved back to the SF bay area after a number of years in the Midwest, and my Tundra made the trip back with me. It's spent its entire life in the rust belt, and despite my best efforts of keeping it garaged and washed during the winter as much as I could with young kids running my life and actually needing to drive it in awful weather, it still has frame rust.

    I've done some work under this thing over the years, so I'm well acquainted with the rust chips falling into my mouth and the hideous orange coating at all the weld seams. And while the rust seizes up bolts and makes a 30 minute job turn into a 3 hour+ job, it doesn't appear to have any rust holes in the frame or anything catastrophically bad. At least by Midwest or North East standards for this vintage. You guys would probably think it was parked in the ocean for the past 14 years.

    It's a 2008 with less than 60k miles on it, and I'd like to keep it around for now. That being said, I want to get all of the loose frame rust removed (wire wheel/needle scaler/etc.), have the surface rust converted (ex. phosphoric acid), and maybe even coated afterward to make it look half-way decent. I have been telling myself I'd do this for years, but obviously it hasn't happened. This is extremely time consuming and dirty work if the body is not off frame and easy to access. This is probably a tall ask for CA where 40 year old cars look like they drove off the lot underneath, but I figured I'd ask the local group, anyway.

    Is there somewhere in the SF bay area (preferably south bay area) that provides this service? I'd be willing to go hours away and drop it off for as long as they'd need if the service was legit. Even if it's just removing all the loose rust in all the nooks and crannies of the frame and components attached to it. If they provide a rust converter service and a prime/paint/POR-15 style coating, even better. I just want a thorough job to get rid of and stop the rust once and for all now that my Tundra is finally out of the brutal salt roads of the Midwest. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Mar 5, 2022 at 10:43 AM
    #2
    DW707

    DW707 2007 Tundra Driver / Cool dude

    Joined:
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    07 Tundra DC. BDS 4.5 inch lift. Icon alloy Rebound 17" rims. 315/70 R17 Sony AX7000.
    For what it's worth, I recently was in a similar position. One difference being my truck was never in the rust belt but I live within a quarter mile of the ocean (also nor Cal) where everything rusts bad. I wanted to clean up my frame and started into it with a wire brush, acid etc because there is no one who does it anywhere around here.

    In the end, I gave up on getting it all off and bought a bunch of fluid film and sprayed everything really well. With good coverage the rust is completely stopped in its tracks since it penetrates so well and displaces moisture. I got the kind that is tinted black so the bottom of the truck basically looks brand new, albeit with a wet look, but I like it.

    I guess I convinced myself there was no point to more acid and wire brushing. All it does is remove more metal. Spraying with FF was easy to do and cheap. Maybe in a year I will pressure wash it all off and re-assess. I have heard it does actually remove some of the rust by penetrating down to to the metal all though that's not its purpose or why I bought it.

    I guess it would be nice to have a perfectly scrubbed frame and then coat it with cosmoline or something a little less messy that has a clean dry look but it is a lot of extra cost and work.

    I'm happy with how the truck looks and very confident there will be zero additional rusting for the foreseeable future so I'm considering it a pragmatic fix.

    Good luck finding someone if that's still what you decide to do, you might have more luck in the bay area (or just pay some Joe to do it) I'm pretty far north and it just wasnt worth the trouble.
     
    oogabooga289[OP] likes this.
  3. Mar 5, 2022 at 12:02 PM
    #3
    oogabooga289

    oogabooga289 [OP] New Member

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    I appreciate the response. I forgot about ocean-related rust. There may be hope, yet, in getting some more responses as thorough as yours.

    I'm definitely with you on FF being pretty good stuff. I did it for a couple of years, but I always found myself wishing I had a proper air compressor and spray system. When I did use it, I just get a ton of FF in spray cans. And inevitably, it'd be done right at the onset of winter where it'd be so cold it'd spray poorly and my trigger finger would freeze up. Not by any fault of the product - just my poor planning and weakness.

    After coming back to CA and seeing the gas prices, commercial registration, absurdly tiny parking spots, and admiring all of the rust-free vehicles, I thought I'd just sell the truck and get something else through gritted teeth. But I think I can overlook all those things if I felt confident the frame and drivetrain will last. And I think a more permanent solution (cleaning the frame) that I don't have to maintain yearly is what would give me that confidence and compensate for my lack of discipline to FF every year. Would I get any different results compared to using FF? Probably not. But I'm hoping it's a buy-once-cry-once situation to get this rectified for good.
     
    DW707[QUOTED] likes this.
  4. Mar 8, 2022 at 6:57 PM
    #4
    oogabooga289

    oogabooga289 [OP] New Member

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    To give an idea of the level of rust I'm trying to get rid of. I didn't get any shots inside the C-channel frame which would be the most pain to get to.






     
  5. Apr 7, 2022 at 8:12 PM
    #5
    Cruzer

    Cruzer Wheeling Full Size

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    Sunnyvale, CA
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    Build Page: Cruzer's Re-Build for the Rubicon
    Wow that's pretty gnarly but I think it's DIY doable. Get yourself a portable sand blaster. Quick search on Amazon turned up this thing:
    https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Abra...6703&sprefix=sand+blaster,aps,173&sr=8-5&th=1

    Remove the bed and go to town on the back half. There's Youtube videos on how to remove the bed.
    The front half will take a lot more work but it's doable. This guy was able to lower the frame from the cab without having to completely disconnect the engine - pretty ingenious I think. Only have to disconnect the front drive shaft, the power steering tube, brake lines, provide support for the transmission & TC, and then hoist up the engine to disconnect the engine mounts.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urqq8FbVvb0&list=PL1dqFNXG1wm1kg1Jkthb5vL433OjYohM8&index=9
     
  6. Apr 8, 2022 at 11:17 AM
    #6
    oogabooga289

    oogabooga289 [OP] New Member

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    What those guys achieved in that video was impressive. I DIY'd all of the work done on the truck so far, and the thought of dealing with all the rusted and broken bolts required to drop the frame gives me nightmares. I've switched to all battery powered tools, and there have been a number of bolts on this thing an M18 High Torque impact wouldn't even budge with copious amounts of heat and penetrant. If I could snap my fingers and have the frame off the truck, I'd buy a massive air compressor and portable sand blaster you linked in a heartbeat.

    Or hopefully there's a shop around here who can tackle the job :fingerscrossed:
     
    Cruzer[QUOTED] likes this.

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