Painted Undercarriage (8.8" Axle & Springs) | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Painted Undercarriage (8.8" Axle & Springs)

I wish I would of painted all the suspension and undercarriage parts before I installed the lift kit; but I was too excited to get the kit on and make sure those 34's were going to fit.

Well, now I finally got the time to do it, and well I wanted to show you all as well. I've seen a few post about "what to paint my underbody with" or something of that nature. Here's another write up by me: :p


What Is Exactly Needed:

I used a truck bed coating for the painting, but you can use anything such as just black spray paint, rustoleum, undercoating, POR15, or you can expensive and get it powdercoated :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
You will also need something to tape up such things as your differential cover (unless you are painting your steel cover) or shocks. I covered up my sway-bar links, shocks and diff cover. Everything got painted except those stated, and the dust shields on the rear brakes (you'll see).

What Parts Exactly:

- Dupli-Color Truck Bed Coating
- A Can Of Black Paint Or Similar
- Masking Tape
- Newspaper Or Similar

NOTE: I used ramps to drive the rear wheels on so I could get underneath the vehicle as well. I would also recommend a roll-a-round creeper so you can move easily.


Let Us Get Started:

You will basically just need to spray down and scrub dirt, dust, debris, whatever can be removed before painting off of the surface. I would recommend a powerwasher if accessable. I have one at work, but I just sprayed it off with the hose and took a few rags and brushes to get rid of most of the stuff. Some I didn't even bother about -- it doesn't have to be perfect -- remember, you are saving tons by doing it yourself and not getting it powdercoated. So do not look for a professional job once you are finished.

Ok, after everything is somewhat clean and dry, tape up everything you need to cover up. Having enough protection should NOT be a problem. For example, your differential cover, use tape for the edges so you know paint won't get through that, and then just cover the other exposed areas with a few sheets of newspaper. The edges are what you need to watch for because that is where most of your aim will be at and the more chance of a "spray-on" will be. The newspaper will probably just take overspray or just a light load of paint.

Before you start going spray happy, check everything again to make sure you didn't miss anything. Once you got it all good and ready to go -- start painting with the black spray paint or similar to get a type of base coat. Then, when you are happy with that and have let that dry a little, pick up the good stuff and paint over that.

Let dry and then take another look to see if you missed anything. If you missed something, no big deal - shake the can up and go finish it. This project is very easy and I think anyone with a steady hand could do this. Good luck.


-Drew
 

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J602. do you have a problem with that lower shock mount location. Seems to me there was a reason I didnt do that but cant remember it off hand. I am using the upper bolt location of the sway bar brackets. Works great.
 



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You mean the location where the shocks are now? Yes. They only have about 2 - 3" of uptravel before they bottom out. I plan on moving them to the swaybar bracket soon. Do you still have you swaybar on? I'd like to know whether the shocks will fit on the bracket with the bar sitll on.
 






Yes they will fit.
 






I like the look on all those rigs. I'm thinking of doing mine soon. Good thread!
 






TheRookie said:
Yes they will fit.

Great! I might just move them tonight.
 






Looks real good, and kind of looks like mine.
 






I'm gonna have to paint mine sometime soon. It looks horrible.
 






It's a real easy mod. I've had it painted for awhile now, and it still looks similar after all these weeks. I don't know if the truck bead coating is different than just rustoleum, but a good powerwash should clean it up once it gets real dirty - and touch up is easy!

-Drew
 






Well I think it's time to paint the underbody... I have have just a couple questions though. First, is there a lot of overspray, i.e. do I need to cover the sides of the car with newspaper? I really dont want to get the paint on the side of the car. Also, which paint do you guys recommend more, the dupli-color or rustoleum?
 






type of paint will be preference to you -- I would go with the Duplicolor. Also, there was not much overspray with the duplicolor can. Good luck.

-Drew
 






i like the look of those too, i want to take my running boards plug in all the screw holes and spray some sort of bedliner like that instead of have it painted. i saw some guys explorer who did that with herculiner and it looked real good...
 






I went and bought 2 cans of the duplicolor stuff... I think I am gonna use some rustoleum first then put the duplicolor as the finish coat. I really like the looks of your clear gearz cover! That looks awesome. Thanks for all the help, i'll keep ya posted on how it turns out.
 












All I did was tape things off. The paint doesn't really "soak deep" so a sheet of newspaper over something should be enough to protect from over spray (just don't go crazy on it).

-Drew
 






Anyone else done this? Anyone try different color?

-Drew
 






All i will say, is i hate the rubber undercoating paint. All the mud sticks right to it and it isnt the strongest paint to use as well. Next time i do it im sticking with tremclad plain ol paint.

Also my tie rods and sway bars i painted yellow, along with brake lines, then silver for the springs and shocks.
 






Sounds like some crazy colors. I at first bought the rubberized undercoating, but man did that stuff suck. So I just took it back and got a refund then bought the bed liner stuff. It's holding up pretty well

-Drew
 






hello i know this is a very old tread but its the closest one i could find to what im looking to do.. what would i have to do first if the parts are rusty i mean real RUSTY, do i have to start pulling it apart and tackle these bits one at a time or can i just clean it up real good and then paint?????
thanks for any input
Danny
 






Start with a liquid rust penetrating spray, such as Rust Dissolver by Eastwood. Almost no rust products except that will reach rust in seams. If you simply coat over rust(think about what is in those seams), the rust comes back. Kill it first, then convert it and/or coat it with top coating products. I am just partial to the Eastwood stuff, they have the best of most things you could want.
 



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Start with a liquid rust penetrating spray, such as Rust Dissolver by Eastwood. Almost no rust products except that will reach rust in seams. If you simply coat over rust(think about what is in those seams), the rust comes back. Kill it first, then convert it and/or coat it with top coating products. I am just partial to the Eastwood stuff, they have the best of most things you could want.

hey thanks for the reply, so if i got this right i dont have to take it apart, just soak the heck out if it first? can i use something like pb buster? then can i just brush and hose it off to get it ready for paint???
sorry for all the questions but i just wanna do it right the first time and i know a paint job is only as good as the perp work
would this work???
http://www.amazon.com/Mar-Hyde-One-Step-Converter-Primer-aerosol/dp/B0009LPJ0Q
Thanks again
Danny
 






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