Painting over the rust stuff.

[Brandons]

Finnaly one of the explorers with the most rust underneath is getting a make over. Ive started to sand/scrape/mutilate any rust and paint it. Its looking good now, but its not even close to being done. I got most of the front end done, and hope to be completely done by friday. I'll make a writeup when im done painting. heres some pics.

Before and After
Front

Before and After
Front left shock, spring, shock mount, and brake caliper painted silver.

I put the truck in the barn so that i could paint it without overspray.

These are my Jackstands

Thats all for now, writeup someday soon. Even though its probably not needed, some might find some stuff usefull.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Your jackstands are dangerous. Those blocks have been know to break. They were designed to do the supporting on the side that you have on the side. Turn the blocks and use some wood to spread the load accross the complete top of the block. Or better yet, dont use them.

 

[Brandons]

thanks man, that could probably save my life

 

[X~FACTOR]

Did you have to disassemble the parts before painting or you painted them as is?

 

[bates]

looks great! what kind of paint you using? hope it lasts through one of our winters!

 

[Redrig]

yes please turn those blocks over. also looks very good. keep the pics an dinfo coming.

 

[VairKing]

Originally posted by redrig
yes please turn those blocks over. also looks very good. keep the pics an dinfo coming.

Or better yet, just go to walmart and get a set of stands...They are pretty cheap and can easily pay for themselves over and over again if the truck were to fall on you...

 

[Brandons]

hey if the truck falls on me, and i die, why would i care then? lolol

yeah im not gonna be under the truck at all, and these bricks are quite durable, the truck was on them all winter, in the same way as now.

As for the part painting X-Factor, most stuff i took off and painted seperatly, but the shocks were not worth it, cause they would be getting replaced anyway someday, same with the mount, and trying to pull the shocks/springs off would break everything, so mainly as is. When i paint the rest i will most likely leave all the stuff on (except the skid plate i already painted). That is easier, and it doesnt require as much time/broken bolts from taking the pieces off. I would have loved to lift the body off and completely re do the frame/ body underpaint, but i dont have the tools or time to.

Hopefully those bricks will hold out, right now all the force (as in the pic) is mainly going to be on the center piller which it direcltly under were the trucks resting, so it should hold out for now, i dont plan on bashing it with anything.

 

[Redrig]

ok, but were just saying there stronger the other way.

 

[Brandons]

yeah i wouldnt doubt that for one second.... in fact i think when i get the front done, il put the wheels back on and put heavier bricks under, i got ones with 2 in the middle instead of 1, or is it 3 in the middle, i cant remember, thanks for the help with that guys. My only problem with changing these blocks is that i wont be able to get the wheels back on, cause the jack just barely lifted it high enough to get the wheels off the ground.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Those pillars are not ment to be any support. They are to seperate the block. The support comes from the 4 sides. Buy em books & send em to school.....
If you cant get the jack to go higher put a brick or wood under the jack.

 

[Brandons]

i dont really think that there weak enough to crumple under the wieght of the front of the truck.. no matter what way they are.

 

[Brandons]

More pics

Ok today is the second day of work, well painting, i think, damn time flys, heres some more pics! I left the masking tape on so i can do a few more coats of paint.

Finnaly i get to painting the yellow on. I had to use a brush for this stuff;

Heres another shot;

This is the right front suspension/beam/whatever you want to call it;

Heres a pic from the front;

And one of the muffler and side of the frame;

Hopefully the front end will be done by tomorrow, should i paint the little metal things that connect to the frame for the sway bar silver?

 

[93xltnewb]

gj
i like the yellow and the black...

 

[Bill Kemp]

http://www.theautoist.com/floor_jacks_101.htm
http://members.iweb.net.au/~pstorr/resto/safety.htm

 

[Brandons]

yeah the concrete blocks i have are exaclty like that that site described to use if any. You cannot lift these with one hand, let alone move them very far with both.

 

[Brandons]

Front end done

At last after 3 days of painting and sanding rust, i got the front end finished, i might patch it up after im done the back.



So heres the pics of the front

Front left suspension

Looking from the front

Front right suspension

Frame under the left

Fuel tank shield + frame on left

So now its off to working on the back, i plan to pull the shocks and sway bar off so i can paint them and get easier acess to the axle, hell i might try an SOA conversion and put it back to normal just for fun, and i can paint the parts seperately. As you could probably tell, the back end is the worst.

 

[tomblin1]

Damn!!
You have made me want to go clean the "grime" out from under me 93'. Man that color looks good!!!

Good luck!

 

[Brandons]

Thanks, the actual colours were "holland yellow"(yellow) rust paint, and then "aluminum"(silver) rust paint, i also used Unival Rubberized paint (black), it is suppose to hold up well against salt .

 

[zavetsky]

Longevity

Good luck with keeping this nice paint job that way.

I spent hours last summer under my 94 X cleaing rust from the floor pans and priming and spraying....This year it is all back.

Unless you are sand/bead blasting, rust will pop through after a while....rust sucks.

Looks nice for as long as it does though.....