Rust

[ken richardson]

Gents,

What is the best way to handle rust on the M416. My trailer is in really good condition witht the majority of rust being in the bottom of the bed. There is more paint there than rust to give you an idea. All of the rust is surface in nature with not rot.

The underside is for the most part rust free as is the frame. Just a few spots here and there.

I want to paint the frame black and do something else with the box but not sure yet which color.

I dont want to sand blast as I dont thing it needs it nor do I want to incure the cost. In addition, I dont really see any point in grinding all the paint off since the vast majority has held up fine. (camo scheme)

What are your thoughts on grinding just the rusty spots and entire bed bottom, then priming the entire thing, frame and box, on top of the existing paint and newly grinded rusty spots, and then painting.

I would like to get the best finish and duarability as possible without the expense and headache of taking everything to bare metal.

Thoughts please.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[UK4X4]

Just use a grinder with a light flap disc.......now whats a flap disc in american....



Its not a hard wheel it has a hard base with multiple layers of zirconia gritted cloth.

I use the dewalt ones as they last longer and don't self destruct during use

 

[adrenaline503]

Its called a sand disk over here, the Dewalt ones are great. Norton also makes a line of disks that look like coral, I got the blue one. It blasted through surface rust on my wheelbarrow, it doesn't clog since its so porous.

 

[mjm]

You may need to wear a good quality dust mask if you sand. Your trailer may be painted with CARC paint. It is nasty stuff that can cause health problems.

The ridges in the floor are a pain to grind!

 

[lowenbrau]

You may need to wear a good quality dust mask if you sand. Your trailer may be painted with CARC paint. It is nasty stuff that can cause health problems.

The ridges in the floor are a pain to grind!

x2

That paint is really hard on you. I can't help but modify my military stuff and the green fumes that come off when you grind and weld reminds me of something from 'ghostbusters' I'm fortunate to have an DIY industrial sandblasting place nearby and I can blast a trailer clean in a couple of hours.

The British Military train here in Alberta and their surplus stuff comes up at auction every now and again. They seem to have a policy never to remove old paint but to paint over (and over and over) any problems.

 

[mjm]

Although not an error free test...you can rub an area of the paint with a thinner dampened cloth,to test if the paint is CARC. If you get a color transfer you probably do not have CARC. If you get no transfer, you may have CARC and should take precautions.

It bothers me that my soldiers used to touch up paint our equipment with that paint and a paintbrush.

 

[stick]

I plan to use POR-15 on mine. Just knock the loose rust off with a wire brush on a drill or angle grinder and put POR-15 over the rust. The POR-15 actually bonds better to rust than it does bare metal. I'll paint over the POR-15 to finish it off.

POR-15 website: http://www.stoprust.net/

 

[fireflyr]

I used paint stripper from Home Depot and a sand blaster I bought from Harbor Freight to romove the paint and rust. My trailer was built in 1951 (M100) so I don't think CARC paint was being used at that time. I would think it would be more of a problem with M416s and C101s. I could be wrong. The metal under the paint looked great after the blaster.

They must have used some pretty high grade steel back then.

 

[IH8RDS]

I plan to use POR-15 on mine. Just knock the loose rust off with a wire brush on a drill or angle grinder and put POR-15 over the rust. The POR-15 actually bonds better to rust than it does bare metal. I'll paint over the POR-15 to finish it off.

POR-15 website: http://www.stoprust.net/

That is exactly what I did. You have to top coat the POR-15 because it has little or no uv protectant. I topcoated it with rustolium.

 

[Ireland]

Did the CDN M101 use CARC paint?
A little worried after sanding a fair bit on mine

 

[Willman]

4" Grinder, Wire wheel, and dust mask.......This is what i use!

Works great to get down to the bear metal!

:snorkel:

 

[IH8RDS]

When I used the sanding disk with the angle grinder, it did the job to well. Dug to deep into the metal. Wire wheel + angle grinder = great results

 

[Robert Bills]

What is the best way to handle rust on the M416. My trailer is in really good condition . . . All of the rust is surface in nature with no rot. . .

I dont want to sand blast as I dont thing it needs it nor do I want to incure the cost. . .

What are your thoughts on grinding just the rusty spots and entire bed bottom, then priming the entire thing, frame and box, on top of the existing paint and newly grinded rusty spots, and then painting. . . .

Do you already have a compressor and air tools? If not, do you already have a high quality electric angle grinder or disk sander?

If you already have the proper tools, you can use products like these:

If you have never done metal work, auto body or painting, this might be a good investment:

One question you should answer is "What is the value of my time?" You can spend hours and hours grinding and sanding, or you can pay someone to media blast or do the grinding/sanding for you while you spend that time earning a living.

If you don't need to take off all the paint and don't care about a perfect finish, then grinding/sanding the bad spots and coating with a good rust inhibiting primer and then sanding primer should be sufficient. Although POR 15 is popular as a rust inhibitor, there are other rust inhibiting primers available that are less expensive, easier to apply, and will provide good results. (Note: In the mid-1960's I repainted the family Bantam trailer for my dad in the vacant lot next door. In those days, one could buy zinc chromate primer anywhere, the best anti-rust primer available. I sanded the bad spots and re-primed top and bottom with zinc chromate and then sanding primer before painting the trailer to match our jeep. There was no rust when my father gave me the trailer 30 years later. Although zinc chromate primer is supposedly unavailable anywhere these days, it can still be purchased at places like Aircraft Spruce so long as you don't tell them it is for automotive use.)

If you don't want to media blast, and your time is valuable, you can do what I did when I had my Bantam trailer repainted in 2005 - go to a place like One-Day or Maaco and see if you can hire one of their guys "off the books" and have him do the prep work after hours for cash. The manager at the local One-Day had a young employee with a family who needed extra money, willing to prep my trailer after hours for $200. Money well spent.