So here I am... day after a tooth extraction and going nuts in the house.

Queue a light duty job! 😆

Subject of the day is my old 317,xxx mile inherited SE-5. This old truck has a miss matched tailgate, that I hate. Drags the truck down.
Over the next couple of days, in between advils, I am going to change that look.


Grandpa used this truck for everything, including his scrap metal ventures. 😬
I even drove it as a teenager, but now I am at 40 yrs old and feel as though I should apologize to it regularly. 😁

This was my thrown together anti-bed slider. Kept the gas can and stuff in place, usually.


Time for some degreaser... I have this and a stiff brush on a stick. (That damn tailgate 🤮 )

 

Cleaned up... and above you can see the 2 most worrisome spots of rust. Around the bedmounts of course. 😃

Poor thing is beat up and rusty. Any tall 7 year old can see that! 😆

 

I almost forgot my favorite tool for summer in N.C. This thing quickly takes care of those nuance flying insects. I carry it everywhere on the property!

We are preparing for something. I placed an order...🤔




This is Rusfre no.1013 it is a rubberized rust inhibitor sound deadening brush on coating. Meant for fenderwells and frames.
I haven't used it before now, and I guess you can see where this is leading...

It looks like roofing tar... I like it! 😆

 

Here is the first coat with the large roller. I will have to get a smaller roller for the bedsides and a brush for the cracks. Overall it looks WAYYY better, and better than I expected.
The Rusfre is also a sound deadening material, so I can't wait to see those effects also.

I have a 4" roller and brush so I can finish this prep work.

A sharp eye may notice that I skipped the tailgate altogether. 🤔

 

Here it is all rolled out, the 4" roller works great. Just need to touch-up the cracks and crevices.

The kid helped me after I got tired.
He pulled the killed tailgate and bent/rusty rear bumper off and frame horns.

I need to find some material to cap off those frame horn holes in the roll pan. I think I got some thick black plastic sheets somewhere.

I will finish coating the bed inside and roll the coating just over the edge where the tape is now. Since all the scratches are showing in that area, already.

I am amazed how much shorter the truck looks overall. And I think I may have to turn the front torsion bars up a little in the front. The rear rose up after loosing all that weight.
Probably around 100 pounds total.

Anybody know if they have Curt/Reese style hitches for these trucks? Might need one. 😆

 

Still not done yet...

 

All finished with the touch-ups! I still need to cut out the 2 plastic squares to cover where the frame horns passed through the rear pan.

But here it is... a different look than the work horse that it once was...

The venture costed me about $75 total.
$40 for the Rusfre no.1013
$10 in rollers/brushes
$25 for the pronet
We won't count the tooth they took for me to have the extra time home! 😆

What do you think about it? 🤔

 

I liked working with the rusfre. The 4" roller is the way to go. I also did some smearing with the chip brush and then texturing with the roller last.

I started working with a hot bed in the sun, but the rusfre became tacky too quick. It is also solvent base, so it softens previous layers.

I put it on thick and still only used about 3 quarts. I also assume there is no u.v. protection to the rusfre. So fingers crossed that the black may fade to a gray and blend into the truck better. Time will tell... 🤔

That's it for my post tooth extraction project! In my opinion... the truck looks MUCH better.
Maybe I should cram some underbody lights up under the bedrail edges, light the whole bed through the pronet. 😆

 

Looking really good. Well done.

 

You did a fine job there MM!