Frame rust removal with bed off

Finally got around to removing the bed to get a good look at the condition of the frame, and everything else down there.
The good news is that whatever undercoating got applied years ago (maybe at the dealer?) has done a good job for 30+ years, the bad news is that the areas that the undercoating did not cover, basically anything on the top side of the frame and out of view from below paid the price.

You can see on the second picture the line where the undercoating ended, and all the rust above it. Overall not too bad, but there are some gnarly parts that need some serious attention. There's a few spot where the metal is flaking, that can't be good.

This is my plan, would like to hear if you all think it makes sense or if I should consider other options:

1. Hit the rusted up areas with a wire brush attachment on a drill until I get most of it out
2. Use some kind of rust reformer to stop the corrosion from getting worse
3. Cover the frame and other metal parts with a fresh coat of undercoating
4. Probably do a fuel filter delete since on my specific configuration (2 gen, short bed, single cab, carburated) the filter is almost impossible to reach otherwise, and I have another filter on the line inside the engine compartment
5. Maybe do a rear differential fluid change (it looks like it's leaking) since it easy to reach now


Some questions for you:

1. Am I missing anything? Should I be doing something else while I got the bed off?
2. What is the best product to use to stop the rust? Would rustoleum suffice, or do I need something stronger, especially on the flaky parts, like rust-mort? Something else?
3. Do you all see any areas of real concern in these photos? Anything that I should have a welder address?

Thanks, and sorry for so many photos

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I'd use something more powerful than a drill to wire brush it. I'm think 4" grinder. Also use a strong scraper to get the flaky pieces the wire wheel misses out. Any rust left behind and not reformed will grow again.

Edit- The rust reformer I used when I rebuilt the inside of my bed to Raptor coat it was Skyko Ospho. $20 gallon. It does real well on horizontal surfaces on verticals you have to repeatedly coat it until everything that will convert to black oxide converts. You want to get all the loose stuff you can get off and that includes the stuff that isn't loose but is flaky if you go at it with a tool because it is like water but won't necessarily penetrate a bunch of flaky layers and only convert the top. If you can afford it I like Tortron's idea for having it sand blasted. Por 15 is very expensive but I have never heard a bad word about it. https://www.por15.com/

Get it media blasted, then 2k urethane primer sealer.

Theres a coule of places over here that blast and then electrogalv, same technique as drilling platforms, guaranteed for 30 years but expected to last 50 even if you park it in the ocean. quite expensive though.

Thats about what the frame of mine looked like when I had my bed off and its a california truck, so that actually looks like its in pretty good shape, although its good you are wanting to get rid of the rust before it gets to be a problem. If you want a DIY solution, I would use a paint stripping wheel and then there is a product I have heard good things about called POR-15. They say it can be applied to rusted metal but I wouldn't recommend it since I have heard that it can make things worse or just flake off. I am wanting to use it on my truck next time I have the bed off (read probably never:rolleyes: ). I didn't have any at the time though so I used some really old scotch brand paint from probably 50 years ago and it has held up surprisingly well, although I seriously plan on doing something better like the POR-15 stuff. I wonder if they make a long fan nozzle to do the inside of the frame, so it doesn't rust from the inside? I ran a garden hose in my frame and lots of sediment came out of the drain holes on mine.

If media blasting isn’t an option, an angle grinder with a sanding disk on the flatter surfaces will be faster than a wire wheel and drill. For the hard to reach places, consider using an oscillating tool with a metal cutting blade to scrape off the rust.

Por15 is ok, but nothing compares to 2k urethane. Don't worry too much about the isocyanates, they are relatively low in primer. Wear overalls and gloves and paint it on with a brush, very safe.

The time and mess and noise saved by getting someone else to blast it is well worth it

Go 100% send the frame to be made new -- or DIY, try needle gun fast & effective then rust convertor then wash and dry then spray epoxy primer paint then spray 2 part epoxy final color coat paint then in critical areas spray quality undercoat or truck bed coating -- fun fix not :thumbdown:

Your gonna need to borrow rent or buy a good air compressor, 3.0GPM pressure washer & spray paint gun -- and space to make a damn mess without the neighbors complaining -- might be best to disassemble the frame and send it to a professionally equipped shop with warrantied work ???

Thanks for advice, everyone. Because of time, access, and budget constraints, media blasting was not an option so I used a grinder, steel brush and scraper.
Overall it wasn't bad, looked worse than it was. Even the areas that looked pretty bad it was mostly surface flaking, no structural damage I think.
I already did an oven cleaner pass to get rid of the grease before the rust converter, but I'll probably do some more cleaning tomorrow before I treat it.
Most of the converter manufacturers say that it shouldn't be applied to bare metal or painted surfaces, only rust, as the necessary chemical reaction wont take place. Easy enough to skip the big areas of bare metal and paint, but I'm not so sure how to go about the gas tank. It's mostly paint, and bare metal (after the oven cleaner), with a thousand little rusted pockmarks. Any suggestions?


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If it is Ospho it doesn't harm bare metal, it will dry to a white film. Ditto if it drips on cement or anything else.
From Wikipedia; Typical Ingredients

Commercial rust converters are water-based and contain two primary active ingredients: tannic acid [1] and an organic polymer. Tannic acid chemically converts the reddish iron oxides into bluish-black ferric tannate, a more stable material.[2] The second active ingredient is an organic solvent such as 2-butoxyethanol (ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, trade name butyl cellosolve) that acts as a wetting agent and provides a protective primer layer in conjunction with an organic polymer emulsion.[citation needed] Some rust converters may contain additional acids to speed up the chemical reaction by lowering the pH of the solution. A common example is phosphoric acid, which additionally converts some iron oxide into an inert layer of ferric phosphate.[3] Most of the rust converters contain special additives.[4] They support the rust transformation and improve the wetting of the surface.

You can try swimming pool stain/rust remover
https://www.amazon.com/Bosh-Chemical.../dp/B0777RKGCC

Home Depot Lowes Ace

While I'm waiting for the converter to cure, ready to paint tomorrow, I did a couple things.

First I deleted the factory fuel filter. In my truck configuration it's almost impossible to reach without having the bed off, so at some point the PO added one in the engine compartment but left the original in place. It was still letting gas through, but this is what came out of it:

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Then I changed the rear differential oil. My driveway is not completely leveled (maybe 5 degrees off) so I raised the back just a little to compensate. The service manual says that the differential's oil capacity is 1.3 liters, so close to 44 ounces. What drained out was around 57 ounces, and what went in was around 59 oz (filled it up to the edge of the fill hole).

It seems that it was overfilled to begin with (unless the manual is wrong), and that I managed to get an extra 2 oz over that when I refilled it. It's possible that I overcompensated when leveling the truck and the fill hole ended up higher than it should.

Is this something to be concerned about? It seemed to be doing fine with an extra 13 oz over the recommended amount, but now I'm 15 over.

One more thing to add, when draining the oil I lifted the driver side of the rear axle a bit, to get every little drop out of there from the drain hole on the passenger side of the differential. Is it possible that I got out more oil than would normally be extracted when doing an oil change and that's why I needed more to fill it up? That would explain the extra 2 oz, but not the other 13...

i can get it to level surface and open up the fill hole to let out any excess, but I thinking it won't be much, maybe the 2 oz, bit not the full 15.

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Also, I know the drain and fill plugs should not be too tight, but does anyone know the recommended specific torque? Service manual says nothing about it.

I'm gonna plead ignorance here - but what does the hose from the top of the differential housing to the frame rail do? And is all of that soup you drained out oil? There is no physical way it could be overfilled through the fill plug on the rear cover that much. Either the PO used the 'breather' (?) hose as a fill point or it's contaminated from water and garbage through that hose. And I'm pretty sure the fuel filter in the engine bay is OEM.

looks like an extended diff breather. power rams are 4wd arent they

bit of an odd place imo to let it breath to, but would keep the frame from rusting inside

Yes, that hose is the breather for the differential. That tube that it goes to on the frame is open on the sides.

I don't think it had been filled through the breather hole, when I removed the fill plug the level was were it's supposed to be, just to the bottom of the fill hole. And It's possible that this was still the original oil, manual sasy to replace at 40k miles, when I got the truck it had 20k.
Also, there's no water or any other obvious crap. Other than the color, it appears fairly clean (no residues or particles in it).

I also filled it through the fill hole to the bottom of the hole (although the back is slightly raised to compensate for the driveway not being leveled), so I didn't think I was overfilling it. The reason I'm questioning it is because the service manual says the capacity is 44 oz and mine took close to 60 oz, that's a big difference. Maybe the information on the manual is off? Wondering if anyone had a similar experience.

On second gen Ram 50's the OEM fuel filter is mounted on a clip right next to the gas tank. Very hard to reach so that's probably why most install one in the engine compartment later. Here is the diagram from the service manual, filter is #15

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Looks like it cleaned up well. On that picture of the gas tank from the left side top it looks like you also have a fuel filter in the normal place to the left of the picture there. That is the one in the diagram, a cylinder with an arm out either side top and bottom. That straight filter looks like something someone added. Anyway you should check that and save yourself the trouble of adding a new one in the engine bay and maybe eliminate the extra one next to the tank. Unless that is a rollover valve. Being on top it is unlikely to be a fuel supply or return which are both on the lower half and side of tank.

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Originally Posted by 85Ram50

Looks like it cleaned up well. On that picture of the gas tank from the left side top it looks like you also have a fuel filter in the normal place to the left of the picture there. That is the one in the diagram, a cylinder with an arm out either side top and bottom. That straight filter looks like something someone added. Anyway you should check that and save yourself the trouble of adding a new one in the engine bay and maybe eliminate the extra one next to the tank. Unless that is a rollover valve. Being on top it is unlikely to be a fuel supply or return which are both on the lower half and side of tank.

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Yeah, took a lot of scrubbing and scraping but I'm happy with the result.
The filter on the left of that picture is the original (now deleted), the other thing on top of the tank is the overfill limiter. I already have a filter in the engine compartment, where it's easy to check and replace, which is why I deleted the original.

Don't trust the manuals unless it's the Mitsubishi workshop bible. The number of times the stuff in the manuals is either missing info or is just straight wrong is frustrating. I have no idea where they source the data on fluid capacities and this is one where getting it wrong can turn out disastrous...

Your truck is in great shape for being a NY vehicle ~ it's a wonder it survived salted roads..! Or, did you buy it & ship it from Arizona..? ;) I'm a little envious, it's got high back bucket seats & a cab light for the bed area... Sharp..!

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Originally Posted by xboxrox

Your truck is in great shape for being a NY vehicle ~ it's a wonder it survived salted roads..! Or, did you buy it & ship it from Arizona..? ;) I'm a little envious, it's got high back bucket seats & a cab light for the bed area... Sharp..!

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Thanks, George. It lived in PA before NY. It's still in pretty good shape, and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as I can, which is why I took on this pain in the ass project :)
Don't have bucket seat though, it's a bench with large headrests.

I'm done with this project. It took a lot of work, but I was expecting that. All in all I'm pleased with it, I'm sure it's not a "lifetime warranty" type of job, but I think it probably added a few years to this trucks expected shelf life. I treated and repainted every inch of the rear portion of the frame (the front is next) and every element attached to it, I also did the underside of the bed. The bed goes back on tomorrow.

I'll probably take the bed off again in a couple years to do some retouching as necessary.

As always, thanks for the advice.

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Looks fresh dude - worth the effort :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by geezer101

Looks fresh dude - worth the effort :thumbup:

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Thank you, felt good to get it done. Next I'm taking off one of fenders to deal with some minor rocker rust situation before it gets out of hand.

Looks very good.

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Originally Posted by MrPaco

:)Don't have bucket seat though, it's a bench with large headrests.

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Dang..! You got the best seat..! WOW that undercarriage is looking new, awesome job..!

I had to finish the job but there's no way I was taking the cab off to take care of the front end of the frame and the other components. I did the best I could by raising the front, removing wheels and mud guards and scrubbing away at all the places I could reach, everything except the exhaust. Followed up with oven cleaner degreasing treatment and power wash, then rust reformer and undercoating. Hopefully this will keep any significant rust away for a few years.

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I also removed the fenders to reach the front of the rocker panels and deal with some rust that was starting to eat away at the sheet metal, and also some surface rust between the fender and the wheel well panel.

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I realized that I'm missing the front part of the under cover, so I guess I'm on the lookout for one of those now

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