Is there a product to fill in rust pits on a frame?

 

On a car/truck frame? Will you be painting it?

 

'79 F150. I'll be painting it.

 

I would recomend a good etch primer on the bare frame, then a couple wet coats of hi build primer. Have you had the frame sandblasted??? I always get the best results if I plunk down the $$$$ and get the frame 'blasted.....

 

Eventually, I'll probably get the frame sandblasted. For now, it's a practice project.

My immediate goal is to stop the rusting and make it look presentable, such as it is. I don't currently have the space available for the time required to do a complete frame-up restoration on this truck.

I want to pop the rivets in the bed-area of the frame, wire-brush it, make any heavy repairs needed, spray it down with Right Stuff or Ospho, fill in the pits, prime, paint, and bolt back together. I'm hoping there's a glazing-compound sort of product appropriate for a frame.

 

Sounds like my truck frame. 5-10 years from now I will take it all down again and sand blast everything and make it show worthy, but until then it just needs to be somewhat rust free and rust controlable.

I just wire brushed and "osphoed" (some knock-off brand) my frame, and axles and a bunch of other stuff and am happy with the results. Yes, parts of the frame are pitted, but the fact everything is painted detracts from that some.

No, about some sort of skim coating. . .maybe Bondo or tiger hair if its not to be driven. When you drive, your frame flexes and that stuff will eventually pop out. You might want to try skimming some undercoating on, and painting over that? At least that way it will flex and still stick. One last thing might be "tinning", but thats alot of heat on your frame and it may warp.

 

Rockguard the whole frame, leaves a nice texture, hides the pits, and protects from rust.

 

I knew Bondo wouldn't work, but I was hoping there'd be something more... metallic? Flexible? Oh, well. I kinda like Rustoleum's Hammer Finish, if only the color selection was better. heh heh.

"Tinning"? I'm guessing, but would that be filling the pits with a welder? I thought about that, but it's way out of my skill-level and price range -- a co-worker does that sort of stuff.

 

Tinning is an old hot rodder way of filling bumps and dings in car bodies. It should work on a frame too, but you need to hit it with a torch to get it hot enough to bond the lead too it (great potential for warpage), and it needs to be free of rust. Basically your soldering soft metal to existing metal instead of bondo. Time consuming, but much more durable.

 

Lead? Oh, gawd no -- I'm dumb enough as it is without inhaling that stuff! heh

 

Its solder pretty much. Best done outside or in a well ventilated area
But I don't think you can do any better when it comes to body work though, except replace the panel. Frame would look good as well, depending on how bad it is, that could be alot of lead

 

I got an estimate on 'blasting today -- it's a lot cheaper than I'd thought, especially if I do the teardown myself (which was what I was planning on doing, anyway).

Time and space, space and time -- where's Einstein when you need him?

I noticed today that there's a lot more scale on the white's frame than I remember being on the green's -- though there's no holes on white, and green's scales might have come off with the 500lbs of mud I washed out. I'll probably go with the 'blast and hi-fill primer.