My 48 was well preserved with an old layer of undercoating. But, try to remove it! Does anyone know of an application or a good way to remove the stuff without just scraping it off with a chisel?? thanks.

 

You can heat it with a propane torch to soften it up and then it scrapes off easily.

It can be kind of stinky!

 

When I had it off I sandblasted the complete cab and in the cold weather the under coating came off very quickly.
Another way is some heat and alot of scraping but alot more work.

 

Brake fluid will cut it pretty well. I'd imagine gasoline would as well.

 

Be sure not to use gasoline or brake fluid AND heat at the same time!

 

I would strongly suggest a good quality heat gun and putty knife over a torch. It's safer and cheaper. Also, I would never use gasoline for cleaning, gasoline fumes tend to collect toward the ground and expand out and can easily find an ignition source. Brake fluid might not be a bad choice, but be careful not to touch anything with a painted surface because it's a pretty good paint remover, down to the bare metal.

 

I of course assumed he would be doing this outside and not smoking next to it. Also a good point to mention not using the torch with the gasoline. Again I was making some assumptions there but good idea to post the disclaimers. Thanks fellows.

Also, I would do this in small sections and not an all at once application.

If it were me, I'd try popping off what I could with a hammer and chisel first. I may very well come off quickly in very large chunks, expecially if it's a bit chilly outside. What's left - try the heat and/or chemical approach and see what works best. I know the brake fluid works because the cement heads at my local Ford dealer made a mess when the replaced the MC on my 2003 F-250 and I now have a couple sections of exposed frame. Fortunately we don't see mcuh road salt down here so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I had to strip some off the wheel tub area on my F-3's bedsides.. I used a propane torch to melt the stuff then hit it with a wire brush on my angle grinder. It made one heck of a mess, but worked great taking the undercoating and paint leaving bare metal (I do suggest doing this outside.. and a face shield is mandatory).

Any residue left over cleaned up easily with laquer thinner (yes I turned off the torch and let things cool first)

When I removed some of the same tar crap from inside the cab, I did it in late december/january when the temps were below freezing in my unheated garage. The stuff just shattered when I tapped on it with hammer and came off in huge chunks with a putty knife.

 

Get a block of dry ice. Press it against the undercoating for a couple minutes (wear HEAVY gloves and/or a pad of towels to protect your hands from frostbite) then hit it with a hammer (the undercoating, not your hand or the DI!) what doesn't shatter and fall off can be knocked off with a heavy putty knife. When it starts getting soft or stubborn, reapply the DI.

 

I used the heat gun, scraper method. The final cleanup was with laquer thinner. It was a bit of work but easier than just chipping it off with a chiesel. A respirator with the proper chemical vapour filters would be recomended if using thinners etc.

 

Thanks for the good info, looks like there are a couple of options.