I am thinking using Herculiner bed liner for my 90 F150. The instructions say to scuff all paint surfaces. The bed has some rust on it, can I sand the rust off and apply directly to the bear metal or do I need to prime it first? Any other comments about the product in general and the installation of it? Any recommendation on other do-it-yourself bed liners?

 

VA150 - I have a whole write up dedicated to this topic. Check it out (notice there are 7 pages dedicated to this writeup...this link will take you to the bedliner page...check out the rest though!
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...warning-7.html

The only differnece is I am doing the entire truck in bedliner. I would recommend that if you have a little rust buildup that you spray it witha product called rust bullet...it is a rust converter and preventer. Here are some shots of my Bronco in progress.

BEFORE


RUST BULLET APPLIED


DURABAK BEDLINER APPLIED


There are many more pictures in the write up. Let me know if you have any questions...the truck will be as tough as nails when it is done!!!

 

I used herculiner, and all I did was take a wire wheel to the rusted spots. I washed it with dish soap really well, with a scrub brush, and wiped it down. As far as application, you need to put the second coat on pretty thick. I got to the end of my truck and still had about a third of a can. To get rid of it, I really put it on thick as far as I could reach. The problem is that some of the areas I didn't get are now showing through since it is thin. I intend to put on some more in those areas for touchup.

In all, it has been a good product for the money. I would use it again. Sure would be nice to justify an expensive sprayed in one though.

 

VA - just to let you know a little bit more information: The Rust Bullet is only $36 per quart...one quart should be more then enough to spray your entire bed. This stuff will ensure that you don't start rusting out underneath the bed liner. Do you have a gun and compressor? This can also be shot with one of those Wagner-type guns also. you'll have to check their website to see if it can be rolled on www.rustbullet.com

I was very happy with the results. Remember - it's not so much about the brand of bedliner, it's more about the quality of the preparation prior to laying it down.

If you accessed my write up, I took the tub down to pure metal and then sprayed the Rust Bullet. If you only intend on "roughing up" the bed without any rust converter/preventer, make sure you rough it up good to get a good grit/tooth.

Good luck...ask questions...and take pictures for us!

 

Thanks for the info. cje07 I read the write up on your Bronco restore. It is looking great, can't believe the work you are putting into it.
<O</O
I have decided to use the rust bullet before applying the bed liner. My truck is black with the silver stripe, two tone, the silver over the years has flaked off like the typical silver seems to do on these trucks and I have a lot of surface rust. The black still looks like new. I have sanded down the surface rust and have been reading post about the proper way to treat and paint it to keep the rust from coming back. After reading your post and researching rust bullet I was thinking about just spraying it with rust bullet. Seems to be a close match in color and it would take care of the surface rust, wouldn't have to worry about it coming back. I'm not too worried about it looking perfect, anything would look better than it does now. I am more concerned about stopping the rust, maybe I will do a complete paint job in a couple of years and do it right then. Does this sound like a good idea? Have you heard of anyone else doing something like this?<O</O


If I use the rest bullet I am going to spry it on, any suggestions on a spray gun. I have a small craftsman air compressor, the specs are below. Is there a spray gun that would do a desent job and work with my air compressor. Some day I need to get a bigger air compressor.

<TABLE class=product_spec_tab style="WIDTH: 340px"><TBODY><TR><TD>SCFM Delivery At 90 psi:</TD><TD>6.4 SCFM </TD></TR><TR><TD>SCFM Delivery At 40 psi:</TD><TD>8.6 SCFM </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

To spray the Rust Bullet you don't need anything too fancy or expensive since it is'nt meant to be a "final coat". I would suggest an HVLP gravity fed. You will need to buy one with a 1.4 to 1.5 tip for the Rust Bullet to flow through properly. Your compressor should do the job just fine as the pressure should be set at about 40psi to spray.

If you want the outcome to look a little better a couple of suggestions:
1) Buy a quart of silver paint from an autobody store and spray over the top of the Rust bullet for a smoother finish...depends if you want a smoother finish or not.
2) Consult the Rust Bullet website to see if you can clear coat directly over the rust bullet...this would give it a nice shine.
3) Leave it as is as you mentioned...and repaint at another time.

One important aspect to save you some time when you do your bedliner. Once you spray your Rust Bullet let it dry for 24 hours and then roll your first coat of Bedliner on...why? You have up to 72 hours to apply a topcoat (bedliner) before you would NEED to sand it again. If you put a topcoat over the RB in that 24-72 hr period you will NOT need to sand again...just make sure the area is clean. If you miss that 72 hr window you will need to spend another 3-4 hours sanding, vacumming and cleaning the surface again.

Do you have pictures of this thing?

 

Thanks again for all of the good information. I'll try and post some pictures tonight, I think all of the pictures I have of the truck is when it was new. I'll take a picture of the bed and the surface rust on the sides and post.

 

Sounds good!

 

Here are a couple of photos of the truck I just took.

 

By the way I just ordered a quart of Rust Bullet.

I bought the truck new and drove it the first couple years, about 4, when I was in construction, so it got alot of abuse. The truck is a 1990. After that my wife drove it for a few years and for about the last 8 years it has been sitting out back only taken out every couple of weeks just to run it. It has 176,000 miles on it. I don't think the 4.9 will ever quit running. My daughter is getting her drivers license next month and wants to drive my commuter car, that is why I am working on the truck now although working on the rust issue was long over due.

 

If you plan on doing the sides of the truck i would pick up another quart. A single quart should take care of the box and another quart should cover those sides. That sucks that Ford did'nt cover that crappy silver/primer job. I had the same exact thing happen to my Bronco. Sanded it...reprimed and covered with new paint....then the rust got too bad and piece by piece I bought all new metal. Submit new pictures as you go along! Would like to see your progress!