Grizzly Grip (bedliner) the 89 MJ

[azscott]

I decided to line the entire body of my Comanche with Grizzly Grip truck bedliner. I bought this 89 about a month ago....it's purpose was to haul me and my ATV out to the Bradshaws instead of tearing up my F-250 Super Duty. Darn turbo diesels just hate all that dust...plus the raods just rattle them Fords to pieces.

I had no desire to restore the Jeep...mainly because it is going to get the heck beat out of it with what i will be using it for.

 

On the other hand, the paint was faded and there was minor body damage that I just did not care to look at. So, I decided the best route was bedliner. A full paint job was not worth my time and would just get the typical Arizona pinstriping from all of the brush we push through.

 

I have used Grizzly Grip before on the lower panels on my Ford. Worked great, very durable and holds up better than Herculiner. If you put it on in 3 coats it is about as tough as Rhino liner accept you can do this yourself.

More so, I like Grizzly Grip, or Durabak would work, as they have many color options. Since my MJ was desert tan to begin with I chose Grizzlies Desert tan as color of choice. Mainly because I am not pulling the darn bed off and if I chose a color that was way off ( I was gonna go with yellow) you would see the painted areas behind the bed and between the cab I could not reach. By using a similar color you cannot notice it. It was an almost identical match actually.

 

I was going to pull the fender flares but I fought with one for an hour and said screw it....I will tape around them. I pulled off what I could that did not require a big battle and taped the rest.

 

If I was doing a fram off resto I would have yanked it all but...my goal was to have a nice looking unique truck without spending 4 weeks getting there.

 

Now the nice thing about this is it can be sprayed...or rolled on. I rolled it on. Alot less mess and looks the same as sprayed...if you take your time and are not a pig :no:

 

I sanded the entire truck with a random orbit sander and 60 grit. Then quickly wet sanded it with 120 and soapy water just to get off any residue and to get in places the orbital would not reach.

 

Next , and most importantly, I wiped it all down with Acetone making sure to not get any acetone on any plastic.

 

Finally I taped off the trim and fenders etc. now since it is rolled on you just need to tape off the edges around the glass. Any Grizzly Goo that drips on the glass will wipe off with a rag soaked with Xylene ( which I keep in my other hand). This is nice as you do not have to now put paper over all the windows. Any splatter that got on the glass or exposed plastic was easily wiped off with Xylene ( and ONLY XYLENE)...Acetone will eat some plastics.

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Next was simple...roll on two coats of Grizzly Grip. It needs a hardener if the humidity is below 45 % and since I live near phoenix well..that is almost always a sure thing. So...I added a little hardener.

 

You roll on the first coat a little light..not too light but you do not want a heavy first coat. This is allowed to dry for 2-3 hours or so. I closed my garage door and sprayed water in the garage to eevate humidity as this product sets with humidity...and even with the hardener this helps speed it up...ALOT.

After this set I mixed up the final coat. This last coat I mixed in the bottle of UV protectant to help keep it from fading...added more hardener and off I went.

 

The second coat goes a little heavier...again not slopped on but thicker than the first and it is important to roll it on even and watch for globs, drips or thin spots. You want an even coat that looks sprayed on!!. I also used a stiff brush to stiple in the areas that the roller would not reach. You do not PAINT it in with brush strokes as this will smear and look like crap....rather you dab or more correctly stipple with a brush.

 

Once the final coat was done I let this et about an hour or until it is just starting to feel dry. Reason is you need to get the tape off and breaking the tape off at the edges is a pain when the stuff is dry. I use an exacto blade to score along the tape edges where it meets the Bedliner otherwise the tape will not break cleanly.

 

I removed all the tape....used Xylene and cleaned any minor drips and....was done.

 

Looks alot better than when I brought it home!!! Total cost for the Grizzly Grip and all the chemicals, rollers, and such was about 3 bills. I ordered more than i needed so about 65 bucks was over run...but I may use it somewhere else.

 

Some people do not like the looks of the textured products so there is a fine or smooth version available...unfortunately not in Desert tan...from Grizzly. I did see that Durabak has all their colors available in smooth texture for an extra fee.

 

You can do more than 2 coats if you like. When I do the bed (in black) I will do 3 coats which will get me closer to what a commercial sprayed on liner would be in thickness. I just do not need a 3/16 thick paint job on the body.

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Scott

[Automan2164]

That turned out nice... Does grizzly grip take impacts good?

 

Rob L. :thumbsup:

[Dave Stark]

Looks like you got yourself a stucco truck :thumbsup:

[CRF136N]

Wow, actually looks pretty good :thumbsup: Just checked out their website http://www.grizzlygrip.com/ I'm impressed, and the price is great. Thanks for the writeup on this, think I'll give it a shot since I'm ready to do my bedliner now :cheers:

 

-James

[azscott]

....it takes impacts very well. The standard version (aromatic) is very flexible so it won't crack and it is very tough as far as say...scrapes. If it is put on similar to a thickness of spray on liners it is very tough to ever cut through.

As for the stucco comment....funny..I thought the same thing :brows:

scott

[1990 Pioneer 4x4]

Looks alot better than what i would have thought. :thumbsup: How much weight did it add?

[bigalpha]

Looks alot better than what i would have thought. :thumbsup: How much weight did it add?

 

How much does a can of that roll on bedliner stuff weigh?

[1990 Pioneer 4x4]

Looks alot better than what i would have thought. :thumbsup: How much weight did it add?

 

How much does a can of that roll on bedliner stuff weigh?

 

Don't know, also don't know how many of those cans he used.

[azscott]

Looks alot better than what i would have thought. :thumbsup: How much weight did it add?

 

How much does a can of that roll on bedliner stuff weigh?

 

The weight is minimal. There is probably 1.5 gallons of product on the truck. Fugure a gallon weighs about 11 pounds so a gallon and a half is 17 pounds....so about that much.

[azscott]

I would add that I think you could use a foam roller with closed cells and the stucco appearance will reduce a bit...I think. The rollers that they sell are a blue large open celled roller..very stiff foam with large pores much like a true sea sponge. The large open cells are what cause the material to pull up and make the stucco appearance I am fairly sure of.

The material has a consistency of very runny grits or Farina cereal...which is the best comparison I can come up with. It is NOT lumpy...rather fine gritty...well actually it is fine rubber grit it looks like. SO I would assume the stucco lumps come from the style of roller.

I may try and find out as I have a bunch left.

 

Certaily it is NOT for everyone....once you put it on..it is there for life. You are not going to remove it once it is on. But for applications where someone wants a decent unique look on a truck that maybe they can't afford nor want the expense of a full paint job it is a unique alternative.

I will say i like a bit better after the gloss fades a bit. Even with the Uv protector the gloss will fade off and becomes more of a satin look...which is better I think.

scott