Winter rust prevention in ohio?

[Dando]

I am currently seeking out info on how to best coat my MJ undercarriage for salt and winter grime. Have a very rust free MJ but sadly it must stay my daily ride during the winter. I am finding all kinds of different info around the internet, what have you found to work well and be somewhat easy to deal with while still wrenching on the truck?

[Pete M]

buy a cheap XJ and use that as your winter driver.  that's the ONLY way to keep your MJ nice.  I'm serious.  our trucks rot from the inside-out.  there's no way to prevent your rockers from dying.  there;s no way to keep your cab corners from dying.  there's no way to prevent your doors from dying.  there's no way to stop the red cancer from eating away at your truck except to keep it away from the salt.  salt sucks.

 

but if you want to slow the death, frequent car washes with an underbody nozzle can help. 

[ComancheKid45]

^^^ This guy speaks the sad truth  :(

[Dando]

I realize that I should have a winter truck but timing and events make that unlikely to happen for me. I will be washing the MJ extensively, just was wondering what would be my best options as to help with repelling the water/slush/grime? Oil coat, wax oils, fluid coating of some sort? Any experience appreciated positive or negative?

[91Pioneer]

If you do nothing, then expect rust. If you clean the undercarriage and coat it with something like Fluid Film it will work wonders: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B93ZXGS/

 

There are other products I've used with good experience but I don't think you can buy Krown KL-73 or T40 in the US, it also works great.

 

Coat anything that's metal on the underside. Spray inside the "frame rails". Really get into nooks and crannies. This is the #1 thing you can do to prevent rust. Don't be afraid to drill a small hole inside your door jamb to spray inside the door and the inside of the cab corner. Spray fluid film up through the drain holes in the rocker, spray the bejesus out of it, literally get fluid film in there to as many places as possible. Then in the winter, do try to wash it and keep the salt and dirt off the underside.

 

Keep the can of FF handy for touchups if you see it washing off after a while, it's easy to touch-up.

 

Oh, one more thing. Undercoating is not rust protection, think of it more as a sound deadening product than rust preventive.

[Incommando]

That Fluid-film looks interesting. I knew an old guy who kept a '67 Olds nearly spotless into the '80s by using a sprayer full of used motor oil to coat the entire underside of the car a couple of times a winter after hosing it off again. Don't know if you want to try that today or not...

[Dando]

I think I'm going to try and make a homemade version of waxoyl I found a simple recipe for. Still not sure about it but it was recommended by another plow guy I know when we were talking at the gas station, want to try it out on some scrap leftover panels from my cherokee and see what it comes out like. If anyone is interested I will post results.

[gogmorgo]

There was a guy I used to follow on YouTube, CORVAIRWILD (his was before they started insisting on real names, yeah it was a while ago that I moved away from YouTube) who was either in upstate New York or Vermont... never could figure it out. He swore by Fluid Film for a while, and daily drove a near-mint 80's diesel 'Burb.

Only complaint I ever noticed wasn't so much his but a bodyman's who was repainting the 'Burb after a collision. The Fluid Fim crept so much and was so good at sticking on there that he was having trouble getting it off the back of panels, and it crept around and contaminated the fresh paint. Bodyman was also a 'Tuber, and the only reason I knew that was because I was already following him.

 

At any rate, this guy, CORVAIRWILD was who first got me into MJ's. Well, not him directly, but he vlogged everything he did, and a drill guy he hired for a well used them almost exclusively. They were the coolest small trucks I'd ever seen Because of this, when I saw what would become mine for sale, instead of looking past it, I had to have it... and then paid waaaay too much for it.

[MuddFoot]

move to florida for winter 

[wvzj]

I'm lucky enough to park mine in the winter but I use Fluid Film on my dd. Also a lot of shops in NE Ohio undercoat with atf.

[FarmerBrown5]

I have owned my first MJ for 3 years now. Since it has made its debut on the farm it has only touched the salt 1 time and that was to cross the highway and get back onto the gravel. I have been lucky enough to always have a DD and keep it off the salt during the winter. We use the Fluid-Film on occasion and it does do about the best job. POR 15 is another product to look into. They have good reviews and a large selection of various products.