# Rust Cleaning And Underbelly



## CA-NYCamper (Mar 30, 2009)

Hey everyone - hope you've all had a great winter. Spring has sprung in the north and some maintenance on the TT is due!!

Specifically, I want to clean the rust off the steel I-beams and underside and repaint. I bout my OB second had from a fella in NJ and he must have either done a lot of beach camping near the ocean or towed a few times after the snow/salt winter begun because the underside of the I-beams is really rusted, to the point the original paint is coming off and the bolts/washers holding the underbelly are really corroded. I don't think any of the bolts are salvageable and the few I have tried to take off have simply broken. In order to properly repaint the I-Beams and any other steel underneath (including the propane gas pipe, I need to remove the underbelly. Here are my questions, hoping for your collective wisdom:

1. How many of you have permanently removed the underbelly (know some have and then just tidied up the wires/cables)? Any water issues from below as a result? Or other concerns?

2. Any issues if I remove/trash the underbelly and not replace it? A site search guided me to check with sign shops if ever I want to redo the underbelly.

I plan to sandblast the nooks and crannies, grind off the beams, prime, then paint with rust proof paint. Sound reasonable?

Thanks for the advice.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

My opinion is your smart to clean and paint the frame where its rusty. I agree it was near the beach or towed on a salty road. Now I would not trash the underbelly. I looked under mine before and basically they throw everything under their. Its not really tied up and neat. Now if your handy with a spot welder and you sound like you are, you can spot weld some clips under their and tie everything up. I would put the underbelly back on though for a few reasons. It does protect everything under their from road debris. The heat ducts give off heat and the underbelly help holds it in to keep things from freezing. They say it improves gas mileage but that sounds like a snake oil salesmen to me. You can buy replacement underbelly stuff somewhere, I'm sure someone here knows where. If it was me, I would keep it on or replace it as needed.


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

The underbelly material can be replaced, it is a bit difficult to get it in the large sheet like that, but it is possible. I have a sign business and I do order the material quite often but not in that length. You can sandblast if you want, but make sure you don't sandblast the wires, pipes tanks or any other soft item. You take a good wire brush and a scraper that will work just as well. Rustoleum paint in both brush on and spray form work quite well I have done some touch up on my previous trailer and did some touch up on this one before I started beach camping.

There is a good chance that the trailer was on the beach and the original owner did a horrible job cleaning afterward. I am on the beach almost all summer and have not a spot of rust on anything underneath. It is all about the cleaning afterward. Not only is there not a spot of rust, but I also have aluminum rims that are not clearcoated and they have no pitting on them. Beach camping only poses a problem for one thing, and that is the tires, running them aired down on the beach does take a toll on them. I have been camping on the beach for the past 2 years on the same set of tires and they are holding up fine. I will probably have to replace them after this season. At that point LT tires ore going on the trailer.


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## daslobo777 (Mar 24, 2007)

I posted way back in April 2007 about the rust underneath when our TT was brand new. It was made in January 2007, transported to Lakeshore, MI, where we bought it, then transported out here to AZ. When I received it I was shocked that the complete underbody frame, axles, suspension, gas lines, etc. were all corroded. Most responses I received back then was "this is normal for TT's". Here in AZ we do not drive on "salted" winter roads or have many other rust inducing elements. The corrosion has not gotten much worse but it was bad enough brand new that it could not have got much worse.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I do agree that you should replace the plastic underbelly cover. As long as it isn't torn up too bad, don't see that you would have to buy new. If the rust is bad enough to corrode the fasteners, I would do some repairs and repainting too. Good luck with the work.


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## CA-NYCamper (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks all for your input. I guess I know what I'm doing the next few weekends!!

By the way - I work from home and spent the afternoon working in the TT. Was great to get in there on a nice Canadian spring day!

Happy camping.


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## Red Beard (Feb 13, 2010)

To answer your question about air flow under the TT, yes the enclosed belly helps out with the way air flows. It makes the air flow smoothly under the trailer. The smoother the air flow the less drag, less drag uses less fuel. Buying less fuel translates into more toys


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

I have people tell me to use POR 15 paint. You have to buy it online. Its supposed to stop the rust and prevent it from coming back.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

The POR-15 looks like an interesting product. Over the years, the paint on my tongue (well, let me rephrase, the trailer's tongue) has chipped and surface rust has begun to show. I was thinking of sanding off the surface rust and coating with a truck bed liner type of material. Has anyone applied this to their trailer tongue?


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## CA-NYCamper (Mar 30, 2009)

Well, I've begun the work / maintenance on the underside. Thought I'd post updates / progress here.

1. To get the underbelly off, the gas line (at least on my OB) had to come off as did the 4 jacks. I'm thinking of adding scissor jacks when I put all this back together.

2. The corrosion on the some of the bolts is so bad, they are nearly disintegrated. I'll be grinding them off as they won't hold a socket.

3. The underbelly isn't off yet but I'm also thinking of adding a Tornado once under there.

I guess there are many mod updates possible and given I'll have the belly exposed, I'll probably take the opportunity. Here is a summary of the work:

- replace gas piping
- replace jacks
- add Tornado tank flush
- clean rust and repaint
- replace underbelly

I'd love to get my hands on the flooring blueprints to add reinforcement underneath around the heating vents. Gilligan worked for Keystone even in 2003! I'll try and give them a ring tomorrow and attempt to get a cross section.


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

CA-NYCamper said:


> Well, I've begun the work / maintenance on the underside. Thought I'd post updates / progress here.
> 
> 1. To get the underbelly off, the gas line (at least on my OB) had to come off as did the 4 jacks. I'm thinking of adding scissor jacks when I put all this back together.
> 
> ...


Do you plan on doing all this work with the camper on a lift where you can work standing up or at least sitting up instead of on your back?


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

I like to use this stuff where rust and durability are issues. I knock the loose stuff off paint over what it left.

Hammerite Rust Cap


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## CA-NYCamper (Mar 30, 2009)

Tangooutback said:


> Well, I've begun the work / maintenance on the underside. Thought I'd post updates / progress here.
> 
> 1. To get the underbelly off, the gas line (at least on my OB) had to come off as did the 4 jacks. I'm thinking of adding scissor jacks when I put all this back together.
> 
> ...


Do you plan on doing all this work with the camper on a lift where you can work standing up or at least sitting up instead of on your back?
[/quote]

I have had the distinct pleasure of working on my back under the trailer. Oh, what a joy! (shoot me now!)

So, I've got the underbelly dropped and used a wire cup on my angle grinder to dispatch the rust and paint flakes. I've rust-primed the steel I-beams and waiting for weather to improve for the rust paint. I've got to get the 4 scissor jacks still but should be close to getting everything back together. Thanks to the underbelly, everything is pristine underneath - it's actually quite impressive. I'll be taking pictures before I seal everything up.

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. Keep you posted -


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