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Time for some rust repair on the Tahoe.

Man that’s a lot of work my hats off to ya too. You’ll like driving it when done.

On your springs what are you going to do? I saw a hot rod show a long time ago where they separated the leaves and used a graphite impregnate paint on the inside to help the springs slide against each other easier. Some is sold at tractor supply near the hay baling supplies at my store.

Googling it 1 hit said to paint them first then top coat with the slick paint.

Or do I see those hard plastic slip pads on your springs I have some on mine.

How about bushings what are going to replace with oem or energy suspension type?
 
schiker said:
Man that’s a lot of work my hats off to ya too. You’ll like driving it when done.

On your springs what are you going to do? I saw a hot rod show a long time ago where they separated the leaves and used a graphite impregnate paint on the inside to help the springs slide against each other easier. Some is sold at tractor supply near the hay baling supplies at my store.

Googling it 1 hit said to paint them first then top coat with the slick paint.

Or do I see those hard plastic slip pads on your springs I have some on mine.

How about bushings what are going to replace with oem or energy suspension type?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yes it is a lot of work, but yeah, I’m going to enjoy driving it that much more once it’s looking as good as it runs.

I’m painting everything on the underside with KBS paints - Rust Seal on everything and Black Top on top of the Rust Seal for anything that is going to get exposed to UV. KBS is supposedly a company that was started by the originators of POR15. So it has the same foundation, but 20 more years of research. Their products seem to be reviewed really well so I figured I’d give them a try.

I didn’t really feel like disassembling the spring packs (I’ll disassemble the whole chassis but not the springs??? I guess that’s where I draw the line, ha!), mostly because of the whole rubbing issue.....it seemed like wasted effort. If it does end up being a problem in the future I can always take the spring off again and do something different. I contacted KBS about the leaf springs and they said the Rust Seal would work well if I did 3+ light coats. It sounds like the Black Top is going to perform OK, but may not hold up as well. He did say that the liquid paint would work better than the aerosol. So I’m rolling and brushing it on. For in between the leaves, I’m going to spray cavity wax so it can wick down into the gaps and seal everything up.

Earlier this year I swapped to Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings, so I’m going to be putting those back in with copious amounts of lube. I have maybe 2 thousand miles on them and I’m happy with them so far. I slathered on the lube and didn’t have any squeaks.
 
I found this test when researching paints for this project.

https://www.auson.se/sites/default/files/rusttest_noxudol_700_classic_monthly_uk_0.pdf

I’m going to be using the KBS paints everywhere I can. The paints that performed the best in this test are only available in the UK, so I didn’t want to deal with trying to source them. Rust Seal performed nearly as well so I feel good using it. KBS also makes a cavity wax called Cavity Coater. I’m sure it’s a fine product, but I couldn’t find any comparison data, so I’m going with Noxudol for cavity wax. Noxudol is widely available in the US - even Amazon has it.
 
3 coats of Rust Seal are done. It’s a lot shinier than I expected a satin black paint to be. I applied it with a 1/4” nap roller and it flows out nice and smooth.

4AA4804B-5763-4DF7-887A-AA94374B53DC.jpeg2B73D814-B8A6-432E-8611-009972D7A9EB.jpeg0EA219C7-E9A4-432D-AEF9-F19CF1228131.jpeg303AF5BE-FC3D-4963-BCD1-B5BA963AD57B.jpegEBF0AA4C-2800-4C54-98EB-7AF57491FF2A.jpeg
 
Here are pics of the parts 24 hours after the last coat of paint.

AA96FF59-499E-4A2B-B2DD-DCD0A7E69700.jpegC1169BF9-2AB9-4862-87F0-E6B3F04C5575.jpegF270DB5E-68D2-4F63-9D33-39CF4AE36E99.jpegF49C8792-B167-4B3F-83B9-D2CBC603C483.jpeg

In all they received 3 coats of Rust Seal and 2 coats of Black Top. They’re still a little shinier than I expected for a satin black paint, but it will look nice. I used about 1/2 of the Rust Seal quart and 2/3 of the Black Top pint to paint these parts. I think I’m going to try painting the axle and u-bolts & clamps this coming weekend. I’m going to try spraying those because of all the nooks and crannies I’d have to get paint into on the axle.....doesn’t sound like fun (which would be consistent with this project as a whole - not fun). That will also be good practice for the underside of the truck because I’m going to spray that as well - again due to all the nooks and crannies and also because of the square feet I need to coat.
 
ak diesel driver said:
My hat's off to you, I'd be looking for a rust free western truck to swap my parts into.
Click to expand...
I was just wondering the same thing. For all that work, would it be easier to do a frame off restore, starting with a rust free machine?

I also wonder about using stainless wire or filler metal.

I frequently - almost always use stainless when repairing lawn mower decks
 
Last edited:
That link you gave is for electroplating. The main difference between electroplating and hot dipped is coating thickness.
You could hot dip sheet metal but panels would warp from the heat
 
n8in8or said:
Here are pics of the parts 24 hours after the last coat of paint.

View attachment 53888View attachment 53889View attachment 53890View attachment 53891

In all they received 3 coats of Rust Seal and 2 coats of Black Top. They’re still a little shinier than I expected for a satin black paint, but it will look nice. I used about 1/2 of the Rust Seal quart and 2/3 of the Black Top pint to paint these parts. I think I’m going to try painting the axle and u-bolts & clamps this coming weekend. I’m going to try spraying those because of all the nooks and crannies I’d have to get paint into on the axle.....doesn’t sound like fun (which would be consistent with this project as a whole - not fun). That will also be good practice for the underside of the truck because I’m going to spray that as well - again due to all the nooks and crannies and also because of the square feet I need to coat.
Click to expand...
TIP: For your next project there is a paint with graphite added to use on leaf springs and farm equipment hoppers.
 
jrsavoie said:
I was just wondering the same thing. For all that work, would it be easier to do a frame off restore, starting with a rust free machine?

I also wonder about using stainless wire or filler metal.

I frequently - almost always use stainless when repairing lawn mower decks
Click to expand...

In some ways it may be easier to start off with a different machine, but then I need to try to source one, travel to get it and also pay for it. There are certainly benefits, but I'm not really in a position to explore that right now. Also, I like the idea of saving this truck. They didn't make many diesel Tahoes, so I'm giving back to the world by saving one....ha. It's my story and I'm sticking to it!

jrsavoie said:
I know guys that have done home hot dip galvanizing. https://www.instructables.com/id/Lets-Galvanize-At-Home/

Why is that?

https://www.kbs-coatings.com/RustSeal.html
Click to expand...

Home electroplate galvanizing, that's interesting. I'm not sure I'll be able to use that for this project, but I will keep that in mind for future projects.
 
FellowTraveler said:
TIP: For your next project there is a paint with graphite added to use on leaf springs and farm equipment hoppers.
Click to expand...
Yeah schiker mentioned that too. I didn't know that existed, before the 2 of you mentioned it, thank you. If the Rust Seal doesn't stand up to the leaf springs I may give that a try.
 
I lowered the Tahoe from standing height on the hoist for the first time after 3 weeks of sandblasting. Holy dust!! Talk about riding dirty. Makes me so glad that I hung the plastic to make the makeshift booth so the whole barn doesn’t look like this.1D7BA99C-D594-445A-8DC4-36D84C810F28.jpegA2E6E08C-985A-4550-A29F-9DC62956BDCF.jpeg9D914A2D-2943-4DBC-A251-812298CCA1C8.jpeg6D229390-A928-4025-B297-982FAD6B220E.jpeg636FD52D-C393-42D1-9FB8-1CA86AC9CBA2.jpeg5B175C9C-FA58-412C-9638-9439ED852B06.jpeg
 
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