"Duplicolored" my tub....

[e rock]

FWIW, I did the duplicolor about a year and a half ago. For $40, I have no complaints. I used a loop-nap (technical term ) roller for everywhere I could reach and a rattle can for the crevices.

My prep:
1. cut out rusty metal and weld in new.
2. remove as much old paint as possible (I probably got about 75% bare metal) with a knotted wire cup on my angle grinder.
3. soak all seams with rust killer (can't remember the name right now). Use the stuff in a bottle that you can brush on and work in. The spray cans suck donkey nads.
4. soap and water thorough cleaning.
5. Jasco metal-prep, let dry overnight without wiping off.
6. (only if your garage is as dusty as mine) blow all the dust out with the air compressor and an exhaust fan to keep it from re-settling.
7. spend a couple hours rolling up masking tape into little cigarette butts to plug all the bolt holes in your tub.
8. roll, spray, whatever.
9. go outside and get some fresh air

I have had it peel up in a couple places. I used sticky weatherstripping under the tranny cover and when I removed it recently, a couple little spots of the duplicolor came up with the weatherstripping. I scraped, sanded, and resprayed the spots with the rattle can. Also, in a couple spots where I couldn't get all of the original paint off the floor like under the heater, I think the duplicolor causes the paint to bubble up. The duplicolor was pretty solid, but the underlying paint made a big bubble. Same scrape, sand, re-spray.

Considering how much abuse it sees and how much gasoline I've spilt on it recently, I'm pretty impressed.

Good luck,
Eric

 

[TJDIV]

He's got a point here....$40.

I spent over $500 on all my Durabak, have about $200 left over.

Black, Grey and White left over. Grey for my buddies CJ7 and the rest is for touch ups down the road.

$40 is killer.

 

[e rock]

$40 was maybe a bit understating it, now that I think about it. It's $40 for the gallon. But I spent ~10 for a roller & pan, 2 x $7 for rattle cans, and all the miscellaneous stuff. Add in tape, prep chemicals and a harbor freight grinder and I was probably right around $100. Still not too bad I think.

I DO wish it was a little thicker to absorb more road noise. It made a noticeable difference, but I was hoping for a bit more. If I had to do it over again, I'd roll on 2 or 3 coats to gain a little thickness since the prep's already done and it's not that much extra work to do another coat.

Hindsight...

 

[smcruisin]

sorry for the slight digression from "duplicolour" (Cdn spelling!!!), but here's a thought I had while my tub was stripped of paint:

Another option for the 'lower edge of the door sill lip thingy' that JM speaks of, is weld a piece of square 3/4 inch stock into the ledge inboard of the door sill. The outboard side of the sill (viewed in cross-section) is angled and mates with the weather stripping on the door, whereas the inboard side of the sill has a square ledge approx. 2 inches above the floor (at least on the 1980+ bodies) that runs the length of the door sill and miraculously fits 3/4 inch square stock.

This way, you won't be scuffing a sharp, folded sheet metal sill every time you enter/exit the vehicle. The surface you'll be scuffing will have a larger surface area, and larger radius curves.

BTW Mad, the tub looks great. Even if there are some small issues, I think you can't go wrong considering your good results, only costing $40, and ease of touch-up in the future. Realistically, our youngest trucks are 20 years old, and at this point, anything we can do to extend their lives helps to keep them on the road (and out of landfills) that much longer.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Mad Chemist]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I think I'm still going to go back and give it a couple more coats to thicken it up a bit more. The "edge" at the footwells is pretty clean, I think mostly because of spraying I was getting thin layers that dried pretty quickly. I think the prep has the biggest role in the durability of any of these bed liners.