Using disel on undercarriage?

[sean2202]

@2001LC are there any petroleum colored puddles under your truck after a washing with marine grease applied to undercarriage? Looks great.

Any of you California guys be careful anything applied doesn't drip on the ground. I read an article recently about large fines in CA for dripping of oil on the ground. I am sure there are other states that have similar laws.

I remember as a kid the old farmer I used to work for would dump his old oil on the pond for "mosquito control". How times change!

I would assume applying diesel, oil, hydraulic fluid or any other liquid substance would be very difficult to do without getting some on the ground. Once it gets wet I would assume a fluid film would continue to run off the frame onto the ground.

 

[Live to Ski]

SmoothLC: Skiing.....roger that......well, I'm actually on the big time IR list (injured reserve), thus my wife would agree with you for obvious reasons

 

[TXLX100]

I personally would not spray diesel or heavy oil on the underbody. Oil will compromise bushings quicker and I won't debate that with anyone, I've seen it . If you can keep it on the metal parts it would be good I think, but if going though all that trouble I would just use a good undercoating product.

 

[2001LC]

Sorry OP, this thread got away from your question on diesel. I know many use diesel & kerosene for cleaning but not many for coating, I don't for use for either. I had some bad experience as a kid (9 or 10 yrs old) with kerosene, and with gear lube as a teenager (17 yrs) so I avoid both.

@sean2202, No oil slicks or rainbow film in puddles that I've noticed after washing. This stuff is approved for use on our water ways/lakes on boats so should be reasonable environmentally safe.

As I've gone back to service some of these parts that I've coated with marine grease. I've cleaned with solvent, water & high pressure air. The marine grease still holds after all that cleaning, that's the good & bad. Currently I have dark red or something marine grease, I just grab whatever Wal-Mart has. But the blue was my favorite as it's easy to see difference from my M1 chassis/wheel bearing grease, and girl friends thinks it looks cool.

The bad part of using grease or oils is dust and sand will stick to it. To reduce this I do wipe down and find it manageable. Paints don't, and ones like POR-15 are harder and thicker then hardware paints. Just costly and not my preference to use on older rigs.

I've been finding more and more uses for marine grease. I use a lot of it when doing wheel bearing jobs. Not in the bearings themselves, but around the area, like back plate (Dust Cover) and in the socket & cavity the wheel speed sensors, making sure not to plug drain hole.

I'm sure many have found these pricy dust cover & dust seal rusted, along with speed sensors frozen in the socket. After I service, I don't.

Even my hub gasket come off easy after first servicing.

The Techs at Discount Tire freak when they see my greased up Hubs. BTW I do wipe off excess from cone washer and hub face. I also keep areas like threads of wheel hub flange studs dry, so I can use a drop of blue lock-tight on threads.

Disclaimer: I'm not recommending anyone grease they're lugs. Just something I started last year when I found rust in threads of used & brand new unused lugs.

I know many will say; "why in the world grease the wheel hub plate & lugs" "YOUR WHEELS WILL FALL OFF". Well they haven't and techs don't need too wire brush rust off my hub or wheels mounting surface. I have been greasing on outside of lugs for years, to reduce fiction damage to wheel lug socket during mounting. Also I've found lugs and wheels frozen on.

Notice two of the lug the end caps are missing, rust! Man I spent many hours to get this wheel off. I beat the wheel to death once lugs removed, what a PITA!

BTW I do like the idea of a environmentally friendly oils' (if there is such a thing) ability to flow into tight spot. As I said I'll be using something like fluid film oil also, in frames rail and such. I may even use Por-15 cleaner & degreaser as I've read it does not leave a film. I just want to make sure it does not damage or etch paint before I use.

I change my procedure(s) over the years, and will again if I find some areas aren't handling grease well on future inspections. The newest area is on my stabilizer link shafts, retainers & bar pockets for cushions. Links were very rusted any fronts both snapped. So I greased the new ones during insrtall. If I find they slip out of position, or rubber gets damaged I'll note and adjust.

I've three goals in mind when using marine grease; reduce rust, longevity of parts & making easier too work on next service. I spend a great deal of my time cleaning and inspecting on every job I do, the first time. Second time around, its much cleaner, and easier to work on and less new parts are needed.

 

[Muddy Bean]

Nothing wrong with greasing your mating surfaces. People use anti sieze all the time in those areas. Honestly the more metal covered with grease the less you'll deal with corrosion locking up or seizing up stuff. We own and live in an MCI tour bus that has a Detroit Two Stroke for its power plant. The coach is made mostly of aluminum and stainless steel but the engine cradle is steel. On the coaches with the newer four stroke engines, the cradles rust away eventually. On these older two stroke cradles, the engines leak and spray enough oil that it coats the cradle and when I just recently degreased
Mine, it looked amazing and had zero rust.

 

[2001LC]

There is something to be said for oil leaks I suppose!

 

[nissanh]

Here is the motor oil/Gear oil treatment in my hilux surf/4runner

 

[2001LC]

Clean, does it hold on well.

 

[nissanh]

Yes Sir it does! I crawled under the cruiser today to inspect and found few rust spots on the rear axle. I think I'll do the same thing for the cruiser on this spring break.
The following is the spray guy I use. Hard to find in a store but lucky enough to get it off of ebay from a Canadian seller for $50. It came with paint gun, tire pressure gun etc.
It is super easy to spray oil and it goes into places where we cannot reach with a brush.

 

[sean2202]

@nissanh nice work! I really enjoy seing a clean frame! Curious as to how much rust you see in TX? Rust is a never ending battle here in the NE. Vehicles rust out before they wear out. How messy is this to spray on and at what air pressure do you use?

One particular area on these trucks and 4 runners to pay close attention to is the part of the frame in front of the rear wheel and the upper rear shock mounts. These are collection areas for salt and grime. Lots of reported failures in these areas in 4runners and 100 frame is similar structure just more beefy.

I wonder how the metal makeup changed for frames over the years. New frames on all vehicles seem to rust at a much faster rate than older vehicles. I have a wrecked 75 K10 Northeast truck out back of my parents house sunk up to the axles in a swamp (been there for probably 17 years now) at has a relatively clean frame

 

[nissanh]

Thanks for the compliment.

In fact the truck is from Reno NV. It used to be in South Lake Tahoe for a while and then I drove it many times over Truckee where they use salt on the road. Thankfully TX is dry specially the west. But I saw a corrosion right by the drain bolt in the rear axle, which prompted me to spray oil.

I am not sure the pressure I used but it was a 3 Gal craftman compressor. It has to have a decent pressure due to the oil been thick (80% motor oil). With the long nozzle in the gun, I can reach the inside of the frame through the openings.

If you notice, I put a thick layer of grease where the lower control link on the rear axle is attached to the frame.
For few days the truck will drip oil on to the garage floor, so that was the most painful part.

When I want to remove a bolt/nut, I simply clean the thread to remove dirt and loosen the nut/bolt. There is really no rusted out bolts. This is the best part when fixing things.

 

[Live to Ski]

Surprised they use salt in Truckee because 1) California, 2) Lake tahoe water quality efforts.

 

[nissanh]

^^^ You probably right! I wonder why I find no corrosion on my truck and others. Also, I never came across black ice up in Truckee.

 

[Output Shaft]

This is what I use

Vehicle Rust Proofing

 

[studawg]

My lx is a import ftom the USA alot of them here and landcruisers to people a suprised when they find out we get them from the USA ,but the demand for 4wd vehicles is huge. I have a few rust areas I want to patch up.

I knew it! I had heard as much, I guess this is proof. This is why we have a hard time finding lightly used LCs in the States, they are being exported to the Middle East.