Forum Discussion

mickeyhs's avatar
mickeyhs
Explorer
Jul 06, 2015

Best ways to protect trailer's under carriage?

Suggestions and tips are welcome.

Rust, road debris, everything. I am a new trailer owner and want to do the right thing early.
  • Please explain what your trying to protect under carriage from.

    Rust or road debris or ???
  • Don't drive on salt treated roads. The steel frame work and suspension are not protected against salt exposure. Other than that, keep corrosion at bay by wire brushing any heavy corroded areas and paint/touch up areas not still black with Rustoleum flat black including frame, propane plumbing, axles and springs. Use gloss black on bumper,and tougue/pin.
    This keeps my rig protected and looking good.
  • x2 on DONT pull on salted roads or salt ocean beaches. Ive seen comments about corroded parts on rv's when spending time at ocean front areas. I use cheap HD flat black spray paint on everything.
  • X3 Avoid salted roads and beaches. A lot of trailers don't have wheel wells and even pulling in rain gets the wood wet if exposed.
  • Yes. Avoid salt....period! After just 5 days on the ocean in Myrtle Beach the underside of my trailer had a haze on just about all surfaces underneath. Best thing to do is keep it clean.
  • Don't worry about the underside to much, check it over once a year or two and clean up any bad spots. There are 100,000's of trailers on the roads that get pulled through everything on the road year around and they're still going strong. You have to remember that you're asking the elite RV guys on this forum and they go way above and beyond what most folks do. Guys on this forum take RV's as a hobby instead of a camping tool. This isn't a bad thing but sometimes things get carried away like don't drive on salted roads. If I did this I would only be able to use my trailer 5 months out of the year as they don't call the Great Salt Lake the Great Salt Lake because it's shaped like a salt shaker.
  • dodge guy wrote:
    Yes. Avoid salt....period!


    Only problem there is for those that end up buying a TT that was delivered out of Indiana in the winter, especially a couple thousand miles to the west coast in mid-winter.

    Ours got delivered in the winter (2,000+ miles) and had a lot of rust showing up underneath in the first year of ownership. Some bolts have no plating left and are badly rusted, some electrical connections are badly corroded, lotsa rust on the frame, propane piping and misc. metal. The paint coating on metal seems to be extremely thin and just *looks* like a paint job. I am wondering how much salt got sprayed up behind the underbelly material. Probably should take it down to be sure.

    Now I've gotta get underneath and clean and paint all the exposed metal. I should have cleaned the underside as soon as we got it, but didn't. Not happy.

    Salt is bad, bad, bad.
  • Some areas are nearly impossible to paint. I spray Fluid Film on the springs and anywhere that rust might start. Just be careful that the spray doesn't go inside the brakes.