Evaporust tends to work best when the rusty item is submerged in it for around 24 hours. Ive tried, unsuccessfully, to wrap evaporust soaked papertowels around a rusty item but the stuff evaporated and left me in a worse spot with paper towels adhered to a saw plate.

I think your best bet would be sand blasting.

 

There is a review by hjt here I believe http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/3477

 

I use it on small stuff and it works. You can use it on a trailer but you'll have to wrap it in saran wrap to keep it from evaporating. There are better things out there for trailer frames - go to your auto parts store and look in the spray paint section, Rustoleum makes a few items that you spray on and it neutralizes the rust and then you can paint over it. There are some wipe-on types also but I don't remember who makes them. You put it on with a brush and it turns the rust black and stops the oxidation process. That way you only need to wire-brush the loose stuff or cut out/patch anyplace that is rusted through.

 

great product when used correctly.

you really have to keep the part to be cleaned submerged in it - or have a wet rag/towel wrapped around it - and around that a plastic sheet to keep it from evaporating - the setup gotta stay wet!

was able to clean tools, plates, and even a rusted out car door in-situ with it very successfully. a quart is only good for small stuff. for anything larger - I would either wrap in wet (with evaporust) towels, or go with a large electrolysis bath.

 

Goodstuff IMO, but as chrisstef said it works best when submerging the item in it for 12 to 24 hours.

 

I agree with Stef, its great stuff if you can soak it. Its really not designed for you're type of application. If I was going to try, I'd use rags instead of paper towels.

Sand blaster or wire wheels would be my suggestion. You can sandblast on top of a tarp so you can reuse the media.

 

I was kind of skeptical that this wasn't really the best application. I kind of figured I would do a small spot to try it out. I can always use it on some of my smaller things.

Joe, I read that somewhere else also. To soak paper towels and wrap it with Saran wrap to keep it from evaporating.

This trailer is kind of large for a single axel. Its over 6' wide and 10 feet long with another foot of an extension off the back. I see Harbor Freight has some 2000 lb capacity 4×8 trailers that fold up for around 389.00. Seems like a bargain to me. But, anyway…. I was tempted to purchase a 2 hp compressor and get one of those needle tools. I heard those do quick work on rust. Its really not an ideal time for me to get a compressor, though its in my future plans.

I will try the brushes first on the grinder and see how that works.

Then will look around for some type of primers or coatings.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

After watching a Chris Schwarz DVD on re-furbing handplanes, I tried his recommended rust remover solution. He takes granulated citric acid and dissolves it warm water. It doesn't take a whole lot of acid to be effective. Citric acid is sold in the canning section of grocery stores on can be purchased on line. Amazon is a source.

This solution really works, and is much cheaper than specialty rust removers. It will even remove the zinc plate from screws and hardware for those antique restorations.

However, I wouldn't think citric acid would be very useful if the parts cannot be submerged.

 

8Iowa-

When I was in the Army, SOP for cleaning battery terminals and such on vehicles was to use Coca-Cola. The Citric acid effect.

I'm not opposed to using something acidic or more corrosive if it does the job. And its not a total pain to rinse off and neutralize. Guess i will have to use some kind of dewaxer regardless.

 

Sweet Baby Jesus, does no one on this site use the search feature? 452 results on a search for EvapoRust. Try it. It's great.

 

DKV,

Most every single one of those search results that I saw, reviewed its effectiveness on small tools. My
question was specific to how it would work on something larger that cannot be immersed in the product.

 

I just tried the search engine for sweet baby jesus and got 32 hits!

 

Evap-o-rust is Great stuff , but not the correct thing to use on this project.
Been there , done that, with the wet rags / paper towels trick.

By the way, I purchased one of those trailers from HF…it is very useful, but be prepared for the "red" paint to turn "pink" after minimal exposure to the Sun , the fasteners rust in no time , as well as the clips that hold the wiring in place. Another dumb move they made, is where the license plate attaches. It is a dump trailer , and the plate goes beneath the tail light that is mounted way too low not to be crushed if you decide to tip the trailer bed up. And as usual, be prepared to have extra nuts and bolts available to complete the build of your trailer. Thanks again, HF !
One more thing.
The frame isn't that strong. I installed one of their trailer jacks and then needed to stand on the frame to reach something inside of the trailer.

Oooops, collapsed the frame.

Lesson learned, never stand on the frame if it's not hooked to the tow vehicle !

 

Haven't used it. I go for the naval jelly approach. How deep is the rust? Rust always wins. How long do you plan to keep the trailer, and what are your plans for use? any rust residue will expand under your paint job.

Is there a tool rental store near you? I bought a sand blasting tube with a reservoir from HF awhile ago. Sand can be purchased at a big box store.

Another thought is to ask your local body repair shop for advice?

 

After carefully studying this thread's posts and contemplating for just a bit, I have come to two conclusions:
1. EvapoRust is more popular than sweet baby Jesus, and
2. Never buy a trailer from HF.

 

As mentioned, Evapo-rust really is that good, but not for something like this. Naval Jelly would work, but it might get very expensive to get enough to treat the whole trailer. The problem with the rust converter/neutralizer products like rustoleum has is they need some rust to work but not too much. From reading the directions, if you get it on bare metal or paint it can harm both and if there is too much rust then it can't convert it all and you get encapsulated rust. Maybe if you use it often enough you would find the sweet spot, but renting some sandblasting gear or getting some quotes for sandblasting seems like a better option.

 

Doc, the rust is moderate I would say. Only one framing support member has been slightly and partially
compromised from rust. I actually plan on keeping the trailer as long as I can. I bit the bullet and ordered
a gallon of POR-15. I hope a gallon is enough !

I started taking a wire brush by hand just to knock off as much of the looser stuff as possible. Wish I had a compressor. Darn it !

Found out the pig-tail wire brush wheel won't fit my grinder so I had to order an adapter.

I plan on keeping it tarped in the future. This should keep things drier underneath. Kind of neglected it for the last 10 years.

Down the road if this frame holds up, I just may build a woody camper or something with it. Who knows ?

Little humor to spice things up DKV and Joe. Never hurts. Appreciate it.

 

A thought? HF has a 7 " grinder I have used mine many times to do what you are planning. HF also has grinding wheels for it. They last fairly long. Just checked out the site. Don't carry mine anymore. The present one is badly rated. 4" gets more votes.

 

I was considering the 4 1/2" with the paddle switch. It has gotten good reviews. I was up there today and got the wheels. With the 20% off I can walk out of there with it for around 24 dollars.

Item # 65519

Might go up there again tomorrow and pick it up. This project was spur of the moment, and I have too many
other things on the burner to spend a lot of time on this. Its been too hot to do much of anything around
here.

 

I've got one of the 4!/2 for chewing up wood. LOL! 94 here. I was inside with clients today. Find a tree and get a big straw hat and ice water and some crackers or chips. Work a little eat a little drink a lot. LOL!

 

The heat index was 112 here yesterday. Been that way all week.

And staying that way till Saturday. And then of course more rain. Always more rain.

I'm thinking if I use a wire brush on the grinder, do I remove the guard or leave it on ?

 

We complain about the rain. Until we have draught? MN big time draught last year.

Gotta go and feed my animals!

Take time to enjoy it?