Ham's '48 - Getting Ready for Summer

Well, like everyone else’s project, what was just going to take a week has stretched out into three weeks.

When I did the original restoration on Ham’s ’48, I powder coated the wheels. It wasn’t long before I began to see little rust freckles on the rims if they got wet – but it generally came off with some steel wool or a bit of cleanser. I suspected that the powder coat was porous and if water got under it - it let the underlying steel rust.

But – last January I took the truck out for a run and even though the road was dry, I must have hit one of the Indiana salt puddles. When I took it out of its' winter cocoon – the rims had rusted badly. I took steel wool to them and it didn’t faze the rust that had bled through the powder coat.

So, I found another local guy who had good reports on his work and I took the rims to him. He took a wire wheel and brushed a spot inside the rim. Sure enough, the first powder coater had not primed the rims after he blasted them.

“I’ll have these done in a week or so” – so I left the rims with him. Then he had to leave town for a couple of days. The first batch of powder he received was the wrong color. Something went wrong on another project he had scheduled in front of me .. etc. If he can stay in town today, I should get the wheels back today; if not – tomorrow. In the meanwhile, things are up in the air … on jackstands.

Once I get wheels back under the truck, it gets a really good bath and cleanup and off we go. We have a fun summer planned. There are local parades, car shows and afternoon drop-in events. Toledo Jeep Fest is still on the agenda – so we’ll see how things work out.

Old Jeeps and Summer just go together…..

That truck is a beauty Larry!

Senior Chief, hopefully this is the last bit of paint work you'll have to had done on Ham's. At least you'll be just in time for going after ice cream season.

Old Jeeps are like ships, There is NEVER an end to cleaning, painting and polishing....

I can agree with the polishing aspect. Mrs. Amazon is set to drop me some felt polishing disks and some polishing compound for the Heep, to get it to a semi mirror finish for this year's shows. We'll see how it turns out.

Man, Larry, that rust looks horrible! I'm sure you weren't happy to see that. I bet they will look great when you get them back.

In any case, this topic leads me to questions since I will eventually need to cross this bridge with prepping and painting the wheels on my CJ. My questions concern the powder coating itself and why you went that route and not just having them painted? My experiences with powder coating here in the Colorado winters has not been good, i.e. sand from the road being thrown up and "sandblasting" the powder coating away and then the rust starts. My thought for my own wheels was that I would be better off having them blasted, primed, and then painted. I'd appreciate your (or others) thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Hopefully we will get TJones to speak of the process he went through on his. It is 100% powder coated. Here is his project.

https://willysjeepforum.kaiserwillys...w-to-the-Forum

The statement made about "priming" b4 PCing had me a little confused so I called the guy that did just about my whole project and he said if it is done RIGHT you really don't need to prime anything, it is mostly in the prep after you blast everything.
He said he has primed some stuff b4 he PC's but not really that often that he has done it, most of his work is for the Government and it is mostly shell casings and as fast as they go through what he does it doesn't sit long enough to start rusting :):):).
He also said that he put a extra thick coat on my stuff and that is probably why mine doesn't have any areas that are starting to show any signs of rusting.
I guess there is a prime coat he said that is actual PC powder that you spray on then bake it at 450 degrees in the oven that prep's it b4 the color is sprayed on then it is baked as well.
Like I said probably 95% of everything on my project was PCed even the whole body and it is still in good shape as far as spots popping rust through.
The ONLY thing I regret is trying to find a touch up paint for the body chips (only bc of the Wild A** Color I decided to go with) here and there from bumping it or the Grand Kids dinging it with a bike here and there causing little tiny chips.
Other than that I would do it again in a heart beat!!!!