How to re-paint a trailer hitch?

LGinIA · Apr 9, 2006

Wife's Explorer trailer hitch has a lot of rust showing and she want's it painted. What is the best way to handle this project;

Remove hitch, use a wire brush to remove rust, clean and re-paint. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

dubba · Apr 9, 2006

Probably not the way most people would do it, but I would remove the hitch, throw it away, & buy another one....

They always seem to rust from the inside of the tube out, making any repainting job look like **** in 12 months..

I'm sure everybody else will disagree...

Bird · Apr 9, 2006

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Remove hitch, use a wire brush to remove rust, clean and re-paint )</font>

Yes, that's just what I'd do, unless I had a sandblaster to use instead of the wire brush.

LGinIA · Apr 9, 2006

Thanks
Since we are probably trading the vehicle within a year, I'll give it a try to re-paint. I understand that the inside of the receiver will show rust and I can accept that. Just want to improve the exterior appearance.

Thanks for the replys.

Birdhunter1 · Apr 9, 2006

Put a wire wheel on a handheld grinder and go to town with it. When all the big flakes are off feather your edges with it real well, prime it with several coats then use a heavier duty equipment paint on it and you should be good. If you have access to a sandblaster that would help but it isn't really needed, I've done several without one.

It also helps to take it off of the vehicle if possible.

LGinIA · Apr 9, 2006

Birdhunter1
Thanks for the suggestion. I have been looking for a reason to buy an air powered grinder and it won't be a hard sell to the wife since its her idea.

Birdhunter1 · Apr 9, 2006

I've always just used an electric one, I didn't care for the air ones since it could only be used where you had a compressor with enough hose.

Shimon · Apr 9, 2006

I would just knock off the flaking pieces and leave the rust and use a rust converter like "Conquest" and it turns the rust into a hard black primer and then paint with a good quality paint. Make sure to use a rust converter that looks like a light tan colored milky substance. A lot of stores sell it under a generic "rust converter" label. As long as it's the milky looking stuff then it's ok.

I was skeptical of the stuff at first but I'm a believer now that we've been using it at work for about 5 years. I work on boats and see a lot of rust and the stuff works wonders and makes cleaning rust a lot easier and it's tough. I've seen boats come back that had Conquest applied and those areas are still rust free while other areas have started to rust and blister.

I've used it on my truck, trailer and tractor with great success.

Bully · Apr 10, 2006

It's an Explorer, rattle can that thing real quick, then get on with your life. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif The paint will out last the head gaskets.