As we’ve been on a bit of a rusty frame kick lately I thought I’d share my new SST for internal frame cleaning. Pretty fancy.

Just run it in from the open end at the back bumper and it’ll snake all the way to the front. Flush away.

If you’ve never done it, you will be shocked how much dirt and gravel comes out the first time. I make it a spring cleaning once the roads dry up. And of course oiling in the fall.

Have fun.

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Very nice SST Canoe. Nothing wrong with cleaning out your frame yearly.

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Great idea, thanks for sharing!
Simple, easy, cheap.......looks like it would be very effective.
Adding to my annual Fall arsenal of rust prevention.

Isn't there a chance that water could sit inside the frame and start rotting it from the inside where it's not coated with paint?

Cool setup. Might have to borrow that idea.

I park my rigs on a steep bank so the rear of the frame that is humped up over the rear axle is sloped down. Then I clean by poking a pressure washer in all the holes and hosing out the frame.

I do this before coating the inside. I use a pump sprayer with a plastic wand for this and just poke it in all the holes and frame ends.

Fun to see all the sand and dirt come out. But you sure don’t want to see big rust flakes.

The problem is that that's what happens but is held in place by dirt, dust and other gunk. The idea is to flush it out every once in a while so it isn't trapped and can actually dry out.

Just drive it around after you clean it and the movement will knock the water out. The frame is full of drain holes, that's how the dirt/sand/salt gets in there.

Your frame is already full of holes, big square ones in the sides and small drain holes in the bottom. Every time you drive in the rain the frame is getting wet on the inside, no doubt. Trouble is, over the years we’ll get accumulated dirt and gravel inside that eventually blocks all the drain holes and then you have a perpetually wet muddy frame inside and that’s where the rust comes from.

By cleaning out the dirt and rocks occasionally you keep the drain holes free and clear ensuring your frame is not holding any water inside.

Mine had an inch of dust in the frame when I bought it. I bet others are similar. It took a long time to clean the first time.

I have an '03 and had a sizable rust hole in frame under the P/S door, The amount of rust I was able to scrape out of this one hole half filled a freezer bag.
This has never been an off road vehicle and I can imagine one that is needs a frame cleaning at least once a year. Nice tool you came up with!

Extremely unlikely as the frame rots out due to dirt and salt stuck in the frame and lying on the steel. If the frames were washed out a few times a year the rot would be a lot less and plus these folks coat the inside of their frames with rust inhibiting solutions.

Steel does a lot better and doesn't oxidize half as fast when clean vs covered is moisture holding materials that hold the moisture in. :-)

Thanks for the cleaning tip! Now I have something to do this weekend!
cheers!

I like such creative ideas.

When I clean-out my frame rails I prefer to first blow-out what can be easily done, like with a leaf blower from the rear. A shop vac works great too. I then put an extension on the shop vac, like this, but longer of course...



On vacuum and blow, this will get out all the loose stuff, from the rear and various holes front to back...

As for any rust, I then used an endoscope and I didn't find any of note (CA truck). I posted a couple boring videos of this process...

If I would have found rust, I'd device a tool that I used on a '63 Jeep pick-up before - a braided cable with small chains at one end, the other attaches to a drill. This will dislodge and pulverize rust on the inside of the frame rails. Just found this video, about the 2 min mark, gives you an idea...

YouTube

I didn't finish the video, but I don't think he used a pipe or tube, which really helps to keep the cable from kinking-up. I used some semi-rigid Pex over the braided cable and it was awesome. Then blow and/or vacuum again...

I didn't need this on my 4Runner, so I then went with the Eastwood internal frame coating with a wand, then normal paint over that, using the same wand.

Hey Tony that picture reminds me of something I made back in my high school days that involved smoking a certain type of tobacco

such simple yet great ideas...and here I was about to throw out an old garden hose

Man, If I were you I would take it to your station and blast a fire hose through it :-)