question Removing underseal?

[Rick W]

I need to remove what looks like underseal. Which wouldnt be too much of a problem if it was on the chassis, but at some point in the past some bright spark has used underseal on the inside of the jeep tub. Mainly in the back. Paint stripper doesnt seem to want to touch in, unless I need to use gallons of the stuff? Messy business. Anyone recommend a way to get this off?:help:

[sirhc]

Have you tried a hot air gun and scraper, or maybe a wire brush?

[alant]

A scraper is about the only way to remove this horrible stuff. You could try some petrol to soften it but be careful and only do a little at a time (do not use hot air gun).

Good luck

[timbo]

Just had similar job done on anarrow track sankey chassis. Took to blasters thinking 40 quid ish but blast medium just sinks into the bitumen. In the end they used paint stripper and elbow grease route followed by 2 pack primer - total 230 quid, about the same as a decent new sankey !!!!

 

Never mind looks flippin good now though...

[Rick W]

I was wondering about the blasting route. Does the 2 pack paint provide a barrier coat against the underseal?

[Sean N]

Traditional blasting never seems to work against rubbery materials because the blast medium either bounces off or sinks in. This can be handy sometimes - at work we get aluminium mats with rubber infill strips blasted to clean and finish them and it doesn't mar the rubber.

 

I've never come across any better method than warm and scrape, perhaps with petroleum based solvent (or just petrol) to soften and to remove the last traces. I do find warming helps but be really careful not to set it alight and be careful about how you're doing the job - if you get it too hot you get gobbets of semi-molten underseal dripping on you - not nice.

 

I think acid dipping would probably take it off, pricey though.

[mike65]

Have succesfully used hot air paint stripping gun and scraper. But it is messy and this layers can need a lot of heating. Still leaves a thin layer that needs to be removed.

 

I have thought about freezing it to see if that makes it easier to chip off. Not talking liquid nitrogen baths but more along the lines of the aerosols you get for freezing pipes or the like.

Has anybody tried that route?

 

Mike

[Rover8FFR]

There are specific solvents used in industry and construction to remove asphalt and bitumastic compounds etc.

 

Attached is a link to such a product. Albeit the heating and scraping is a pre-requisite to remove the majority / bulk of the material to assist with solvent cleaning / removal etc.

 

The attached is a non-hazardous product that can be used in workshops. Using petrol would not be adviseable for obvious reasons.

 

http://www.bitmen.f9.co.uk/asphaltclean.htm

 

:-D

[Rick W]

The asphalt remover idea was a good one. Reminded me that we sell Intensive Tar Remover, for getting rid of tar, bitumen deposits etc. Just tried it and it works quite well, trouble is, that it evaporates fairly rapidly, as I suspect most of these things do. Im trying gasket remover now.

[Willyslancs]

The underneath of our M416 trailer was covered in it from new. Came off fairly easy with nitromors,(was messy tho).......

[timbo]

Annoying thing about my Sankey was it was absolutely perfect underneath, will try to post a pic of the primed chassis. Now just got to get the flippin stuff off the underneath of the tub !

[antarmike]

I have used white spirit in the past with some success.

[protruck]

I used white spirit this week to remove the underseal from the underside floor of a scammell crusader

 

Put a couple of coats on with a brush and used a scrapper to take it off, came off with not too

much problems, (but a messy )

 

 

Clive.

[robin craig]

When I used to do chassis repairs on ex military Land Rovers I used to make it the responsibility of the owner to remove the material to bare metal around a defined area outside of the weld area.

 

There was no way I was going to have that much fun. It used to be 3 to 4 weeks before people got the areas cleaned and called back. I wouldnt unload tools ot of the truck until I saw clean material.

 

R

[timbo]

Just had similar job done on anarrow track sankey chassis. Took to blasters thinking 40 quid ish but blast medium just sinks into the bitumen. In the end they used paint stripper and elbow grease route followed by 2 pack primer - total 230 quid, about the same as a decent new sankey !!!!

 

Never mind looks flippin good now though...

 

Pics as promised..

 

I'm currently giving it a coat of smooth black as I've made the mistake before of putting matt straight on top of primer and had it go rusty. I'm pretty sure this primer is not as porous but it won't hurt..

[Rick W]

Ahh, I see the trusty Hammerite has appeared!

[Zero-Five-Two]

I've always found diesel to be a good starter for softening underseal, fair bit safer than sloshing petrol around. Brush on several coats and leave to soak in for a couple of hours, then it's out with the scraper and try not to make too much mess. Finish off with a good quality brake and clutch cleaner or panel wipe before painting