Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Ask questions about Harbor Freight trailers, or questions about building your own...

Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Postby garywi » Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:55 am

Hello Guys, I am new, just purchased the 4x8 HF trailer. I have been reading incentantly on all the mods you can do. This forum is great!

So, out of the box, the paint is chipped in many places. Also,you can hear the "baked enamel" coating cracking off for every nut/bolt and tighten. So, I have bear metal in many places. Also, I see many of these trailers turn pink with very little sun exposure.

Do you all do any thing about this before you start your build? I mean I am thinking painting the trailer frame now, or getting clear POR-15 and dab all the bear metal places. Also, thinking maybe a good car wax on the frame will keep it from fading so fast.

I did POR-15 the leaf springs as the were rusted right out of the box.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Gary
garywi
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:26 am

Re: Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Postby bdosborn » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:57 pm

I painted mine. I hated the original color and like you, felt the durability was suspect. I used a primer coat followed by a hammer finish paint and it turned out pretty good:

Image

Bruce
2009 6.5'X11' TTT - Boxcar
All it takes is a speck of faith and a few kilowatts of sweat and grace.
Image
Boxcar Build
aVANger Build
User avatar
bdosborn
Donating Member
 
Posts: 5493
Images: 772
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: CO, Littleton

Re: Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Postby Woodbutcher » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:58 pm

I like truck bed liner paint after my frame is assembled.
User avatar
Woodbutcher
Platinum Donating Member
 
Posts: 4187
Images: 45
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:01 pm
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Top

Re: Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Postby felixx » Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:37 pm

how about 'wheel paint'
it is pretty chip resistant and comes in lots of colours?
felixx
Donating Member
 
Posts: 644
Images: 22
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 3:01 pm
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Top

Re: Harbor Freight Trailer - Paint Questions

Postby backstrap bandit » Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:39 am

I too painted mine with auto primer and follow up with grey enamel paint
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422355317.277671.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422355317.277671.jpg (75.77 KiB) Viewed 816 times
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422355292.946056.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422355292.946056.jpg (71.54 KiB) Viewed 816 times
User avatar
backstrap bandit
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 188
Images: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:49 am
Location: Louisiana
Top


Return to Trailer and Chassis Secrets

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests