Looking for tough, what do you use?

[coastsider]

What do you use to protect or cover the parts of your trailer that take the biggest beatings? At the moment I use paint on bedliner for the frame and fronts of the side boxes on my AT Horizon. The paint on liner is ugly as hell but seems to shrug off stones and rocks. I prefer the look of diamond plate, although of course heavier, is bullet proof and looks great and plan to armor the fronts of the boxes soon.

I'm curious as to what other forum member use to armor plate their trailers to protect from the abuse that gets dished out on the trail.

 

[wjeeper]

When we owned a landscape company our trailers/ trucks we use to use aluminum diamond plate. Most of the wear seemed to be on the tops of the diamonds (if that makes sense) and a quick wipe down with Muratic acid, wash and wax would make it somewhat shiny at the end of the season. Anything steel tended to rust and was treated with a good pressure washing and a coat of rustoleum. Maybe not cosmetically the most pleasing but it kept the rust at bay and from 5 feet away it looked ok:elkgrin:

I am interested in what others do..........

 

[coastsider]

a quick wipe down with Muratic acid

Never heard of this stuff, sounds nasty, where do you buy it?

 

[Paladin]

I prefer just to use the bedliner, because of the weight. My trailer is big enough and heavy as it is, I don't need to make it heavier. A big part of the reason why it is not nearly as heavy as people think is because most things have a dual role. The floor of the trailer IS the skidplate, I didn't need to bolt skidplates on. The front wall is tough steel, just needs a good coating, and it's good enough to take the abuse without needing diamond plate on top. Etc.

 

[greentruck]

Never heard of this stuff, sounds nasty, where do you buy it?

muriatic acid = hydrochloric acid


In a dilute solution, it's used to brighten aluminum wheels, plate and fittings. Spray it on, give it a few minutes to work on the surface oxidation and then rinse with water.

A popular brand is Zep-Alum. Should be able to get it at a heavy truck/trailer parts house or possibly at a truck stop. Not sure if it's available in consumer packaging or is for industrial use only.

 

[goodtimes]

Never heard of this stuff, sounds nasty, where do you buy it?

Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, pretty much any swimming pool supply store . . .

It works great for cleaning concrete floors before laying down epoxy . . . never tried it for cleaning aluminum though.

 

[wjeeper]

Never heard of this stuff, sounds nasty, where do you buy it?

I think they have it at Home Depot and Lowes. We got at a local masonry supply in 30 gallon barrels..........we primarily used it to clean brick driveways, swimming pools and concrete.

Only reason we found it brightened up oxidized aluminum is an employee spilled it down the side of a truck, it made the aluminum look much better, so we started doing it yearly.

 

[Borrego60]

My brother and I use AL diamond plate,works good on the horizon trailer and easy to replace if need be.

 

[Honu]

Diamond plate and going to put more on might do like some of the OZ guys and put up a screen

Had a huge sharp something fly up and rip a gash in my spare gas can
Also over time had a big dent in my nose cone from a rock ?

 

[coastsider]

Diamond plate and going to put more on might do like some of the OZ guys and put up a screen

Had a huge sharp something fly up and rip a gash in my spare gas can
Also over time had a big dent in my nose cone from a rock ?

Tell me more, how and where will you mount a shield? Right at the front of the trailer? What trialer do you have?

 

[Borrego60]

Metal supply company should have it in 4x8 sheets if you get lucky maybe smaller scrap leftovers.

 

[Honu]

Coastsider have a conqueror conquest

not sure mount at the very front coming back at a angle or just put on mud flaps that are larger but dont want them dragging so the trailers I have seen in Australia have these angled back mesh type setups on them about 2 feet tall on some looks like super tight weave stuff on trampolines or the shade cloth
wire frame not sure how to best bolt it up etc..

but the plating I plan on might take care ?