Resealing gutters?

[Sigg]

Definitely not looking forward to it, but I'm about to strip all the old sealant out of my gutters. I've got some surface rust visible in cracks in the old sealant, and I want to treat it before it actually becomes a problem. **Can't think of how to do that without getting all the old sealant out. So, if someone has an alternative that'll work…I'm ALL EARS!**

Here's what I was planning on doing:

Working in 8"-12" sections:
Apply heat to the sealer with a heat gun on highest setting.
Using a 1/4 inch chisel and a hammer, pry the sealer away from the roof side first.
With 1/4 inch chisel and hammer, pry the sealer out along the length of the gutter, angle the chisel to get as much sealer out from the inside lip of the rain gutter.
Use a wire wheel/drill to clean up residual sealer, follow up with a 3M rust paint stripper wheel.
Remove the fine particles with a pick tool.

Takes about 10-15 minutes per section.

My question is this: should I apply new sealant (something like Sikaflex) to the gutters before or after paint? I was planning on stripping, sanding, then painting the gutters with rust converter (probably either Chassis Saver or POR15), and then top coating it with Monstaliner (I'll be lining the whole van soon). If I'm doing all that…do the gutters need sealant? I'm not excited about the time this will all take…but I also don't want to be dealing with more significant problems down the road because I took any shortcuts here…

 

[Mwilliamshs]

I found heating from below allowed me to remove my entire passenger side gutter-full of seam sealer intact in less than an hour. Doing it as you described took my 3 hours on the driver's side and rear.

I used self-etching primer both before and after the sealer then painted. I used Eastwood brushable seam sealer. It's good stuff but I think I'd try a caulk-gun version next time.

This refers to my 1989 Ford EB.

 

[Sigg]

Heating from below? That actually makes even more sense. I'll have to try it that way.

Do you all think I *need* to apply new sealer (like Sikaflex) if I pull all the old stuff out??

 

[Mwilliamshs]

Yes, you need to seal that seam. It'll leak into the interior if you don't.

The gutters are a seam of 3 pieces of sheet metal spot welded together. The roof and wall panels have flanges that meet and the gutter is its own piece.

You don't have to use sikaflex though. A non-hardening autobody seam sealer is what I went with.

 

[Sigg]

Yes, you need to seal that seam. It'll leak into the interior if you don't.

The gutters are a seam of 3 pieces of sheet metal spot welded together. The roof and wall panels have flanges that meet and the gutter is its own piece.

You don't have to use sikaflex though. A non-hardening autobody seam sealer is what I went with.

Well, that's super good to know. Thanks! I didn't realize that—but, then again, I couldn't figure out why it needed to be there. Now I know! I'll get the old stuff out, and get some new stuff in.

After looking at this thread, I'm kinda leaning towards using Tremco Vulkem.