I was under my truck today and for once since I bought the truck decided to see why my frame looks filthy. it has this wrinkle coat, mud looking crap on it.. so i took the gasket scraper since i had it handy and started scraping. HELLO. the coating just falls off. no it's not mud either. Looks like rubber/plasticy crap flakes Right off. Is this some kind of "factory undercoating" or did the previous owner go to town with some Discount Auto cans of under coating? Under there.... there is this nice black clean frame! What do you guys make of this?

Must be something applied later. All the frames I've seen (at least '89/90+) are painted a semi-gloss black.

my frame is gloss black, well atleast it was after i pressure washed the engine bay for my engine swap. I couldnt believe there was actually paint under all of the grease in the bay, diff, frame rails!

914runner- how is the swap going? in the middle of one myself.

there are three things that i need to finish then it will be done, I need to get the adapter harness from ORS, get and exhaust custom made, and get the tach to work. You wouldnt happen to know what to do with the tach would you?
Thanks

I remember reading that willcipher(?) had an adaptor for like 45 bucks I think. did you need to give ors your sets of harnesses so they could make one or did they supply all? thanks.

ah yes... the aftermarket idiot. The previous owner has really ticked me off. Well, when i'm doing my rear Leaf conversion I'll just scrap it all off and re-paint the frame black to make it look normal and 100x's better b/c I have a 3" body lift on. SO everyone in the world can see that crap now. Thanks guys.

Has your Runner always been in FL. If it was every driven for a couple winters in north eastern states, i'm not sure about this, or atlantic canada then the undercoating probably helped safe your frame. I'm from Newfoundland and if a truck is not under coated here every fall it might last 10 years.

Nothing that HURT the frame..that's for sure. But i did a CARFAX on it..and it's always been registered, bought, and driven down in Miami, FL until I brought it to tampa. IN florida... undercoating... is the biggest waste unless you are a "beach person".. ie jetskis, boats, live on the water and own your truck longer than 10yrs. My gramps' 68 Oldsmobile stationwagon was a FL vehicle..it's whole life and that sucker died with a Mint clean under carriage back in 88. So coating 99.99% of FL cars and trucks.. POINTLESS. I'm scrapping it off b/c A- It flakes off it you look at it wrong and B- EVERYONE can see the frame with a 3" body lift and my trucks looks DIrty..like i forgot to hose off the underside. should only take me about 2hrs to remove all the crap and give it a nice coat of semi-gloss black enamel from rust oleum.

I've got he same thing going on with my '93 4runner....The undercoating on the body just falls right off. The stuff on the frame is still pretty good though.

I'm pretty sure the stuff is dealer aftermarket, applied at the dealership at the time of sale....and probably for a hefty price. I spent some time working at body shops and garages when I was youngfer. Including a stink at a car dealership where I was the one who applied the aftermarcket undercoating. All the tell tale signs are there on my Runner.....overspray on the heatsheild and exhaust and none above the tranny.

If it's falling off, then scrap it off as you have been doing....get rid of all of the loose stuff. The problem is that the stuff is just old and dried out. Make sure you reapply a new coat or atleast use some spray paint on the newly exposed metal. Don't glop it on there either. Nice thin coats are all you need. When you glop it on there little holes and bubbles form that will trap water and cause your body and frame to rust later on.