repainting a horse trailer,, help!

[horses4me]

I want to repaint my trailer..but i dont have the cash to have it done professionally. So, i am going to do it myself. I was reading in another post about using sos pads,, would the scotch brite ones work as well? Also someone mentioned navel jelly over the rust,, is that just over the rust spots or over the entire trailer? My trailer has lots of surface rust but nothing that goes all the way through, its got a good floor, frame, new tires, repacked barreins, and the brakes work great. So i would love to hear of some ways i can re-paint my trailer to make it look great again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[mlh619]

When we bought our trailer the guy had just painted it (it is over 20 y/os old) with rust paint and a brush. I don't remember if it was tremclad or not. I have seen people spray paint them as well but that is a little harder to keep even. The paint on our trailer is about 3 years old now and looks like it could/should be done again.

[pvf]

I've never repainted a trailer but have thought about doing it..

[walkerfarms]

Here is something to think about.Check with your school,tech school if you have one in your area.They will sometimes paint trailers and such if you furnish the paint if they have an automotive program this allows them something to practice on. I have a friend that teaches at one and I let them use my trailer to teach wheel bearing packing and checking brakes and all it cost me was parts if any were needed.

[SunnyKS]

If you are just looking for a quick, cheap fix you might ask around and see if you have any dirt track race car folks in your area. Ask them were they get their cars painted. A lot of times you can find an experienced guy that works out of his garage that has the equipment and know how to do a quick fix, cheap paint job and can give you the advice about how to prep it.

Just a step up from doing it yourself. And no one get on me. I know there is a proper way to do the job, but sometimes you can only afford so much.

[gailfinney]

we are thinking of painting ours too ...does anyone know what kind of paint to use? i would assume auto paint and maybe a spraygun

[horses4me]

i have already asked the area schools,, none of them will do a horse trailers. I ahve asked garages and they tell me its to "hard" and they can do it. Maybe its cause i am a women and they think i cant handle it?

[pvf]

I think we should get Cook1745 to give us a step by step instructions:

"Thanks it really was VERY easy. We got tracter primer and then a GOOD quality tracter/ truck paint and put one coat of primer and two coats of paint. It only took one can of primer and two cans of paint. We just used good quality rollers and paint brushes."

"The guy that told us how to so it said to take an sos pad the metal type pad and sand off the big chunks but once you get those off and there is no more flaking rust than you can prime over the other stuff and you may need two coats of primer with alot of rust then paint as normal at least two coats!!"

These are quotes from another post..

[SunnyKS]

implement paint does a nice job. Visit the farm store.

[walkerfarms]

If you want to do it yourself ,sand the rust down to the metal,rent a spraygun if you don't want to buy one(wagner electric will do the job) then spray it with primer and then paint to the color of your choice. Wherever you buy the paint ask the saleperson for pointers on thinning the paint as this will determine the outcome of the finished product. get some cardboard and practice some before you start on your trailer. It is not that hard if you put your mind to it!!!!!!!!

[SunnyKS]

And don't forget to account for the square footage of the roof. That eats A LOT of paint.

[donielle21]

My husband just repainted our trailer. Hubby wanted to do it so he bought 2 cans of tractor paint from Tractor supply ( it was around 25.00 a gallon i think) grabbed himself a 2 inch paint brush and set to work. It looks practically brand new. The tractor paint has a glossy shine and by using a smaller paint brush he was able to control the runs in the paint. It took him a weeked to do it but it looks much better afterwards.

[cook1745]

I'm going out know but AS SOON as I get home I will post step by step instructions on how to get this done and make it last so it looks nice for a while!!!!

[horses4me]

thank you cook1745!!

[reiningfan]

I repainted the trailer I used to have. I used a hand held occilating sander, used a degreaser to clean off any gunk, rinsed well, then used a roller to apply implement grade primer. I had a small roller to correct drips. I used two coats of paint over the primer. I tried with a brush and really didn't like the results.
I have also helped out with repainting a friends trailer. They rented a sandblaster and a paint sprayer and bought automotive paint to do it. It looks like a professional job, although the cost was more than mine.
Unless you are REALLY good with a brush, I reccomend using a roller, it makes for a more even paint job as well as it leaves less marks.

[scrapchick]

We are going to repaint ours in a few weeks. We are going to paint it with the paint they use on tug boats. If anything can withstand the elements, its tug boat paint. It is tremendously expensive but we have a friend that owns a fleet of tugboats so we are getting the paint from him. We are going to sandblast and spray paint. Will post before and after pics!

[cook1745]

Ok first off can you post pictures of the trailer to see how much rust there is and how deep it goes.

The first thing we did was used a wool pad to remove the superfical rust. The most important thing it to make sure to get SUPER good quality paint roller that are low pile so the lint won't come off on the trailer while painting. We also taped every section if it is going to be a diffrent color with this blue wall tape from walmart spacifically for painting oject that you don't want the paint to be removed when pulled off.

If you are doing two ton paint jog the you will also need a paint brush to do the corners and again MAKE SURE good quaility paint brushes made with real hair brisels. This will prevent hair falling out when painting and minimise the lines left by the brush it's self.

Ok now you will want to do the top or roof of the trailer first put on a VERY good truck and trailer primer this is normally grey in color but I do belive you can get it in any color for extra. This will stop rust and the other paint showing through. One coat will do IF the old paint is good and not much rust other wise two coats. Then the sides and so on. We got our paint from tractor supply.

You MUST let this dry for a FULL 24 -48 hours depending on humidity in your area the more humid the longer you let it set to dry and it MUST be under a shelter to prevent bugs and rain from hitting it. Also it MUST be in the shade or again in the shelter to paint so the paint isn't put onto a hot surface.

The after the primer you again start with the roof of the trailer and apply a coat of paint that isn't to thick to prevent dripping remember you can always add more you can't alway take it off. Then do the sides. We used the roller on all flat surefaces like the roof and sides till we got to the edges and then we used the paint brush on the edges. Again allow this to dry for at least 24-48 hours BEFORE the next coat. TRUST me it well worht the wait between coats to make sure it stays on and doesn't rust back up.

This is what your may look like.

BEFORE



AFTER As you see on the side wall we taped off the black bars and painted everything else a ford grey color and then painted that black.

[Wolfie]

We repainted ours once, but the rust came right back through and it looked terrible. Never doing that again.

[horses4me]

i am having a horrible itme trying to get apic to go on here! It says that it exceeds the forum limit,, but not sure how to make it smaller.. grrrr. I will keep trying,,,,,,,

[horses4me]

well here is my trailer i want to paint,,,,[IMG]aolemb://B7436254-14C8-4EE4-8F5C-E371015DE67A/my%20horse%20trailer.JPG[/IMG]