Running boards clean up and installation

Thanks to @AyWoSch Motors I finally have a set of running boards for my truck. These are a used set off a squarebody, they are extruded aluminum. Looks like there will be a little tweaking to straighten up the edges which I can do no problem.

First question: There is rust staining which I assume I can clean up with Lacquer thinner?



Below: A picture of my truck from a recent feed haul. Obviously the hoop step will go away, but I'm kind of throwing around the idea of painting the running boards black. What do you think? Good idea or bad?



So on the paint thing, I'm just throwing around the idea right now and will likely clamp the boards up after cleaning them up to see how I feel about the aluminum color. My biggest concern, if I do paint them is keeping the paint on them. My only method of painting will be rattle can, but I'm thinking it's not the best idea because I'll wear the paint off where I step in short order and every rock that hits it will chip paint away. What do you guys think?

Thanks!

No black. Keep aluminum color.

Yeah man, are you feeling okay Pops? Mebbe you better have a seat and stay out of the sun.

I am quick to fix everything with Turtle Wax chrome polish, it'll whack them stains NP.

It's hard to keep paint on aluminum. I'd say clean and polish.

Thanks guys. To be honest the black was a thought I had earlier in the week and thought about it off and on, but pretty by the time I wrote this post decided against it. But I thought it was worth getting feedback on.

@Rusty Nail Ya, son I think I might have bumped my head.... Feeling better now thanks to you guys. Turtle Wax Chrome right IDK why I didn't think of that....

#0000 steel wool with aluminum polish

No problem man, super happy you like them. Glad they made it there.

I like black, paint many things black. I think they'd look good, but yeah, you'll have a nightmare keeping paint on them, or chasing every scratch with a can of paint. Theres ways to do it, but not easily and not with spray paint. Maybe if they were sand blasted, for texture, then many coats of black and clear coat. I think you'd be better off keeping then aluminum though, way less maintenance..
Sorry they're kinda orange, that's from all the rust in those 75 fenders dripping on them for who knows how long. My friend that used to work at a truck was said acid and a hot pressure wash will shine that up very easily. Dont know what type.
I'd say some toilet bowl cleaner and some steel wool, then chrome polish.

Glad you like em, they're going to look nice one there.

AyWoSch Motors said:

No problem man, super happy you like them. Glad they made it there.

I like black, paint many things black. I think they'd look good, but yeah, you'll have a nightmare keeping paint on them, or chasing every scratch with a can of paint. Theres ways to do it, but not easily and not with spray paint. Maybe if they were sand blasted, for texture, then many coats of black and clear coat. I think you'd be better off keeping then aluminum though, way less maintenance..
Sorry they're kinda orange, that's from all the rust in those 75 fenders dripping on them for who knows how long. My friend that used to work at a truck was said acid and a hot pressure wash will shine that up very easily. Dont know what type.
I'd say some toilet bowl cleaner and some steel wool, then chrome polish.

Glad you like em, they're going to look nice one there.

Click to expand...

So here's the back story / the thing. I have some foot and leg issues, so I put those hoop steps on the truck right after I got it in 2018. They are better than nothing, but I've never really liked them. IDK why anyone likes the hoop step, other than they are cheap to buy. So I've been looking for a set of running boards that will look correct for the truck. What I mean by that is traditionally styled. I think that the tube / bar style look so out of place on these trucks, plus I've had my foot slip off of those on customer rigs before, so that was a no. I looked at LMC at one point but frankly that was cost prohibitive. This is a round about way of saying thanks, you had just what I had spent a considerable amount of time looking for.

I'm keeping them as unpainted aluminum and will share pictures of them once installed. I do have muriatic acid on hand and I could mix it into a weak solution, but on the farm I have to be careful to keep it off the ground because of the birds, it's kind of a pain in the butt, but I can go that route if need be. I may go ahead and try lacquer thinner because I like simple. It won't hurt the aluminum the worse thing that will happen is it'll be ineffective. We'll see if got several clean up ideas now so I'll play around with what works and isn't to difficult.

You might also try naval jelly, supposed to be real good at cutting rust.

crpntr78 said:

You might also try naval jelly, supposed to be real good at cutting rust.

Click to expand...

FYI naval jelly is muriatic acid that has a thickening agent in it. I agree it works great as a rust remover, but it has basically the same down falls as using regular muriatic acid plus costs a lot more. Also keep in mind (And I need to as well) I'm not removing rust from steel, rather I'm removing stains caused by rust on aluminum so it's just on the surface and needs to be pulled off that surface.

Needs moar pix.

Rusty Nail said:

Needs moar pix.

Click to expand...

Listen here sonny, I haven't done squat to these things yet. And don't get all worried once I get going on them there will be at least some pics.

Whew!
Well friend I cant deny the prospect of schmancy aluminum squah body running boards gets me a little giddy.
Even if it IS your truck.

i wanna see!

i wanna see!

What about lemon juice and a stiff nylon brush?

Ok so here are some close up pictures of the boards themselves. I have to admit there is more orange than I expected. The supports which I did not take pictures of will need to take a tumble in the sand blasting cabinet and then painted. Don't get me wrong I'm still very happy with these and will put the work in that is needed to clean them up. I mean they are 40 year old boards after all. I just don't want Ayden to think I'm complaining, I'm not far from it they are just what I want. Also they are complete with all the bracketry and hardware. I'll replace the fasteners but have the originals so I won't have to guess at what to use.

I think that trying to get that much orange up with Turtle wax chrome polish is probably very likely to work, but also be very time consuming. I will experiment but have a feeling this will end in mild acid bath. I hope to get sometime to play with them during the week but in all likely hood I won't get anything serious done until this coming Friday / weekend.