So, as I'm tearing apart my front end, I've found out there is a nice collection of dirt, grime, etc. in the brackets the upper control arm mounts to - and also in numerous other places.
If there is no good way to prevent this stuff from getting in there (fabricating some kind of cover), what is a good way to protect the metal - painting it?
Since I'm going to have the upper and lower control arms out, I figure I might as well do what I can to protect them and the accessabile surrounding area, since the amount of rusted/peeling metal kind of makes me scared, haha.

 

LOL yea mine is like that too. I say duck tape. That stuff will do anything! For me its just dry Mud. But for others I could see it causing some bad rust issues. Maybe tack weld some sheet metal to the top. Then if you need in its easy to brake it off.

 

... Now I just gotta get the broken lower shock bolt out of the lower arm. Damn bolt broke flush with the arm AND my extractor bit broke in the broken bolt.
Luckily, there is a little bit of the bolt coming out the other side of the threaded area. Sprayed everything down real good with PB Blaster and will try to get it out tomorrow. Otherwise I'm gonna have a real fun time!!

 

I used to use PB BLaster all the time til my wife's uncle turned me onto a rust-penetrant that Mopar puts out. I bought a can of it from the dealer (it's the only place to get it). It was crazy expensive (relatively speaking) but there is nothing it can't loosen. He was one of the mechanics for Team Viper and a long time mechanic at a Dodge Dealership in NJ. I think this is a valid part number; MOPAR RUST PENETRANT HEAT CONTROL,4318039,2525054,3419129

This stuff is unbelievable!

You probably did this already, but did you heat that bolt up before you tried the extractor? By heat I mean not propane. You can go through a 20lb tank and still not get it hot enough to be of any use. Just figured I'd throw that out there. Good luck with that. I hope you have a warm garage to work in. I do but it's filled with broken down cars so it the driveway for me..LOL

 

you could always box them if you want to go through the trouble, you cut metal plates and weld them to it to make it sealed, it adds strenth to them, not really needed though. but i have mine undercoated and just spray them out every now and then.