Even if you don't have a grinder.... I picked up some wire brushes that go in the chuck of a standard drill at a "closeout warehouse" chain up here in the northeast, and they seem to work well for the $0.98 /ea I paid for them. They won't tackle heavy rust, but they cut through grime and surface rust okay.
As for paint, others on here recommend POR-15 or the less-expensive equivalent Chassis Saver as a rust stopper/preventative so I used that. I went with the POR-15 and put it on with a cheap $1.50 brush from the same store mentioned above, and so far so good. It goes on kind of thick in a brushed-on application, and seems to level itself out so there were no brush strokes, but it can be thinned and sprayed if you desire. Like a dope, I left it exposed in the sun for a while so it got a milky-black appearance in some spots, so I went over the whole frame again with Tie Coat Primer followed by a coat of Chassis Black (both from POR). No rust was showing through after a year outside under a tarp with just the POR-15, and this frame was a little rough in spots under the bed. For comparison I sprayed the leaf springs with Permatex rust converter when I put the first coat of POR-15 on, then hit them with some rustoleum black. They looked good for a while but the rust is starting to show through again.
Smitty
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