Quick tips on stopping the rust on the cheap

Ditto, I use rustoleum everywhere except where the final paint job will hit. Awesome and cheap.

I agree totally. Rustoleum has been around for decades. Decades ago they had an "industrial " primer/paint. I had pipe fence around horse pastures, and sed the ind. primer, and on some I used another brand of oil based top coat. It had reaction. Keep this in mind any time you might switch brands. Clan metal is always the key also.
I have used X orust brand oil based enamel and Valspar with good results also.

I used oil based "tractor" ( I call them) enamels on floors. Yes they are togh. If they contained lead like 50-60 years they would be tougher!!!!!