Cleaning / refinishing an axel body

[julianf]

I'm off to pick up this tomorrow -

(the deal is done, so I don't want to know if you have 10 of them in your shed that you'll pay me to take away! : )

Anyway...

It doesn't look terrible as is. It's still got some spring seats and thats better than the one in my yard for starters.

But I've got time.

I don't want to blast it as I can only do total loss and I'll get grit in it some way or other, and then I remembered electrolysis.

What do you reckon?

One end at a time in a drum full of naoh?

In theory it should do no damage to the inside of mating faces so long as the power is kept on, right?

(I don't mean whole - just the case, with the internals removed)

As for the purchase - I have a drum axel with a good diff, poor axel body, and drums.

This is probably (excluding the 10 you have in your shed) my cheapest way to get a working one. I priced up the parts to convert the drum to disc and quit when my spreadsheet got to over £400.

 

[sako243]

To be honest I've been bloody impressed by how quickly a needle gun will get crap off stuff like that. The three axles on the 6x6 got done in about half a day with mine. It also gives a nice surface for paint to bind to.

Clarke CAT84 was what I ended up using.

 

[OJCar]

Either one end at a time or build a "coffin" lined with plastic sheet to do the whole casting in one go.

Later this winter I'll be setting up an old fibre glass water tank I have to do Series axle casings

 

[JohnH]

One I did a year or two back;



power source;



Half done;



Painted;



Used POR15. Still good 15 years later.

 

[roofman]

Cleaned a few rears in the past and my advice is to find a spot for it and make an X frame from timber and get it up to waist height, you can take your time then with a chipping hammer or needle gun to de-rust. plus its easier to sit there on a stool to change bearings, crowns etc if its elevated.

 

[MoreWellie]

I stuck one on a trio of axle stands and used wire brushes in angle grinders, just do it outside and still wear a decent face mask
Then prime and paint
I used galvafroid overcoated with smithandallen 329
HAving read about epoxy on here I would probably use that under the enamel if I was doing again

 

[jmp49]

Wire brush in a angle grinder, sat on axle stands or on wheels. I used a coat of jenoite on the bare finish, por-15 etch primer then brushed on por-15 topcoat.
I did the por-15 etch on the galv chassis but not the jenolite and its a disaster peeling off even before the vehicle was used in anger, the por-15 dealer told me it would be fine over galv without mordant t-wash or similar because the etch primer would key.
So I really regret using it on the chassis, but the axle which was bare metalled with a wire brush first is holding up well, so I guess the lesson is dont trust por-15 on galv'd parts. I just wanted it to be black and not corrode but its a tiny bit matt in the metal, so if you want a mirror paint finish maybe enamel or coach paint would come out nicer.




I have a spare disco disc axle in good shape, but you know what they are like about swapping the "wrong" components in for a year here hence the drum axle fettle. I think yours is the heavier duty sailsbury rear. I have one under my project 110 and its hugely overbuilt in comparison to the 90 one above. Sort of halfway between a stock 90 axle and a 101 6 stud axle in build strength, probably in weight too!

 

[sako243]

All those recommending wire wheels - have you tried a needle scaler?

I compared the two when getting the 6x6 chassis back to good metal. The needle scaler was (at a minimum) 4x quicker than a wire wheel on the same part in my trials and was able to get into all sorts of nooks and crannies that the wire wheels wouldn't be able to. Plus it leaves a nicely keyed surface for paint to bind to.

 

[jmp49]

I have a needle scaler, but what I currently dont have is a compressor big enough to run it in continual bursts, so I'm farting about stopping waiting for air to build back up all the time and its slower as a result (and bloody noisy of course!).
I have to do the 101 chassis and I have one of those angle grinders that takes the big roll wire brushes like this on a double handed machine, should be interesting to see how it goes. I did the 90 with a little 4" grinder with a cup wheel on it but the chassis was brand new, so in theory just the official por-15 acid etch prep was sufficient though I went over it once lightly just to knock off transport smutz...

 

[dave h 2]

Depends on how shiny you like your rust too.
Try scratching it afterwards - bet you get brown dust.

 

[roofman]

I have a needle scaler, but what I currently dont have is a compressor big enough to run it in continual bursts, so I'm farting about stopping waiting for air to build back up all the time and its slower as a result (and bloody noisy of course!).
I have to do the 101 chassis and I have one of those angle grinders that takes the big roll wire brushes like this on a double handed machine, should be interesting to see how it goes. I did the 90 with a little 4" grinder with a cup wheel on it but the chassis was brand new, so in theory just the official por-15 acid etch prep was sufficient though I went over it once lightly just to knock off transport smutz...

get yourself a 47KG propane bottle and adapt a regulator so it free flows into bottle, tail it to your comp and you have a lot more air storage for a needle scaler which are a game changer as been stated above .

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Cleaned a few rears in the past and my advice is to find a spot for it and make an X frame from timber and get it up to waist height, you can take your time then with a chipping hammer or needle gun to de-rust. plus its easier to sit there on a stool to change bearings, crowns etc if its elevated.

I do the same thing albeit with a pair of 12 ton axle stands that raise to a comfortable height.

 

[julianf]

All those recommending wire wheels - have you tried a needle scaler?

Its irritating - i have an air chisel, which generally come with the needle scaler attachment, but, when i bought it, i thought "ill never need the scaler" so saved myself the whole 50p by not getting it...

 

[julianf]

Axle

has been acquired now -

Body of it doesnt even look that rusty. I think an abrasive solution will save me some bother over electrolysis.

 

[MattF]

but, when i bought it, i thought "ill never need the scaler" so saved myself the whole 50p by not getting it...

That proves my philosophy of: Better to have & not need....

 

[sako243]

Its irritating - i have an air chisel, which generally come with the needle scaler attachment, but, when i bought it, i thought "ill never need the scaler" so saved myself the whole 50p by not getting it...

To be honest I was underwhelmed with them the first time I used them back when I was a teenager using Dad's setup. I borrowed his when I started on the 6x6 and with a big compressor (3hp 250l receiver) it makes a massive difference.

All I did on the 6x6 was needle gun and then Bilthammer Hydrate 80 to stabilise the remaining rust. Was fast and efficient and so far seems to be holding up pretty well but the engine as you know is off being machined currently so not had a lot of use.

 

[Robotstar5]

I made some brackets that bolt onto the ends of the axle casing so it can be supported and rotated on a pair of axle stands.

 

[jmp49]

get yourself a 47KG propane bottle and adapt a regulator so it free flows into bottle, tail it to your comp and you have a lot more air storage for a needle scaler which are a game changer as been stated above .

When I was spraying a car this year with a LVLP gun, it couldnt even keep pace with that, so I think the issue is with the compressor pump head. Its 3ph and a decent size but was cobbled together decades ago now and just got shoved in the compressor shed and had the oil checked annually but its just worn out or the damp's got to the valves or whatever. Its a triggers broom so no idea of who makes what bit to get spares and for now it works to blow up tyres and operate the air jack on the lift's rolling bridge and run the parts cleaner etc.

I was hoping a hydrovane at reasonable money would follow me home this year as I have a much larger compressor with a snapped crank that grenaded the pump, but in the meantime I've got a chinese (vevor) pump head thats rated 400L/min & 17.5cfm at 90psi to go on that as I need air with sufficient cfm for other reasons (cincinatti vmc) but dragging it out, hydro testing it and adapting the pump is a project in itself.
But for me making rapid progress with stuff I (and most other people) already have to hand that just works trumps chasing the ideal solution every single job.