I was cleaning my axle housings today. The part where the felt and rubber seal is heavily rusted. I stopped in at Autozone and bought some "Klean-Strip rust remover" to see what it would do. I'm not a fan of rust removers/convertors. I'd guess I try it while waiting for an answer from someone on this site.

Has anyone sanded the ends of the axle without damaging them? What about sandblasting, too severe? Any thoughts on cleaning these things up?

Thanks...

The only thing not rusted on this truck is the title.

 

not a big deal , the wipers are just to keep the axle balls clean .. from dirt and crap contaminating the knuckle grease .

use some emery cloth and just clean em up a bit .

 

Yep, just use some very fine grit sandpaper to clean it up.

 

this is a pic of the rust:

 

wow .. that is fairly serious ..

Personally , I would replace . sand blasting , or grinding smooth again would not be enough .. the replacement seals/felts are NOT avaliable oversized . I fear if you tried to repair , water would still be able to contamanate the knuckle grease .

 

Yep, it's got deep pitting all over the knuckle ball (both sides). If it was just surface rust I'd be okay. The pic is a little out of focus so it's worse than it looks. At least the parts that I took out are good.

Well for now I'm putting the axles and body on the backburner while I try to locate a frame.

 

Have heard of folks filling in pitting like that with body filler or epoxy and then sanding it smooth.

 

Definately do what you can to save it - they can be pricey to replace. A friend of mine was quoted $1000 at the dealership for a knuckle for his '83!

 

BTDT. I sanded mine down a bit then took a wire brush real good to the pitted/scored areas to clean out the rust. Then I spead on a thin layer of J-B Weld and worked it into the pits. A few days later when it was fully cured I sanded it down to bare metal, leaving the epoxy to fill the pits and scores. Re-apply and re-sand if necessary. Several years later, it is still working fine.

 

I may know someone who has a '85 axle for sale, (need to give them a call). If I get it I wont have to worry about the upper gusset, correct?

 

axle is going bye-bye with the remainder of scrap metal