Advice on how to refinish axle exteriors (1 Viewer)

[Palma]

So I'm restoring my TLC and I'm wondering what I should do about the axles.

First of all, I fear that sandblasting them would damage internal components by either abrasion or heat, and worry that keeping media from entering the housing would prove problematic. So how should I clean them?

Secondly I don't know what to coat them with after the exterior is cleaned. I've been having almost all of the metal parts powdercoated (except for the body,) but I obviously can't do that with these.

The front knuckles will have to be rebuilt since they are leaking badly. My FJ is a '74 if it matters.

 

[fhawk5]

Well, I have been there... Plastic media the axle housing, of course remove everything BUT the housing. Then clean, epoxy prime, and topcoat.... Tape off all areas obvious not to be painted..

 

[franklin40]

if you want the best finish and you have to rebuild the knuckles I'd say disassemble them and blast the housing. leave the old races in until blasted and then change the races with new bearings. then choose your coating. have all the parts sand blasted and painted then put them back together. the nice thing about paint is you can touch them up as time goes by. POR 15 is a commonly used item. otherwise a good epoxy primer and high quality paint (not rattle can) would give a nice finish. it all depends on how much detail you want. you could cost everything with POR 15 without sand blasting but you won't get into the surfaces between parts and they can still cause corrosion to progress. I'm taking mine all apart to redo gears so that's when I'll POR15 them. it's not a full on restoration with that truck. it's more a keep it looking good as much as possible but know I'll drag and axle housing over something some time type truck.

 

[B y r o n]

A good cleaning with soap and water after a through degrease with engine cleaner. Remove as much rust as possible with 3M pads in an angle grinder. Then several coats of semi gloss Rust-Oleum. If you weren't able to get all the rust off then a coat or two of Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer before the semi gloss.

You'd be surprised what you can do with a rattle can.

 

[franklin40]

I agree that rattle can can look good. the paint is so thinned out though that it's not as durable

 

[Jdc1]

I stripped mine completely and had the housing sandblasted. I epoxy primed and then used alk200. I wouldn't use the all 200 again w/o hardener because it took a long time to cure. After the paint was dry, I took it to the car wash and sprayed the heck out of the inside of the housing. For the third member I degreased, rust converter and then used epoxy primer and alk200.