Great suggestion of a parts cleaner and some sort of bucket/bin. I use a gallon of the orange based cleaner/degreaser from Home Depot. You can add a little water and it's still very effective. This is a very messy job, but if you manage it you will avoid everything getting covered in oil and grease. Get a box of 100 blue nitrile gloves from Home Depot and change them often. Several rolls of paper towels and the trash can handy helps to manage the mess.
1983 FJ60 front axle job questions.
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Oh, Yeah! lots of gloves and towels are a must!
- Thread starter
- #23
When I first started this thread I had broken down the passenger side front axle down to the spindle and stopped because of questions and time constraints. Due to spending time de-rusting and painting the parts I have taken off, weather and my job I haven't progressed from there. I greased the spindle and machine parts so that I could take my time doing this (cleaning them off when it comes time) by leaving certain things exposed until I could come back to them.
I put the bare wheel hub (sans bearings and races) through 24-hour hydrolysis, baked it against any hydrogen embrittlement and cleaned it with POR-15 metal prep. Unfortunately the Rust-oleum high heat primer and paint that I have to finish it off only work at temps of 50 degrees and above. I am working in an open air carport and I don't want to get fumes in the house so it looks like I'll have to wait to finish the painting.
Also, I have found Autozone part number AC3210 -Autocraft Universal Tie Rod Pulling tool to be an exact replica of the OTC tool for much less. Any comments if there is any reason I can't use the Autocraft vs. OTC ?
Here are some pics:
1) Where I started from when I started the thread = where I am now (I do these things slowly for the first time - the other side should go much faster).
2) "Before" what of wheel hub prior to electrolysis:
3) "Before" shot of sacrificial anodes prior to electrolysis; I cleaned up the rotor from the wheel hub and a cheap sheet of plain steel to sacrifice for the cleaning of the wheel hub:
4) Here is the "after" of the wheel hub and sacrificial anodes post-hydrolysis. I would go on to bake the wheel hub for a couple hours @ 350 degrees Farenheit to prevent hydrogen embrittlement.
5) Here is the wheel hub after converting and coating new surface rust with POR-15 metal prep. I have to wait for the weather to warm up a bit to finish with high-heat primer and paint.
I put the bare wheel hub (sans bearings and races) through 24-hour hydrolysis, baked it against any hydrogen embrittlement and cleaned it with POR-15 metal prep. Unfortunately the Rust-oleum high heat primer and paint that I have to finish it off only work at temps of 50 degrees and above. I am working in an open air carport and I don't want to get fumes in the house so it looks like I'll have to wait to finish the painting.
Also, I have found Autozone part number AC3210 -Autocraft Universal Tie Rod Pulling tool to be an exact replica of the OTC tool for much less. Any comments if there is any reason I can't use the Autocraft vs. OTC ?
Here are some pics:
1) Where I started from when I started the thread = where I am now (I do these things slowly for the first time - the other side should go much faster).
2) "Before" what of wheel hub prior to electrolysis:
3) "Before" shot of sacrificial anodes prior to electrolysis; I cleaned up the rotor from the wheel hub and a cheap sheet of plain steel to sacrifice for the cleaning of the wheel hub:
4) Here is the "after" of the wheel hub and sacrificial anodes post-hydrolysis. I would go on to bake the wheel hub for a couple hours @ 350 degrees Farenheit to prevent hydrogen embrittlement.
5) Here is the wheel hub after converting and coating new surface rust with POR-15 metal prep. I have to wait for the weather to warm up a bit to finish with high-heat primer and paint.
I put a 5/16 x 4" bolt shank up thru a 9/16 x 3/8 deep socket that I placed over the wheel studs; block the hub with a piece of 2 1/2 x 5/16" square tube and beat the end of the 5/16 bolt with a triple jack sledge. this allowed me to hold the socket over the stud, and attack the end of the 5/16" bolt with the BFH. took about 3-5 whacks to drop the studs out.,..to install the new ones, I used my air hammer thru the end of a 1/2" drive 7/8" deep socket to drive the studs in. without a press, they won't go all the way, but I was able to torque them the rest of the way in with the lug nuts over the wheel. I took beginning and ending measurements to be sure the studs were fully seated...I broke one of the wheel studs upon installation and final torquing of the stud and had to re-pull the right side to replace 2 original studs- 1 that had broken, and the other that was the last of the original studs from when I redid the front axle a few years back. the second go round, the air hammer got the studs loose/out, and most of the way back in, and the lug nut torquing got them to seat fully...hope that helps someone without a press to keep all their fingers and minimize the cussing...put some grease on the base of the lug nuts to pull the studs home...
Wow is that rust frightening. Where are you located? I give you huge credit. Cool to see your process with the anode and the hydrogen. Do you have a tank or a tupperware or what for dipping? I get the anode rod thing... just replaced mine from my hot water heater a week ago but only here and there have seen folks mention dipping to remove rust ect. How'd you come to the idea? I have an even less than perfect working space to for my 60. Driveway under big oaks. Leaf dropping season also came with acorns hitting me and the truck (couple times I got hit, holy crap do they hurt!). And I hate cold. Weather today in CT stinks on a day off without my kid... slush and rain nastiness so nothing much will get done out there.
we've messed with bathtub rust removal here for quite some time... Rust Removal using Electrolysis on a large scale
all you need is a plastic tub, some scrap steel, water, wash soda and a 6-12 volt battery charger...
Thanks. That is very cool. Reading through the thread now. Enlightened yet again here on mud.
- Thread starter
- #29
I live in Maryland and I used a 30 gallon plastic tub from the Walton's store. I cleaned the rotor that was trashed with an abrasive to use as an anode and also purchased a "clean" sheet of steel for another anode. The process is very effective but the cathode (the part you want to de-rust) needs to have a clear line of sight to the sacrificial anodes to work well. I surrounded the wheel hub with the rotor on one side and the sheet on the other.
I don't know the exact chemistry but it is very important not to use or put anything stainless, chrome or galvanized into the process as toxic stuff will come out and then you have a disposal issue. I also learned that the "green" on the sacrificial anodes was due to the copper wire being in the water (I hug the cathode in the water with it). I don't think toxicity is an issue with copper but if the copper were submerged on the anode side then unwanted copper would have been deposited on the hub. In the future I will use "black annealed iron wire" or "mechanic's wire" for all connections that are wire where the wire will be submerged in the water. Copper can be outside of the water. I used pure rebar as the "wire" for the anodes.
Also, I don't know if I needed to, but I dried and baked the hub at 300-350 degrees in a "sacrificial toaster oven" immediately afterwards to thwart any "hydrogen embrittlement".
- Thread starter
- #30
Since yesterday was to be the warmest day for the foreseeable future I went ahead and continued the breakdown. The grease in the knuckle wasn't too soupy and overall was probably in good shape. I will say though that I did a "test" pull using a fish scale on the knuckle and while it required about 9 ft-lbs. of force, which was within spec, there were some parts of the rotation that seemed a bit stuck for lack a better term.
Also, the shims on the top did NOT equal the shims on the bottom, which per the FSM seems to be ok as the top shims are used for a different alignment than the bottom shims. Am I interpreting this correctly ? Since I do not have access to the $300-400 tool I am simply going to reuse the shims in the exact same position as when I removed them.
Does this grease look like what it should look like after disassembling a knuckle from a stock FJ60?
Also, the shims on the top did NOT equal the shims on the bottom, which per the FSM seems to be ok as the top shims are used for a different alignment than the bottom shims. Am I interpreting this correctly ? Since I do not have access to the $300-400 tool I am simply going to reuse the shims in the exact same position as when I removed them.
Does this grease look like what it should look like after disassembling a knuckle from a stock FJ60?
The hub itself is cast steel so I don't believe hydrogen embrittlement is an issue - but the bake certainly didn't hurt. Hydrogen embrittlement is an issue with high carbon high strength steel (like the wheel studs themselves for example.)
I've only done one of these but that looks a hell of a lot better than mine did. Actually the grease looks pretty good.
Eric
- Thread starter
- #32
Prairie Swamp -
Thanks for the input. I have a question for you. I baked the thing more than once, that is ok right ? Let me explain what I did:
1) Hydrolysis for over 24 hours (probably closer to 32 I forget).
2) Took out hub, dried and cleaned and baked at 300 for about 2 -2.5 hours (presumably to let hydrogen "boil out").
3) Applied POR-15 "Metal Prep" to all but the inner machined part of the hub. Let dry for about 12 hours and then cleaned with a cloth.
4) Applied Rust-oleum "high heat primer" and let dry for about 24 hours.
5) Applied Rust-oleum "high heat flat black paint" and let dry for about 24 hours.
6) Baked part to cure paint on it per Rust-oleum instructions (30 mins 300 degrees F, cool 30 minutes, 30 minutes 400 degrees F, cool 30 minutes, 30 minutes at 500, cool). Note that the 20 minutes at 500 was supposed to be at 600 degrees F per Rust-oleum but my oven couldn't do that.
I didn't think the baking would do anything but help. Am I correct ?
- Thread starter
- #34
Anyone out there know the specs of the cotter pin on the steering linkage ? I'd rather be able to use a cotter pin from a local hardware store than spend a lot on shipping from a parts dealer but I want to get the right hardness etc.. If it comes down to it I'll get it from the parts dealer as I'd rather be safe and alive than cheap. Just wondering if anyone had the info ?
There is no spec. on the cotter pin, any old pin will do. it really shouldn't receive any real torque, certainly not enough to shear it. It is merely there to keep the castle nut from turning at all and loosening.
That grease is dripping at cold temps, which indicates it has oil in it and made "birf soup". You basically have caught it at a good time.
I haven't found high heat paint necessary on the knuckles or hubs. Straight primer and paint hold up fine. I did use brake caliper paint on the rotors and calipers, but it just seems to wear off anyway.
- Thread starter
- #36
Looking back on it I realize I should have used caliper paint on the hub. The "high heat" Rust-oleum stuff withstands higher temps than caliper paint (engine temps), but those higher temps aren't likely to be experienced on brake parts. The caliper paint I think is geared to withstand salt and road corrosion from what I've read, which is what I'd rather have. I should have looked into that choice more.
- Thread starter
- #37
The grease didn't seem like "birf soup" that Ive seen on Youtube videos. In fact, no grease came pouring out onto the pan below at all. The "pour" look was simply from my removing the birf and that chunk of grease moved out. I have never done this before, so I may be wrong but the grease struck me as being very viscous and not runny at all.
- Thread starter
- #38
Did you bake the primer and paint on the rotors and calipers if that is what the paint called for ? If not I could see that being why it came off.
You are correct there. And likely was a good idea because you had it in the electrolysis bath and cast steel is porous. So any water that might have gotten in there was baked out before paint. I've gotten into this habit for powder coating and painting in general where possible for the best results.
Eric
No bake, don't have an oven for that... prob could have flame cured it with a torch or heat gun... I'm also impatient.
If it was still thick and viscous then that's a good thing.