Raf99 : 1993 Accord EX

[Raf99]

cool are you gonna do electrolysis to them like I did? I only had to "cook" them ~36 hours and they came out clean, besides wire brushing off the black shit (which just looking up isnt magnetite, its from using baking soda as an electrolyte, the article said caustic lye and distilled water wont leave it behind, but it cleans up easy enough) Good luck however you tackle it

http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-bla...of-removing-it

Ahhhhh......... well now I'm jealous, and I wish I was doing what you are doing. I was going to sand them down and paint them. haha

[Raf99]

Took the knuckles into buddy at the shop, he was like "we'll just zip the axle nut off with my 1100ft-lbs tq. Gun". Haha. Bolt didn't budge. I don't feel so bad now.

[Tishock]

Wow, seriously? I hope your friend has an acetylene torch?

[sonikaccord]

F it. Cut that bish off.

[Granite CB7]

^yeah seriously! If heat and his gun can't do it then cut 'em. I was pulling a set of ROH knuckles at the junkyard and had to cut both off they were so stubborn. I used a hacksaw and a few cold chisels since I had no electricity or battery powered tools.

[illinois_erik]

Took the knuckles into buddy at the shop, he was like "we'll just zip the axle nut off with my 1100ft-lbs tq. Gun". Haha. Bolt didn't budge. I don't feel so bad now.

damn, it rust welded itself together. how keen are you on buying new axles, sounds like it might happen, the threads are gonna be chowdered from the corrosion and probably from attempts at getting the nut off..if you can carefully use a dremel and cutoff wheel to put slot in the nut and use a cold chisel to expand it, then you should be able to zip it off..

Ahhhhh......... well now I'm jealous, and I wish I was doing what you are doing. I was going to sand them down and paint them. haha

Hand sanding will suck lol.
really easy setup man..

http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showpost...8&postcount=19

http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showpost...8&postcount=25


Ive upgraded my buckets electrodes since then. Sandblasting is good for some things, but electrolysis wont take away metal; leaves bore clearances alone (ball joint, bushings..still a nice tight fit)

[sonikaccord]

Nice electrodes. I usually try to find a piece of sheet metal and wrap it around the inner circumference of the bucket. What power supply are you using?

[illinois_erik]

Nice electrodes. I usually try to find a piece of sheet metal and wrap it around the inner circumference of the bucket. What power supply are you using?

Thanks, I actually had some sheet metal at first but they disintegrated, the new ones are closet hanger pipe smashed flat, theyre really thick now and should last a while longer, i made them into L's and they all touch at the bottom.
I just tapped into the charger/car battery I had setup to run my car stereo and amps in the basement. The most i pulled was about 10 amps, with the steering knuckle and fresh hot electrolyte, pulled maybe 4 when things cooled down (the water was still luke warm from the action)

[XCRN]

Axles are not that much, $50 remanufactured per side. But something just does not seem quite right. The nut must have been off within a few years since non-factory rotors, how would it rust that bad so quick?

[Raf99]

He never put a acetylene torch to it yet. He just tried the gun right quick when I was there in the morning. Tomorrow morning we are taking a acetylene torch to it with the gun to see what happens.

DAM, if this doesn't work I......... don't know what to say. Obviously will have to cut it off. And these axles aren't old. Maybe 5 years old & I don't drive the car in the winter.

Sooooooo I guess someone over torqued them maybe. Not sure about it.

illinois_erik, wow........ why haven't I tried this before!! You have inspired me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ADeB6V1rQ

To think of the time I've wasted on sanding parts! And the things I could use this on now! Example - My prelude seat rails!!! Now I cannot wait to try them. But some questions.....

Does the part you want to do have to be fully emerged in water?
Is it better to have it "hanging" in the water rather than sitting on the bottom?
How do I dispose of the left over dirty water?

[XCRN]

To think of the time I've wasted on sanding parts! And the things I could use this on now! Example - My prelude seat rails!!! Now I cannot wait to try them. But some questions.....

Does the part you want to do have to be fully emerged in water?
Is it better to have it "hanging" in the water rather than sitting on the bottom?
How do I dispose of the left over dirty water?

I can answer some of those for you since I have been looking at this to do to my BMW calipers and headers.

It is best to be fully emerged but if not you can just take twice as long and change out what area is submerged.

Best to be hanging.

And depending on what you mix in the water, you could just dump it in the ground, in fact it makes a good fertilizer with it being mineral rich water.

[sonikaccord]

Does the part you want to do have to be fully emerged in water?
Is it better to have it "hanging" in the water rather than sitting on the bottom?
How do I dispose of the left over dirty water?

I'm going to butt in here

Only the parts submerged in the water will have rust removed from them.

It depends on your setup. As long as you have the anodes (positive metal) and cathodes (negative) not touching then you can have it anywhere. The areas closest to the anodes will have the rust removed from them first so you want to have them surround the work piece ideally...in the real world this doesn't happen too often so you may have to just turn it every so often.

If you use iron, (don't use stainless!!!! The chemical reaction produces toxic substances) it's pretty safe to dump it. It's iron oxides, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases and metals.

[Raf99]

Oh man, where have you guys been my whole life. I live in Canada = rust.

[illinois_erik]

He never put a acetylene torch to it yet. He just tried the gun right quick when I was there in the morning. Tomorrow morning we are taking a acetylene torch to it with the gun to see what happens.

DAM, if this doesn't work I......... don't know what to say. Obviously will have to cut it off. And these axles aren't old. Maybe 5 years old & I don't drive the car in the winter.

Sooooooo I guess someone over torqued them maybe. Not sure about it.

illinois_erik, wow........ why haven't I tried this before!! You have inspired me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ADeB6V1rQ

To think of the time I've wasted on sanding parts! And the things I could use this on now! Example - My prelude seat rails!!! Now I cannot wait to try them. But some questions.....

Does the part you want to do have to be fully emerged in water?
Is it better to have it "hanging" in the water rather than sitting on the bottom?
How do I dispose of the left over dirty water?

Yes, the rust needs to be in the electrolyte to be cleaned. it works by line of sight, electrons are flowing out of the work piece to the electrodes in the bucket breaking the bond between the rust and base metal, so if you can suspend it, it works better only in it itll take less time (and you dont want any dead shorts) Like if you had an iron bucket thatd be the "best" container (dont use stainless steel at all for anything, or copper), I just flushed the water down the commode or dumped it outside its not toxic, Ive actually heard its good for roses they like the rust.

The steering knuckles i had to do in two parts because they were too long, I just tried to do even amounts of time between halves immersed.

Just be aware that after doing this there will be black shit all over the piece youll want to wirebrush off, some items will require soaking, brushing and resoaking..you can be lazy or really precise with this method. Like say I was restoring some old gun or relic i found, id use electroysis to get rid of the rust w/o harming the base metals thats left, then use glass bead blasting to get it to 100% restored

Also be aware this method is only for ferrous metal too, I used coat hangers (or bailing wire) for any bit thats in the water not copper or youll get a green sludge and the copper errodes pretty quick too.

This guys pretty cool.

[Raf99]

Well............

I returned to the shop/guy I know to help tackle the axle nuts again. We heated them up with a acetylene torch and put the gun on them and ........

nothing.

We tried for about 20min and both axle nuts would not budge. Ironically he was the last one to work on these (installed them), but I don't blame him. It's been about 5 years since the bolts were touched.

Since he was doing this all as a favor, I left with my axles and took them to another shop that I know and take my other car to. I told them the story, they said they would try some more tricks. I told them to cut them off if they need to....

We'll see what happens.......