axle houseing cleaning

[yakelys69]

In the currently neighborhood I can do much of the mechanical work, welding and grinding as long as its not all day every day, but really have no place to clean my parts. I used to take things to my back yard high pressure and wire wheel but just cant do it here. Im thinking of having my axle hot tanked or something before rebuilding it. Im in North San Diego County. Any suggestions or where to call and what should I expect it to cost?

 

[Nightstick]

Assuming you're talking about disassembled parts and you just want to clean the housing right? Soak it down with easy off oven cleaner, let it sit a while, take a wire brush to it to get all the crud off, repeat as necessary. Works like a charm.

 

[Pa PITT]

I was going to say take it across the border. It'll be stripped in seconds.....
.. Oven Cleaner and the water in the back yard. Or oven cleaner and that it to a car wash..
..iF YOU STILL HAVE CAR WASHS in SoKalif.

 

[Broncitis]

I'd call a Realtor and look for another place to live!;D

If you can weld and grind, why not wire wheel?

Anyway, try an engine rebuiler with a hot tank or a full service auto restoration company. You could also try a local mobile pressure wash service that cleans driveways, equipment, etc. and see if they can do at at their place or another customers due to your situation.

Sand blasting services will also have pressure washers to knock off the heavy crud prior to blasting.

 

[yakelys69]

Thanks for the good suggestions.

 

[yakelys69]

That oven cleaner worked great! I ended up putting together a cleaning booth out of PVC and a throw away HF tarp. Used a shop vac to suck up the contaminated water and took it to the free HAZ Waste drop off. Then used booth for spraying. I miss having a big back yard!

 

[Nightstick]

Looks great man!

 

[Itsa67]

Nice, how much cleanup was needed on the housing after the oven-cleaner? Did you have to wire wheel it to get things looking so good? I need to do this myself.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yeah, your own back yard grease pit is wonderful. But thanks for going ahead and taking the extra time and effort to keep all that fun stuff out of the ground water and/or the ocean.
Not to mention the neighborhood kids from digging it up, playing with it, then feeding it to the cat!

That was a lot of extra work you went to for sure, but well worth it in my opinion. And man, did that thing come out looking good!
Nice job.

Paul

 

[yakelys69]

A few days after the cleaner & high pressure wash, I gave it a once over with wire cup then put some metal prep on it. Probobly wouldn't have but since the MP was laying around from a few years ago I figured why not and that really took care of all the nooks and crannies.

Thanks for the encouraging post Paul.

 

[DirtDonk]

What are the specifics on the metal prep stuff?
Readily available?

Paul

 

[yakelys69]

ah sorry it was metal ready from por-15 not metal prep, just do a search for Phosphoric Acid Rust Removal and you can probably find something similar local.