Outer axle condition

[Jimmy k]

Hi, I’m working on a 1976 and I started working on my front brakes. My guess is they are all original minus the pads because they were so severely rusted it took me hours just to get them off and broke apart. When I finally got them out I realized the u joints were rusted and ruined so I pulled the axles to change out the u joints. I decided to go ahead and put inner axle seals to finish it off. But my question is the inner area of the inner axle that sits in the seal looks pretty bad. Since I don’t have any experience with 4 wheel drive axles I was wondering if this is too damaged and can it be repaired or only replaced? Thanks

 

[Jimmy k]

Sorry inner axle condition

 

[Yeller]

There are 2 options. First, and what I would do, spend an hour with Emory cloth polishing that up, 95% chance that fixes it. The other option is to replace. No one makes a speedy sleeve for those that I’m aware of.

 

[Jimmy k]

Is there a specific grit of emory cloth? Is there a polish or something else to use with the cloth? Thanks

 

[Speedrdr]

An option to Emory cloth is some 400 or 600 grit sandpaper. Will take longer but will not take too much off and easier to find. At least that’s what I’ve done in the past.

 

[Jimmy k]

Sounds good, I’ll give it a try and see how it comes out. Thanks

 

[Yeller]

I’ve been using 180 grit for a few decades for seal surfaces, aggressive enough to clean up the roughness and not so ruff to eat the seal when finished. I know a few that prefer 320grit.