Cleaning Rear axle housings

[Ken Ehrenhofer]

I buy a 5 gallon bucket of Mineral spirits and I use an old Model A brake rod with the hole on the end and drill a hole in the handle of the toilet bowl brush. I use an extra plastic bucket and just use a little solvent in the bucket and pour the solvent into the top of the axle section with a cup and use the brush to scrub the inside....works OK but I need to change the solvent as it gets dirty from cleaning. Do the same with the long tube. I usually have sandblasted and primed the outside before doing any of this inside cleaning so the outside is already clean and primed. I have recently bought long handle brushes and the last one I did these industrial brushes worked very well.

 

[Y-Blockhead]

I would just have them hot tanked and forget about the media blasting.

 

[Mikeinnj]

Several posters have mentioned their using highly flammable liquids such as gasoline to clean parts. A friend of mine was severely burned doing just that. Static electricity caused a spark and ignited the gas in his parts washer which spread to my friend, and his shop, which nearly burned to the ground. He recovered after months of painful skin grafts.

 

[wrndln]

Y-Blockhead,
Hot tanking does NOT remove the rust on the outside.
Rusty Nelson

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Y-Blockhead,
Hot tanking does NOT remove the rust on the outside.
Rusty Nelson

In the 80's when I was hot tanking engine blocks and heads, the solution would remove quite a bit of the rust, but not always all of it. When the solution needed to be changed we could add something to neutralize it and dump it down the drain. It did a great job on blocks and heads, and that's why I don't understand why it is so hard to find anyone still using hot tanks.

 

[Dodge]

The HAZMAT guys in good old California did away with my Hot Tank when I moved.
Seems it was ok at it's original location but when I moved they wanted me to jump
thru too many hoops to keep it. Maybe thats why you don't see as many around anymore.
That thing would clean stuff like nobodys business. I would put block in before I went
home and the next morning they looked like new. Same with axle housings and any other dirty crappy thing you put in it. I sure miss it.