Cleaning 3rd member

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DentalDart

DentalDart

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So I'm in the process of putting together an 8 3/4 rear end. I have all the parts (I think) but my 3rd member is kind of crusty. The guy I purchased my car from said it had fresh gears and was just rebuilt but he never had time to install it.

Well the 3rd member has a little surface rust on the outside of it and even less inside from it sitting for so long. I wire wheeled and hand sanded a good portion from the outside of it but don't know what to do for the inner portion. I'd rather not take it all apart, can I sand it all and spray it with a cleaner then let it dry before installing it?

Thanks for all the help!

Pics for clicks

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5 gallon bucket of rust remover of choice.

BUT. I do not know if any of the friction surfaces have any material on them that might be effected by rust remover.
 
Dana67Dart said:
5 gallon bucket of rust remover of choice.

BUT. I do not know if any of the friction surfaces have any material on them that might be effected by rust remover.
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No they are all metal surfaces on a cone SG. If you were up to taking it apart, You could soak the carrier in Vinegar. It is an amazing rust destroyer.
 
If the bearings have some rust they wont last. You might get lucky but I would take it apart and clean it.
 
brian6pac said:
If the bearings have some rust they wont last. You might get lucky but I would take it apart and clean it.
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Yea that's what scares me. Ive never taken one apart before and I don't have the little measuring tools to put it back together :(
 
5 gal bucket of deisel and acetone.
Leave it covered for 1 week...
Won’t flash rust like vinegar when you pull it out.
An old machinest taught me this trick and I did it too a bunch of third members that had sat outside for years. I didnt reuse the open carriers ( cuz they were open) but the gears looked great!
 
Spray the inside with PB Blaster. Let it loosen up the rust and wipe it off. Do it several times then pour some oil in on the bearings. See if it rotates smoothly. If so run it. If not get a bearing kit from dr diff and replace the bearing.
 
Jadaharabi said:
Spray the inside with PB Blaster. Let it loosen up the rust and wipe it off. Do it several times then pour some oil in on the bearings. See if it rotates smoothly. If so run it. If not get a bearing kit from dr diff and replace the bearing.
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Oh it rotates super smooth right now. It was a little stiff on like 3 splines of the gears where a little surface rust was. Those 6 faces of gears are the only portion of the rotating assembly that has a little surface rust on it.
 
mbaird said:
5 gal bucket of deisel and acetone.
Leave it covered for 1 week...
Won’t flash rust like vinegar when you pull it out.
An old machinest taught me this trick and I did it too a bunch of third members that had sat outside for years. I didnt reuse the open carriers ( cuz they were open) but the gears looked great!
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How much Acetone to Diesel?
 
Jadaharabi said:
Spray the inside with PB Blaster. Let it loosen up the rust and wipe it off. Do it several times then pour some oil in on the bearings. See if it rotates smoothly. If so run it. If not get a bearing kit from dr diff and replace the bearing.
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Agree with the post above, get what ever rust that will wipe off, check that the hub rotates smoothly and don’t worry about it. The lube oil in the diff will prevent any additional rust.
 
DentalDart said:
Oh it rotates super smooth right now. It was a little stiff on like 3 splines of the gears where a little surface rust was. Those 6 faces of gears are the only portion of the rotating assembly that has a little surface rust on it.
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Wire brush those teeth, blow it out with compressed air, lube it up and run it is how I would handle it.
 
Id stay clear of a wire wheel on that. It could lose a few wires and they could end up somewhere bad. I like the soak methods.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Gasoline always a bad idea, guy in Loveland blew up his garage with gasoline and a heater.
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Isolated incident. That sort of thing happens as often as work boots getting stolen during a riot.
Uncle Tony throws lit cigarettes in buckets of gas with NO fire, no explosions.
Gasoline is a cheap and effective cleaner.
 
Kern Dog said:
Isolated incident. That sort of thing happens as often as work boots getting stolen during a riot.
Uncle Tony throws lit cigarettes in buckets of gas with NO fire, no explosions.
Gasoline is a cheap and effective cleaner.
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More evidence of the stupidity of What Is Tony Smoking. Gasoline is a dangerous flammable cleaning solution. There are much safer, economical degreasing solutions available.
And since the person that posted in favor of using gas as a cleaning solution obviously does not know, it is the vapor of the gasoline, mixed with air that is explosive flammable. The vapor mixture can travel a good distance and ignite from a pilot light or spark source and flash back to the pot of fuel that was the source of the flammable vapor.
It does not take some one smart to extinguish a lite cigarette with gasoline, it takes someone stupid.
And since the person that was impressed by that does not know the trick, I’ll explain.
1) have good air circulation at the gasoline pot so vapors do not collect at the surface of the liquid gas.
2) plunge the lite cigarette quickly into the liquid gas, so the liquid gas displaces the oxygen needed for combustion and cools the burning ember below the flash point.
 
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pishta said:
Id stay clear of a wire wheel on that. It could lose a few wires and they could end up somewhere bad. I like the soak methods.
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I only used the wire wheel on the outer portion and I made sure to cover the holes that led into the internal section.

I'll grab the wire brush tomorrow and mess with it a little more before painting it black and bolting it to the rear end. I still have to cut and assemble the axle shafts. The yukons are cut to length 28-32in so looks like I will be cutting them at 28in and calling it a day

Thanks everyone for the quick replies and all the help!
 
Kern Dog said:
Isolated incident. That sort of thing happens as often as work boots getting stolen during a riot.
Uncle Tony throws lit cigarettes in buckets of gas with NO fire, no explosions.
Gasoline is a cheap and effective cleaner.
Click to expand...
Liquid gas is not explosive.

Vapors are the hazard here. Gas is fuel using it as a cleaner is like using a screwdriver as a chisel.

It kind of works but the risk outweighs the benefit
 
Had a F/F blow up station 19 while cleaning the bathrooms back in the 70's. How? Why? He decided to use GASOLINE to clean the bathrooms inside the fire station. Fumes were ignited by pilot light in the water heater. It's all about flammable heat range. Gas has a very wide heat range. Vapor is what ignites. Gasoline has a boiling point of -50 degrees F. In other words above -50 F it will reach it's Flash Point. Stay the hell away from using it improperly!
 
Clean enough for my application, looks much better. Wire wheel, then some good ol hand sanding and spraying of degreaser.

One quick question. For spraying out the inner portion to make sure there is no residual debris only use air? Can I spray the inside with anything then air?

Thanks everyone!

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