Cleaning a crankshaft

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scot73swinger

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Just curious if anyone had any ideas of how to get surface rust off of main and rod journals of a crank without damaging them or machining them? I have tried solvent and a brush but with no luck. Any ideas are much appreciated!
 
you can take it to a machine shop and have it polished(60$)..or get a long piece of fine emery paper and wd40 and do it your self............Artie
 
Do we have a plumber in the house ?
I think it is called emery cloth wet/dry, you can get it at most any hardware stores and buy it by the role ultra fine and it is 1/2 to 1 in wide....
I have used it before but I used it to build a circle track engine 2k loose engine and sprayed water on it as I cleaned the journals.
I would let a tec jump in here and agree or advise something different
 
Depending on how bad it is just get you some ultra fine steel wool i think its 0000 grade?
I used it and it worked excellent. Only cost $4 and now i have a bag of ultra fine steel wool that i can also use to get the haziness off of chrome without polishing and clean overspray off of glass and other stuff.
 
godfatherofchry said:
well there is a machine shop supply store here that has it from 40grt to 180grt.I use alot of 120 and 80.you can get it up to 320.........
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ok thank you , im doing the same and i used 320 paper soaked in a carb cleaner/atf mix and it has worked very well, but i was wondering exactly what the machine shops used.
 
I have used the emery cloth stuff in a 600 grit to do exactly that before.
It also works really well for a scuffed surface on a journal like the time I bought a Willy's Jeep from a guy that spun a brand new rear main bearing.
I used the cloth to polish the journal and then replaced the bearing.
It spun because they put the bottom half of the bearing in backwards.
 

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after doing this make sure you clean clean and clean very well with brushes threw the holes and all.and then I finish with carb or ether spray.or lacquer thiner...........Artie
 
TrailBeast said:
I have used the emery cloth stuff in a 600 grit to do exactly that before.
It also works really well for a scuffed surface on a journal like the time I bought a Willy's Jeep from a guy that spun a brand new rear main bearing.
I used the cloth to polish the journal and then replaced the bearing.
It spun because they put the bottom half of the bearing in backwards.
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you have any left Greg :blob:
 
Use a very stiff cloth extra fine emery. soak it with a lubricant. Wrap the crank and overlap it. Then take a leather string and wrap the emery on the crank with the string several times. leave enough on both ends of the string to grab and pull. pull one end at a time to cause a back and forth cutting motion. This will polish the crank consentric. A must for this proceedure. Steve
 
TrailBeast said:
I have used the emery cloth stuff in a 600 grit to do exactly that before.
It also works really well for a scuffed surface on a journal like the time I bought a Willy's Jeep from a guy that spun a brand new rear main bearing.
I used the cloth to polish the journal and then replaced the bearing.
It spun because they put the bottom half of the bearing in backwards.
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This is what I use TrailBeast, thank you for posting :cheers:
this can be found at most any plumbing supply :coffee2:
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Use a very stiff cloth extra fine emery. soak it with a lubricant. Wrap the crank and overlap it. Then take a leather string and wrap the emery on the crank with the string several times. leave enough on both ends of the string to grab and pull. pull one end at a time to cause a back and forth cutting motion. This will polish the crank consentric. A must for this proceedure. Steve
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great tip Steve ! :coffee2:
 
I have some I can send you but any NAPA store can get it . medium is not the best finishing emery sometimes I even run the extra fine emery over a sharp edge to take off the high crystals if its new. the smoother the better and keep cleaning off the residue and checking the surface.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
I have some I can send you but any NAPA store can get it . medium is not the best finishing emery sometimes I even run the extra fine emery over a sharp edge to take off the high crystals if its new. the smoother the better and keep cleaning off the residue and checking the surface.
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i will check out Napa , it cant be all that expensive, thanks Steve
TrailBeast said:
Well, since I have not needed to do this kind of stuff for some time it would be rotten if I did.:D
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well youre no help :D LOL j/k Greg
 
the wire brush or wire wheel not good, eat the bearings upstay with the fine emery
if it got rusted to a pit get it turnd its worth the $ in the long run
 
73AbodEE said:
LOL touche' :violent1:
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I hope you know I'm just messin with ya Lance.

Back to the topic.

I just looked at a few harware sites that have those rolls of emery cloth, but can't find any store with a grit finer that 320 in stock.
I do seem to remember that I got mine by the foot from a machine shop though.
 
I've used wet or dry 400 or 600 grit with WD-40. Cut wet or dry in strips the width of your journals, keeping the strips as long as posible. Then liberally soak journal and wet or dry and pull back and forth till it polishes up, repeat every 90 degrees using the same number of strokes to keep the journal round. when everything looks good, clean. Then clean with dishwashing detergent and hot water. Use gun cleaning brushes in any drilled passages, if you can. Dry and oil immediately.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice! I have some 400 grit emry cloth that I can use. I'm a little nervous to run anything through the journals though, they have been chromed! Any ideas?
 
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