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bluebus86
Banned
Joined: September 02, 2010
Posts: 11075
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 Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 5:43 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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moral is that if you got salted roads, clean clean clean, run a hose in there frequently and use some cavity wax yearly at start of each salt season. if you got salted roads no matter what, you got to take preventative measures. it is like having a boat trailer used in the ocean and neglecting to rinse it . these vans are not made of some magical rust proof alloy, and the coatings put on originally are long tired and likely compromised by now, yet even when new only gave some protection, not total from road salt.
mai tain maintain maintain. golly i hate road sasa, think of the snails.
may the rust not be with you.
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sciroccojim
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Joined: March 04, 2008
Posts: 259
Location: NJ
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 8:02 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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I'm an electroplater (just not lately). And I've de-rusted and plated thousands and thousands of small parts and fasteners. And I've cleaned up and refurbished tons of random bits like these.
In order for electroplating to occur, the pieces need to be COMPLETELY free of rust, paint, etc. And conforming anodes would have to be made up in order to get zinc inside of the arms (lines of force from zinc anodes to the part (cathode) being plated are similar to a magnet with iron filings on a table). And a jig to hold both the arms and the anodes in place would have to be set up. Etc., etc. Not worth it.
I'm going to refurb mine when I get around to it. Here's what I'll probably do:
1. Clean the arms with Purple Power or similar caustic(ish) cleaner/degreaser. Doesn't leave oily residue like emulsifiers.
2. Immerse the arms in an acid "pickle" - dilute hydrochloric acid. Probably for at least an hour.
3. Use more Purple Power and lots of water to neutralize the acid and a little little agitation to remove smut and residue.
4. Sandblast arms
5. Get some Ospho or similar phosphoric-based convertor/paint prep into those crevices to convert as much of the remaining rust as possible to iron phosphate.
6. Coat the pieces thoroughly with 2K epoxy primer
7. Topcoat with 2k urethane
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1987 Westy Camper |
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clift_d
Samba Member
Joined: December 02, 2012
Posts: 265
Location: Hackney innit, UK
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| Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 2:42 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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When we did our Syncro conversion we hot dip galvanised and then powdercoated the trailing arms, front swing arms, engine bars, front frame, prop bars, etc, so I'm fully expecting that these bits will still be substantially intact when the rest of the van has rotted away.
Hot dip is a rough and ready process by nature so you will have a bit of fettling to do before installing if you go this route. We had to file down some drips and runs, and run a tap through the threaded holes to clean them up before powdercoating and fitting.
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Sodo
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2007
Posts: 9603
Location: Western WA
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| Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 8:11 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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| sciroccojim wrote: |
I'm an electroplater (just not lately). And I've de-rusted and plated thousands and thousands of small parts and fasteners. And I've cleaned up and refurbished tons of random bits like these.
In order for electroplating to occur, the pieces need to be COMPLETELY free of rust, paint, etc. And conforming anodes would have to be made up in order to get zinc inside of the arms (lines of force from zinc anodes to the part (cathode) being plated are similar to a magnet with iron filings on a table). And a jig to hold both the arms and the anodes in place would have to be set up. Etc., etc. Not worth it.
I'm going to refurb mine when I get around to it. Here's what I'll probably do:
1. Clean the arms with Purple Power or similar caustic(ish) cleaner/degreaser. Doesn't leave oily residue like emulsifiers.
2. Immerse the arms in an acid "pickle" - dilute hydrochloric acid. Probably for at least an hour.
3. Use more Purple Power and lots of water to neutralize the acid and a little little agitation to remove smut and residue.
4. Sandblast arms
5. Get some Ospho or similar phosphoric-based convertor/paint prep into those crevices to convert as much of the remaining rust as possible to iron phosphate.
6. Coat the pieces thoroughly with 2K epoxy primer
7. Topcoat with 2k urethane |
This is great! Clears up a lot of guesswork. Especially for a guy who's become an electroplater just lately - because he had to...  . I've been wondering about pro-recommendation of Ospho (etc) and if it's still good or is there something better.
Got a question though. Can you describe the condition of your trailing arms, (that you think will take 1 hour in the acid bath)? I suppose you expect them to be pretty clean after the caustic/degreaser bath. The reason I ask is because clean steel I've left in dilute hydrochloric acid gets quite pitted and eaten up in an hour, seems to be losing substantial clean steel.
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sciroccojim
Samba Member
Joined: March 04, 2008
Posts: 259
Location: NJ
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| Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 7:39 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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| Sodo wrote: |
| Got a question though. Can you describe the condition of your trailing arms, (that you think will take 1 hour in the acid bath)? I suppose you expect them to be pretty clean after the caustic/degreaser bath. The reason I ask is because clean steel I've left in dilute hydrochloric acid gets quite pitted and eaten up in an hour, seems to be losing substantial clean steel. |
Mine are pretty rusty. Just looked at them for the first time this week. Have to take a better look but I'm inclined to think that I'm going to be replacing the perches.
The thing with the acid pickle is that it will dissolve the rust, but it would take too long to remove layers of the stuff. You have to combine it with mechanical removal...if the parts are really rusty, I'll blast them, pickle them, then blast them again and possibly pickle them a second time.
I've left parts in the pickle for a few hours in many cases and have never lost metal. Keep in mind the fact that it may look that way, because a lot of the original steel has already been lost to rust and when you lose that, you end up with less to work with.
Everyone: Use a mix of two parts water, one part muriatic acid. Make sure to add the ACID TO THE WATER, not the other way around!!!
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outcaststudios
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2015
Posts: 1732
Location: Maine
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| Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 7:54 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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i wouldnt use hydrochrolic sodo,use muriatic that may be why youre losing material. i do electroforming and plating too and we use purple power to clean,im usually more concerned about polluting my tanks which is motivation to clean teh hell out of everything,but i only use sulphuric or muriatic...
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sciroccojim
Samba Member
Joined: March 04, 2008
Posts: 259
Location: NJ
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| Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 8:35 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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Muriatic is dilute hydrochloric.
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SPANNA
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2015
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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Hello Hello. ..
Been following your feed & I see you have some wise words & methods to make them last..
But I could use some HELP !!
I'm a Canadian tourist on the Big Island of Hawaii with a badly rusted & broken Rear Trailing Arm...
I've parked the Can for the summer while I try to find a couple of good Used ones on the Mainland or in Canada. ..
Any HELP to get me back rolling would be Greatly appreciated. ..😎 |
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 17114
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 4:04 am Post subject: Re: Rear Trailing Arm- Keeping the rust away |
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I have some complete rear trailing arms for sale in the classifieds. I’m willing to break them down to bare arms. I imagine freight would be killer from Florida to Hawaii. If you can’t find them closer, reach out to me through the PM feature. Good luck
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