Before painting my rear axle, I was thinking about sand blasting it. It's off the car. It's not heavily rusted - mainly light surface rust. POR15 or Eastwood rust encapsulator supporters probably would paint over the rust, while others would suggest sandblasting first.

Is there any downside to sandblasting it? I suppose grit might get into the wheel cylinders and wheel seals??? I'm replacing the brake shoes, brake springs, etc. anyway but might not change the wheel cylinders and bearings.

Opinions and experiences appreciated.

David

Be sure you don't get any in the vent that is on the top & close to differential.

Use some pie tins and a roll of duct tape to seal off the ends/brake assy's, a wrap or two around the vent, and a wrap or three around the pinion seal and blast away. With the encapsulator stuff you're doing just that - covering it up. Some careful work with a blaster, a thorough clean-up, and then paint will yield better results.

My .02

Thats correct, for best results blast or clean up, anything is better than painting over dirt and rust. I use the POR and the Eastwood stuff and always blast. Follow the good advice above and seal the vent.

i would not sand blast it. you would not believe the places the sand dust will end up. its not worth it. i just use a tooth brush and carb cleaner on every swuare inch. it wors great. then i used the por-15 system on it. http://home.comcast.net/~adelalohr/einstyn1/einstyn-07.htm

You should be able to wire brush the cast iron and wet sand the axle tubes and backing plates. This may require removal of the backing plates and brake lines, but it should give you a smooth finish. I would only consider sandblasting if I were sandblasting nothing but a bare housing.

Originally posted by FO_FDYFO:
i would not sand blast it. you would not believe the places the sand dust will end up. its not worth it. i just use a tooth brush and carb cleaner on every swuare inch. it wors great. then i used the por-15 system on it. http://home.comcast.net/~adelalohr/einstyn1/einstyn-07.htm We have to agree with this statement. When we had our frame beadblasted and powdercoated, we also had the complete rear axle assembly beadblasted and powdercoated, along with every disassembled piece of suspension. We had the rear axle assembly completely dismantled and rebuilt, and that way, the "Bare" rear end could be delt with, with no sand or plastic media "Crawling" into everything.

Hope this helps a bit.

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Degrease the housing and use Ospho on the rust. Sand the tubes with some 100 grit and paint it.

I sandblast alot at work to prep sub-sea choke valves for the epoxy paint. It is hard to completley seal off the rear end. Just remember use a minimum of 3 layers of Duct tape where ever you don't want sand. You should be able to plug vent with tape or else take s short piece of hose and stick a big bolt in the end.

Later
Steve

Thanks for the advice! Since I don't have confidence in being able to mask off the axle end areas properly, it might be best to err on the side of caution and not sandblast it. As you say, sand seems to get everywhere and I don't want a bearing or something else failing.
David

I think you have already made up your mind, but I will add my opinion anyway. The only way I would blast the rear end is if you are going to strip it down to the bare housing. Otherwise is would just knock off the dirt and light rust and then prime and paint it. But having said that I am also the type who will strip the rear end down completely while it is out of the car and replace every seal and bearing in it. Just something to think about.

I've sandblasted two rearends that I later took down to a bare case and rebuilt. As an experiment I tried to tape all the openings with duct tape prior to blasting one of them. I thought I taped them very well. There was still sand in the rear when I took it apart. Unless your going to rebuild the rear, DON'T SANDBLAST IT!!! Another thing that work great for cleaning the thick build up on the pumpkin is oven cleaner. Spray on, let it sit for about 30 mins then go to your local car wash and pressure wash it. Cleans up great.

I just rebuilt my rearend and I had it sandblasted. This is what I learned.

1. Completely disassemble the rear before blasting. No seals, no gears, no bearings should be installed at time of blasting.

2. Dont try to mask anything off, YOU WILL FAIL.

3. Before painting and reassembly clean everything, pay particular attention to the air vent passage and the area where the axle tubes meet the center section.

4. Let it completely dry, then hit every area with compressed air.

5. repeat steps 3 and 4 at least 3 more times!!!

The sand blasting made the housing look like new and assembling a cleaned and painted rear was a comparable joy but the sand does get everywhere and it isn't easily removed.