Am I just being to ****?

[wpurple]

Forgive me for this question but...
I just went to the garage to inspect the axles I ordered from the boneyard that are supposidly from a 99 with 6K.
The rear looks like it has been on B deck of the Titanic for the last year and the front has some dirt in the, what I would call shaft housing.
I guess where I am going with this is the fact that my truck, although a 97, has only 12000 miles on it and is showroom condition. I feel like I am turning it into a 74 Torino.
Is this normally the condition that items like this come form a boneyard? Oviously it has been out in the elements for a few years? I am thinking, gee 5 years down the road, what is it going to look like? Should I just wire brush it really good and paint it with a good rust proofing paint? ...or an I just being paranoid.
Sorry for venting, I just wasn't planning to have the whole things dissassembled, inspected, and te seals replaced.

Comments welcomed.

TIA
Kurt

 

[410Fortune]

Why are you replacing the ones on you 97 with ones from a 99?

The axle housings will look brown like that, it's normal.
Just sand it down or wire brush it and paint it.
I bough the 8.8 disc brake rear from a 97 AWD 5.0L Explorer, it looked just as brown as my 180K mile 7.5" rear. After all teh welding was done on it, I cleaned it up with a wire brush and some Castrol Superclean. Shot it with some heavy duty glass black spray paint and 6 months later it still looks brand new.

 

[Robert]

If the rear end was sitting outside on the ground for a couple of years then yes it could look like that. I doubt if it would sit around that long though. I bought a 3.73 for my Ranger several years ago from a wrecking yard however I do not know the history of the doner. It was sitting on the ground along with probably 30 other rear ends. One drum assembly was missing and the other was frozen with rust. I ended up taking the drums off my Ranger and put them on the rear end I bought and didn't have a problem with it. Be sure you get a warranty and have them note on the receipt that it came from a '99 with 6000 miles. It wouldn't hurt to look over the doner vehicle either. I'm sure there is a way to track the numbers on the rear end to see if what they are telling you is correct. It wouldn't take much work to at least drain and refill the fluid just to get a look at the old fluid and know that it has new fluid in it.

 

[Jason_25]

Sorry for the off-topic question but is there anyway you can take a picture of the front axle you bought?

I just bought a new front axle for my truck also and I want to see if yours looks similar to mine.

 

[unabonked]

is there any benifit (other then looks) to paint under body parts? how much rust do you have to take off before repainting? i can't imagine taking off of the exidation off the underside of my truck, how big a job is it, especially if it lives in a high salt area?

 

[espnfreak]

My truck is pretty rusty, and I consulted a few people about it, and it will take 10-15 years for my truck to fully rust out and everything. I know you could prolly mask off parts of the underbody and spray them with black rustoleum. I think Cameron did this if im not mistaken.

 

[Jason_25]

Here's what you do:

1.Wash underneath THOROUGHLY with a powerwasher.
2.Apply rust treatment spray.
3.Spray underside with rubberized undercoating.

Just dont' put the undercoating on moving parts.

 

[wpurple]

Any recommendations to a rustproofing spray?

 

[GJarrett]

Originally posted by Jason_25
Here's what you do:

1.Wash underneath THOROUGHLY with a powerwasher.
2.Apply rust treatment spray.
3.Spray underside with rubberized undercoating.

Just dont' put the undercoating on moving parts.

I would take extreme care doing this. Unless you can make 100% certain that absolutely no moisture at all is left on the vehicle, applying undercoating will trap the moisture between it and the metal, actually accelerating the rust. So unless you can do this in Arizona during the summer with 5% humidity and allowing it a day or two to completey dry, it could backfire on you.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

just wait for the tranny to go out and it will apply a nice glimmering protective coat of ATF
its how i keep mine clean looking

 

[zensius]

The rust on the axles is harmless. It's flash rust and this actually protects the metal underneath. Ever notice that they don't care if the steel beams in a building get rusty while it's being built? Same thing. Now rust on the body of the truck is a whole other thing. That's where good undercoating work is needed. The irony is that it you live in AZ where it would be easier to do this work you don't need to do it. Things don't don't hardly rust in the desert that's why the gov stores old aircraft there. Man I'm glad I don't live where they salt the roads.

 

[unabonked]

so what should i de-rust? the frame i'd guess, what else? i still have some bubber protectant (installed at factory) on it. will i need to skrape thast off to paint everything?

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by GJarrett


I would take extreme care doing this. Unless you can make 100% certain that absolutely no moisture at all is left on the vehicle, applying undercoating will trap the moisture between it and the metal, actually accelerating the rust. So unless you can do this in Arizona during the summer with 5% humidity and allowing it a day or two to completey dry, it could backfire on you.

But then again if you were in Arizona you shouldn't need the rust-proofing since it is so dry They also don't use salt here in the areas that do get snow. They use the window cracking cinders. I heard that also about the damage rust-proofing could cause back when I lived in Ohio. It was pushed regularly by the dealers when purchasing new cars. I always declined and just made sure I did an under-body wash every week.