Axle strength...or should I be worried?

[Hackerbilt]

Hey guys...my new project is a BBC bucket built around 1978-80 with a 4" drop chrome tube front axle.
Around the radius rod brackets and also at the kingpin bosses the chrome has peeled and some super minor corrosion has started.
The corrosion is a non issue.
My question is...is it normal for chrome to react and peel eventually in a weld area or is this a sign of metal fatigue???
The axle is supposedly a TOTAL axle (fwiw...looks exactly like an RPM axle design.) and is very heavy, so we suspect it is 1/4" wall at least.
I would like to run it rather than replace it.
Thoughts???

 

[Screaming Metal]

Rust and corrosion around welded areas are common. In the steel industry, whenever the steel is cut and welded, if you just clean it and prep it, then paint it....in a few years the paint goes and the corrosion comes back. Its just the way of steel and paint. Now, the coatings are different, All the oil and grease, everything has to be off the steel, even the little MIG and WELD bb's, splatter, has to be removed. OR, rust can form under the bb's, and all is for naught.
As the surface is clean and prep'ed, then the coating, Chrome, Powder Coat, Anodizing, or PAINT, can go on. Once its on, it has to be taken care of. ANY compromise in the coating will let air to the steel. This will cause rust and corrosion. The only way to keep corrosion out, is to keep air off the steel.
Chrome is a type of steel. The plating if you don't take care of it, will peel, just like paint. My explaination is over simplified for speed here, you get the jest of it though....

Cut into the body panel of a car body, prep it, down the road, its gonna rust where it was heated and welded. It might take 30 years or so....if you take car of the coating, it bonds properly, theres nothing to worry about. The same with BBQ pits.
The old chrome reverse rims used to rust down in where the center was welded to the rim, when up in the cracks and crevices where it couldn't be cleaned and polished....

----If your not gonna polish it, then don't Chrome it----

 

[Hackerbilt]

Soooo...just like me, you think its more of a decorative thing - chrome going away - rather than a structural thing?

 

[old round fart]

Chrome doesn't "throw " into tight areas very well. That is why you see kind of yellow tint in some low spots in cheap chrome parts (like water pumps and pulleys). That is nickel plating which is not very rust proof. I think the strength is OK, just polish the rust away and keep it polished and enjoy the car.

 

[BRUCE DYDA]

Are you pulling chrome or copper?

 

[Hackerbilt]

Are you pulling chrome or copper?

I'm not sure what you mean Bruce...
I'm not the least bit worried about the bit of chrome damage.
The chrome is old now and it has to be expected that it will degrade over time.
Just don't want to lose a wheel from the axle snapping off!
I'm EXTREMELY doubtful that is even a remote possibility...but it never hurts to ask if it has happened in the past, or if the bit of damage to the chrome is a lead up to something like that.
I'll take a pic tonight and post it when I come back home.

 

[BRUCE DYDA]

Copper is a primer for the nickle that goes on before the chrome. If you dont see any copper on the part or the chrome peelings, then its just bad chrome work.

 

[Hackerbilt]

Theres some rust forming so its down to the steel.

 

[Francis Blake]

It is normal for rust to form under chrome if it is not kept waxed, just look at a bumper on an old car. That does not mean there is structural damage underneath, if it is there it can be seen as pitting just clean it and take a close look

 

[Screaming Metal]

Wire Brush it good, wipe it down with some acetone or Laquer thinner, get all the loose stuff off and touch it up with some chrome paint, till your ready to blow it apart and have it redone....
Then, after you've touched it up, put several coats of Mothers Chrome Polish on it....

 

[smokeyco75]

One thing I noticed in my years in the steel industry is all coatings wether its paint, powdercoating or plating, they will all eventually lift crack or separate at any stress area where the steel flexes. Around the batwings and kingpins are where an axles natural tendency to flex is interupted which causes stress in the steel. Thats why in the rare occasion where an axle develops a crack it is usually in one of those two spots and rarely because of weld failure. Basic metallurgy.