Sandblasting an axle

[raidmagic]

Is it safe to sand blast an old tube axle? From what I've been told it's an old Total Performance kit. It is/was chrome and has lots of rust and peeling chrome. I'd like to blast it and then just paint it. Any reason not to? Here the best pics I could find I didn't take any of the axle tonight while I was working. Also what do I need to know about removing the friction shocks? I'd like to sand and clean up that whole area, anything to look out for when removing those?
Thanks

 

[Ted Brown]

First off I see you do not run safety washers on your drag link, a big no no there... and you do not need those big flat washers on your front spring perch, that to me looks the same as people that use Teflon tape on flared fittings... I think I would take the axle to a chrome shop and have it dip stripped, then clean off those unneeded friction shock brackets on both the frame and axle... Install a nice stock set of tube shocks $16 to $22 at Auto-Zone... PS, I would also get rid of that trailer spring...

 

[Youngster]

The only way you'll be able to remove all the chrome on that axal is to have it stripped at a plater. They just reverse the process. Sand blasting will remove rust, paint and the loose chrome but not all of it. What's left will continue to lift over time.

As for the friction shocks, RPM sells a tube shock conversion for the Total frame. Speedway has a nice shock/headlight mount also, pn 715-150-pln. The spring you have will work just fine. I would disassemble, clean, grind a radius on the bottom/end side of each leaf, paint it and reassemble it.

The safty washers Ted talks about would be a must do in my shop. here again if you go to Speedway you can get the cone spacers that allow the heim to fully articulate, pn 546-4107 or 4110.

Ron

 

[raidmagic]

Help me out here, what are the saftey washers and where do I get them? I haven't driven this car a mile since buying it I've mostly been working on it or letting it sit while I work on something else so I haven't even got to the safety portion of this build yet.
What is the negative of the friction shocks?

 

[Youngster]

The safety washer is nothing more than one the size of the bolt holding your heim. It's purpose is to prevent the hiem from dropping away if the ball comes out of the race.

Friction shocks need almost constant attention to make sure the tension bolt hasn't come loose. A tube shock works better and dosen't require the attention. If it were my car, I would be looking at installing tube shocks.

Ron

 

[railroad]

Do a search on the safety stuff and maybe there is a picture that will help. The description was correct, but a picture will help you I am sure. Maybe some of the guys that are good with posting them will give you a shot of what they are talking about. Post some pics of the rest of the car. I am interested in what you will be riding in.

 

[GT63]

The Heim washer is not just a flat washer. See photo below.

Heim Safety washers

 

[Old Rotor Flap]

Not to too critical,but I trust those tiny electric sparkle things bolted to the perch supports are not someone's idea of lights.
Well sure, they might be lights - I've got brighter lights in my glove box.

I know that being a consciensious rodder, you'll be adding real headlights to your car. As mentioned Speedway has combo light/shock brackets.

I used to put aircraft landing lights in my regular cars (when we had dual headlights) and my wife called'em my rude lamps.
At 130 MPG you would not out-driving those lights.

I have '29 Ford headlights for my project. they're Par 56 and I can only get
landing lights in 28V...... darn, maynbe I could run two batteries......

 

[raidmagic]

Those are just fog lights don't worry the car has real lights. They are just off right now while I clean and paint and redo the front end. If you look at my avatar you will see them on the car.
I had the axle blasted and it turned out GREAT! I've already painted it I'll post pics tomorrow. I'll be picking up some of those safety washers for sure. Thanks for the tip.

Here's my car Railroad. I've done alot to it since getting it but it was on the back burner for awhile while I worked on another project.

 

[dunno125]

I don't know if I'd park that T there it might get towed as it signed Corvette Parking only! JK nice T

 

[railroad]

Great looking ride. I'll bet those seats are comfortable. Tires and wheels look good. You should be ready for the warm weather soon.

How many head gaskets have you had to put on that Nissan King Cab?

 

[Allen]

Nice wheels and tires!--roadster is looking very ever nice!

 

[raidmagic]

Great looking ride. I'll bet those seats are comfortable. Tires and wheels look good. You should be ready for the warm weather soon.

How many head gaskets have you had to put on that Nissan King Cab?

Thanks for the nice words guys. I have a ton of pictures I really need to update my build thread it's been a long while.

It's an S-10. I bought it years ago and never did anything with it I am really itching to put a V-8 in it so I've had to push it all the way down back so it's not in my line of site and taking my thoughts off the bucket.