I spent Saturday doing more work on the axle housings. Today was rust prevention and paint! With 60+ degrees, this was the best day I was going to get for a while.
Finished taping off parts of the housing I didn’t want painted – locker plugs, pinion yokes, diff covers, etc. and applied 3 coats of Rust Bullet Automotive. This stuff, I am told, is pretty awesome for preventing rust. Needs 50+ degrees for ideal temp, so today had to be the day. But you have to follow the directions. Comes in cans, and it is expensive. The quart I bought was $45. Plus there is a special solvent you have to use. No way I was going to brush it on, so I bought an HVLP gravity feed spray gun.
You just need to remove the loose scale, although I went a little better than that, and paint it on. The Rust Bullet reacts with the rust and hardens it, locking it in place. I had to apply at least 3 coats (to get .0006 inches), waiting no less than 4, and no more than 6 hours between coats. Any longer and you have to wait 24 hours, scuff everything with 150 grit sandpaper, before you can apply another coat. First coat went on at around 10:00 this morning. Then at 2:30 and again at 7:00.
Roughly 4 hours later, I applied the top coat of matte black. You have to apply the top coat within 6 hours as well, or you have to scuff it up again. I’ve heard that if you don’t do this, the top coat will just peel off. I screwed up and only ordered one can of black paint. Got lucky and it covered everything. I’ll go back in a couple days and apply a second and maybe third coat of black.
Still to do:
* Replace axle seals
* Install ball joints, steering knuckles, unit bearings and axle shafts
* Install diff covers
* Install and wire switches for lockers
* Install axles!