Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
Now accepting axle paint sponsors.
Axle housing painting - what are people doing these days?
- Thread starter Inukshuk
- Start date
I’ve got a 9year old half can of VHT epoxy spray paint you’re welcome to, probably just needs a new spray tip, and a quick propellent charge, and a good shake. I was asking $5.00 but I’d just let you have it at this point. You’d have to pick it up this weekend though as I need the space. Otherwise I’m just going to scrap it.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
If I leave Denver now, I can be in Grand Junction in four hours to get that from you. But I only have a check for $50 so you’ll have to give me cash change. But for your trouble, I’ll pay you an extra five dollars.
I realized maybe I didn’t explain the reason I’m stripping this axle is not because of rust or choosing that I wanted to paint it. It was extremely extremely very filthy inside and out. I decided it was a better use of my time and money and would get a better clean result inside, especially to drive it 20 minutes to Golden drop it off and have it come back spotless and ready for welding ball gussetts, reinforcement of the swaybar, brackets, and caster plates.
Until I refinish the sides of the Longcruiser, I don’t think any paint sponsor wants its name associated with me!
Oh well, I was kind of thinking you’d give me some prime real estate since I was going out on a limb to give you first dibs on this can of vintage epoxy.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
1) Step 1: I am going to use the rattle cans of self-etching primer I already have. Turns out they dipped and blasted the housing and knuckles, so after a final bout of compressed air and mineral spirits final bath primer should stick great.
2) Step 2: I am going to use the rattle cans of filler and sandable and primer sealer.
3) Step 3: I am going to brush on Tractor Supply's Majic Gloss Black Tractor Truck & Implement Enamel Paint (Gallon for $65) fortified with Majic Catalyst Hardener (about $20) (Increase the hardness by 30%, the gloss by 10%, and decrease they dry time by 40%). Probably do 2 coats.
The parts are not spotless and 'paint ready.' I need to get all the grit out of the axle housing and there is some grease left in the threaded holes in the housing, knuckles and hubs. That will be easy enough to clean. The hubs flashed a bit. I think one was already rusted. Likely I will use the original LongCruiser hubs anyway. On the other hand, the housing is ready to weld on anywhere we want, I did not stand in a cold car wash for an hour or more, it IS cleaner than I could have gotten it, I have far fewer fumes to breathe, and I learned.
2) Step 2: I am going to use the rattle cans of filler and sandable and primer sealer.
3) Step 3: I am going to brush on Tractor Supply's Majic Gloss Black Tractor Truck & Implement Enamel Paint (Gallon for $65) fortified with Majic Catalyst Hardener (about $20) (Increase the hardness by 30%, the gloss by 10%, and decrease they dry time by 40%). Probably do 2 coats.
The parts are not spotless and 'paint ready.' I need to get all the grit out of the axle housing and there is some grease left in the threaded holes in the housing, knuckles and hubs. That will be easy enough to clean. The hubs flashed a bit. I think one was already rusted. Likely I will use the original LongCruiser hubs anyway. On the other hand, the housing is ready to weld on anywhere we want, I did not stand in a cold car wash for an hour or more, it IS cleaner than I could have gotten it, I have far fewer fumes to breathe, and I learned.
That looks great! Dang, I wished I’d known about that when I was doing the t100, could have saved myself a day1) Step 1: I am going to use the rattle cans of self-etching primer I already have. Turns out they dipped and blasted the housing and knuckles, so after a final bout of compressed air and mineral spirits final bath primer should stick great.
2) Step 2: I am going to use the rattle cans of filler and sandable and primer sealer.
3) Step 3: I am going to brush on Tractor Supply's Majic Gloss Black Tractor Truck & Implement Enamel Paint (Gallon for $65) fortified with Majic Catalyst Hardener (about $20) (Increase the hardness by 30%, the gloss by 10%, and decrease they dry time by 40%). Probably do 2 coats.
The parts are not spotless and 'paint ready.' I need to get all the grit out of the axle housing and there is some grease left in the threaded holes in the housing, knuckles and hubs. That will be easy enough to clean. The hubs flashed a bit. I think one was already rusted. Likely I will use the original LongCruiser hubs anyway. On the other hand, the housing is ready to weld on anywhere we want, I did not stand in a cold car wash for an hour or more, it IS cleaner than I could have gotten it, I have far fewer fumes to breathe, and I learned.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
If your goal is restoration quality, getting the fresh surface for painting makes sense.
The exterior of the axle was in great shape for welding.
While welding it made a lot of smoke because the interior was not clean.
I started with mineral spirits, using a small transfer pump kind of making a parts washer. There was a lot of grit in there. And it turns out there was a lot of grease in there.
Eventually, I went to the car wash because there was no way I could reach that metal do hickey ring that’s behind the oil seal to clean all the way down the long side. There was lots of grease still in there.
Perhaps I didn’t give adequate instructions to A1. I never expected them to sandblast it. I had only asked if they could hot tank it to remove all the grease. I’ll give them a call tomorrow and see what they have to say. This is my first time using that kind of service so more than likely it’s that I didn’t give proper instruction.
So it took a day anyway. Everything’s primed, but I still need to paint the axle housing and the knuckles. If I hadn’t stripped it, I would’ve maybe spent more time at the car wash, but I wouldn’t have had to paint as much although I would’ve also needed to prep for welding on the outside.
No matter what it was going be a bunch of work. I hope the paint turns out well.
Here are the after welding pictures. Yes, your eyes are mistaken because that’s not Justin and Travis and Travis @HoneyBadger did not weld because they don’t do this kind of stuff anymore. They’re slammed busy as a professional fabrication shop doing all kinds of railing gates, and other fabrication for a large scale commercial and residential projects. Way to go guys!
Next post will be cleaning and painting pictures.
The gussets were purchased, not fabricated.
There’s really only two weak spots normally on a 80 axle. The passenger swaybar bracket can break from extreme articulation. The passenger radius arm bracket can also break with a crack propagating from that useless little cut out. For good measure Travis welded all the places that Toyota did not weld the radius arm bracket. At the sway bar bracket, he welded the un-welded sides, which is all I asked.
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Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
I forgot to take pictures of the flash rust on the hubs and knuckles.
I bought a spray product from Home Depot that worked great. The rust melted away.
But first, here’s what it looked like when I finally remembered I should take some pictures at the long end of the axle. I’d already cleaned gobs of grease out of the short end because I could reach it. The inside of the pumpkin was nice and clean, and I didn’t look down the tubes when I picked it up.
I bought a spray product from Home Depot that worked great. The rust melted away.
But first, here’s what it looked like when I finally remembered I should take some pictures at the long end of the axle. I’d already cleaned gobs of grease out of the short end because I could reach it. The inside of the pumpkin was nice and clean, and I didn’t look down the tubes when I picked it up.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
My parts orders have arrived from Cruiser Outfitters so I’m ready to start putting things together in a couple days when the paint is dry.
rover67
Rising Sun Member
Sand will hide in the threaded holes also. Make sure they’re clean prior to assembly
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
I bet.
I got these Amazon special wire brushes to chuck in a drill. I put each knuckle in a tub with mineral spirits and cleaned every threaded hole.
Sand in that grease was another consideration why I took the axle to the car wash.
HoneyBadger
Rising Sun Member
I’m always happy to help club folks with small side jobs in what little spare time I do have.
I’m glad this turned out well. And I hope it works well for many years to come.
Long live the Long Cruiser!
VoodooBlue_Vixen
Rising Sun Member
Seeing all the pics from this weekend at the Toy Drive it looks like LongCruiser's body panels may be rusting more? You looking at doing any body work before KOH?
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
VoodooBlue_Vixen
Rising Sun Member
Lol. I mean my personal business doesn't involve anything close to auto body
. But I'd definitely be willing to throw some labor at it on your dime for supplies.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
Coat one on. I got a gallon of paint and a pint of the catalyst hardener. In a separate container, I mixed half of a gallon and half of the hardener catalyst. For this first coat on the axle two knuckles and steering arms I used less than a quart. If I do a second coat, I’ll need more than a quart so it’s good I got the gallon.
Instructions say the pot life after the catalyst is eight hours so I will be curious to see what my container of paint looks like tomorrow.
It says wait 24 hours to recoat.
Later, I will still have to go in with spray paint under the spring bucket buckets where a brush could not reach. Fortunately, I’m not at all worried about drips or runs.
The catalyst hardener is supposed to make it cure faster, cure tougher, and be glossier.
Instructions say the pot life after the catalyst is eight hours so I will be curious to see what my container of paint looks like tomorrow.
It says wait 24 hours to recoat.
Later, I will still have to go in with spray paint under the spring bucket buckets where a brush could not reach. Fortunately, I’m not at all worried about drips or runs.
The catalyst hardener is supposed to make it cure faster, cure tougher, and be glossier.
SteveH
Hard Core 4+
Instructions say the pot life after the catalyst is eight hours so I will be curious to see what my container of paint looks like tomorrow.
You may get extra application time if you refrigerate the premixed leftovers - might be handy for touch-ups the next day.
You may get extra application time if you refrigerate the premixed leftovers - might be handy for touch-ups the next day.
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
Nice! I just moved the container outside. I'm running a heater in the garage for the parts.
Lastresort576
Hard Core 4+
little late to the party on paint choice, but I recently stumbled upon this stuff. I havent tried it yet, but it looks/sounds promising.
https://steel-it.com/
https://steel-it.com/
VoodooBlue_Vixen
Rising Sun Member
I use that stuff on all sorts of things!! It's supposedly weldable without removing it to bare metal. It's infused with metal.