Can This R&P be saved?

OHHHHHHHHHH.

You can imagine my disappointment.

Thought maybe I had got some condensation in the bearings from sitting for six years and I would have to replace some bearings. Not a big deal with the right tools of course.

I pulled it out of the jeep last night and popped off the cover and found........... A LOT OF WATER.

The vent on top of the axle must have been leaking the first 2 years it was out side. I re sealed it to make sure no water got in after 2 years and I think I basically trapped the water that was there.

You can see on the diff cover the level. Terrible.

The teeth on the top look worse than the ones that were submerged:? Go figure must be the oxygen needed to rust on top.

Anyway, WHat do you guys think? Soak the carrier spool and R&P in some sort of cleaner and carefully wire brush or wire wheel the gears, clean everything up and repalce all the bearings?

I got lucky and put in the grease seals at the ends of the tubes and greased my warn full floater bearings and hub assembly so that is ok.

I don't want to but a new R&P but it may be my only choice.

Thoughts, condolences, comments??????
Todd

 

pull it apart, clean them up
lightly wire brush/wheel the teeth
repost the pics with the results
even if the teeth are lightly pitted, some minor gear noise might be all that results
my 0.2 worth

 

oh, and clean the floor before the wife sees it.....
are those her rags ????

 

Funny. No those are my rags and yes she was gone when the said flood occured. She came home and said "is that why it stinks so bad in the garage?" I kinda like 40 year old gear oil smellR)R).

I think I have my weekend project

 

I agree with Jpflat2a. I've been able to save stuff that looked as bad with some elbow grease. Look the bearings over carefully though because those will most likely need replacing.... Nickmil

 

Already have a bearing kit coming to my FLAPS. My gut tells me the bearings are shot. Elbow grease indeed.

any ideas on cleaner? Mineral spirits?

 

would use basic oil based solvent, then clean that up with brake clean. when clean, lightly rub some wd40 (or equalitive) from a rag on the inside of housing to prevent rust while working on it. the cover appears salvageble and the carrier might clean up as well. would also get a new shim pack, since i don't think the old ones will be reuseable from rust.

could get the r&p media blasted to remove rust.

 

A wire wheel mounted in a bench grinder will work well (eye protection and gloves!). I'd just use a little oil on a rag to wipe up the dust while I worked with the wheel.

Bead blasting would be fastest, but only if you have access (not sure if that's good for the machined surfaces though...).

 

if you're gonna blast it, I'd use crushed walnut hulls. I've heard good stuff about it, and it'll just need cleanin' when you're done to remove the spent hulls.

 

I will be wire wheeling either bench or hand held.

Thanks for the replies. I will post pics of the final product.

Yeah the install kit from my flaps has the shims with it plus I have leftovers from the last few I have set-up.

 

I had one just like that same deal wire wheel in bench grinder you would never know after.

 

If you're removing the gear set you can always do it this way, heck they'll look brand new when done.
http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html
I think mop tried this a year or so ago after I suggested it in a post.

 

You need to be careful what kind of things you "derust" with the electrolytic process. It can lead to hydrogen embrittlement of the material and rapid failure under load. The electrolytic process uses electricity an produces hydrogen and oxygen (the bubbles). Some of the hydrogen can remain in the structure of the metal at the atomic level, making it more susceptible to fracture. Proper post electrolytic heat treatment can relieve the hydrogen embrittlement. Would not recommend this for rust removal on R&P as it may cause the gear tooth surface to fail under load.

 

If you're worried about hydrogen embrittlement thru this process follow these guidelines and you should be quite safe.

In my honest opinion unless you leave the solution setting and cooking for a long period of time, more than 36-48 hours this would not pose a problem at all. Gears are usually case hardened and not thru hardened, the soft underlying steel is not as readily affected as the harder outer case.
I know dozens of people who have done this on transmission parts with no failure or problems at all. YMMV

 

whoa. I wire wheeled the R&P. they didn't look too bad the pinion had a few funny looking areas and the ring gear was discolored where it was out of the water. The bearings were all shot. I removed them, pressed on some new ones, cleaned everything and put it all back together and checked the pattern and it looked good. I did not tke pictures. I was a little pressed for time yesterday and didn't want to stop for pics. Thanks for the advice.




BTW it is filled with Gear oil this time

 

Cool! Had a chance to drive it? Did that come out ok?

 

Not yet. I will keep you posted.