acid dipping

[muddybuddy]

how many people have had old parts acid dipped? how much does it typically cost? i have no idea what to expect to pay, im thinkin about getting my rims dipped.

 

[76zimmer]

I had a D44 rear axle dipped (completely disassembled) with the cover locally for 75$. And a dual blade lawn tractor deck done for $65.

It does an awesome job...completely bare metal.

 

[fabjunkie]

The guys at the local NAPA when I was younger would do our bike frames for free. We would drop it off in the morning on the way to school and pick it up in the afternoon. Worked great and left a nice surface to start paint prep. I thought it was near impossible to find anyone who does it anymore.

 

[gmc4cw]

when it comes to a rim why not just get them sand/media blasted? there are more guys doing that then acid bathing. My local carquest has a dip tank. they primarily use it for engine components.

 

[ntsqd]

I don't know one way or the other, but there are some who say you should never sand blast a steel wheel. Something about they break rather soon afterwards. Might be a wive's tale.......
I know if you do that to valve springs that they fail pretty fast. A friend bought some off a guy who'd done that & the friend didn't know any better.

I think I'd hedge my bet and go with walnut, plastic or corn cob blasting just in case.

Left in too long acid dipping can reduce the metal thickness. That's an ancient racer's trick to take weight out of the car.

 

[muddybuddy]

well im looking to do it for my newly acquired h1's

 

[gmc4cw]

well im looking to do it for my newly acquired h1's

I wouldn't do anything to those wheels that could potentially lead to the o-ring not sealing.

 

[BKinzey]

Check out MuddinManny's build thread. He had parts of his D60 dipped. Did a great job and was cheap. Your rims won't crumble away or anything like that.

 

[txfiremank5]

well im looking to do it for my newly acquired h1's

I had it done on mine. I didn't actually look for a place on my own. The place that recentered mine mentioned that there was a place that they often use to do it, so I went through them. It was a bit pricey though. I was told it was 125, that was if it was 3 wheels or 6 ... didn't matter, whatever would fit into the basket/vat. So it broke down to 25 a wheel for me. In my case it was worth it. That paint the military uses is some tough stuff. It looked like my wheel had seen several colors over the years. Some were black, some were the desert tan.. but all had multi layers. It would have taken me forever with my little cheesey sand blaster. I wanted everything off, so that the chances of getting the centers on nice and true were as good as they could be.

On mine they soaked them in stripper, then dipped them, then soda blasted them. All for that price.

There was nothing different about my wheels afterwards, other than the fact that there was no paint on them. There won't be any O ring issues. Not to mention the PC I had done will be a much better finish for the O ring to seal against vs. some other options. I also have new O rings for all my wheels. so that should help.

Before I made up mind to dip them, I tried brushing some brake fluid on one of the wheels to see how easy the paint would come off. I let it sit for a couple of days and checked it. It didn't even budge, no sign that it was doing anything to the paint at all. I sand blasted a little on another, and it was super slow going, but it started to rain, so I had to stop and pick up everything. But the little bit I did told me it wasn't going to be easy to get them clean.

That's my experience with the wheels, others may have different experiences. I guess it depends on how much paint is on the each persons wheels .. as to wether or not it will come off easy. In my case, I'm glad I just had them dipped, it was easly the best option for me.

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

humvee rims are CARC painted.... the stuff is made to be subjected to chemical warfare..... would be really cool if brake fluid kicked its @$$


I say go for it. I hate CARC paint

 

[rdn2blazer]

there are some who say you should never sand blast a steel wheel. Something about they break rather soon afterwards. Might be a wive's tale.......


that is a HUGE LOAD OF CRAP you have been told, grit blasting would NEVER promote breakage of a steel wheel or any other piece of steel for that matter. thousands of parts in the aircraft industry get grit blasted for coating purposes and see service for decades with out failure. most all powder coaters grit blast parts before powder coating.

dipping probably might cost more I would think.

grit blasting smoothes sharp edges which aid in good paint build up on those edges. not to mention great paint adheision to the base metal.

 

[ntsqd]

I would tend to agree with you except that I have seen wheels that were abrasively stripped, painted or PC'd and then cracked shortly after being put back into service.
I can't explain it, I don't know why. Just seems like a place to err on the side of caution until the reason is known.