How much rust is too much rust?

[jimjafarian]

I recently acquired what I thought were a dream set of axles. A dana 60 from and full float 14 bolt rear in both 4:56. They had some surface rust and the brakes would have to be replaced but this was quite the find as the only axles I can get on this island are Toyotas. I have taken the front down to the axle shafts and found what I had feared, deep, pitting, flakey, rust. I used a flap disc and a wire brush to get most of the large chunks and surface rust off. The images below are whats left. My question is: should/can I use the dana 60 front still, is there a way to get new end parts where the king pin mount? This is the worst of the rust and I have included some measurements. I plan on coating the axles in POR 15 and maybe some bed liner or under coat. Im going to be swapping the axles into my 1990 jimmy soon so advice or links to threads are much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Andrew

 

[obijuank5]

Completely serviceable. I'd build it.

 

[Bent77]

Unless your beating it like a redheaded stepchild, should be good.

Like @obijuank5 said, build it, run it
Knuckles fall off? They sell those....

 

[jimjafarian]

Unless your beating it like a redheaded stepchild, should be good.

Like @obijuank5 said, build it, run it
Knuckles fall off? They sell those....

Yeah this is more of an impulse buy. I had always said that I was never going 1 ton but i guess that has come and gone. This will not see any real heavy off road use mainly just some overland type stuff, the 4.56 was what really sold me.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Clean them up a bit more, well alot more. Run them till they break.

 

[handloader90]

Looks good to me. I'd leave it as is and run it...

 

[JoeliusZ28]

I wouldnt make the claim they'll be as strong as a new one, but IMO youre nowhere near any kind of "danger zone!" (Archer) right now. If you running hard enough to break those youll probably break a new one too.

 

[FOR MUD]

I would run em......Or if I was seriously planning beating them to no end, I would replace with Reid inner Cs http://www.reidracing.biz/off-road-products/dana-60-inner-c and a set of their knuckles to boot and never worry about them again.

 

[diesel4me]

Looks typical of what you'd find here in New England if you bought a salvage yard set of axles...most all 1 ton 4x4's here get used to plow or tow year round,most come from dually 1 ton dumps that towns used for DPW work or old military vehicles that sat more than got used..