What is the best way to protect bare iron metal from rust? Options

[Langing]

I picked off a steering knuckle from a junkyard Celica, removed the ball joint and wheel bearing, and cleaned it with a wire wheel to the point where it seems rust and yuck free. Now it is almost all bare metal and I have two questions:

1) What is the best/easiest way to remove the remaining rust? (I don't have a sand blaster.)

2) What is a good/long-lasting way to protect the bare metal from rusting again?

To show what I am talking about I include a photo of the newly cleaned SN next to my Celica's SN (the one with with bent ears). The junkyard SN is the lighter of the two, the golden rust colored one; it came from a red 1995 Celica and is going on a white 1994 Celica:



Thanks to anyone who takes time to help me by discussing these questions.

[Special_Edy]

I never understood how people can believe that lightning can jump miles from the ground to a cloud, but somehow 3 inches of rubber will stop it. Wont it just jump the 6 inch gap from your undercarriage to the ground, since it just jumped 63,360 inches to the cloud (supposing one mile). I dont think its because the car is a faraday cage, I think that has to do with electromagnetic radiation. Faraday cages are used to shield electronic devices from electromagnetic interference or even an EMP. If your car was a faraday cage your cellphone would be unable to recieve a signal inside it for example. The skin of the car is 1000s of times more conductive than its occupants or the air space inside, so naturally the electricity takes the path of least resistance. If it can jump through air, your car is a cakewalk. They say airplanes are struck by lightning extremely often, but no damage occurs due to the airplane's conductive skin.

The ground straps you see on cars are for static electricity. They are often required on airport vehicles. I think it is due to the static charge which builds on planes from them traveling through the air at high speeds. Your fuel tank filler hose is actually constructed of a specialized type of rubber and often grounded, the simple act of gas pouring through when you fill the tank would generate enough static charge to ignite the gasoline if it was regular rubber.

You dont need antisieze, probably the #1 time its recommended is different alloys of metal threading together, like a steel spark plug into an aluminum head. You can use just about any lubricant other than water as an anti seize. I prefer some used oil from my last oil change.

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Jun 20, 2014 - 11:05 PM

[Langing]

You dont need antisieze, probably the #1 time its recommended is different alloys of metal threading together, like a steel spark plug into an aluminum head. You can use just about any lubricant other than water as an anti seize. I prefer some used oil from my last oil change.

I understand what you are saying but didn't know what anti-seize actually was, so looked it up. Prior to that I had become confused because I had seen numerous YouTube DIY auto repair videos about how to do this or that, things that required lubrication, and there were times I had noticed something anomalous. At times people would wipe on anti-seize when I was expecting them to be wiping on a "lubricant," or vice-versa. Why I've come across this is because my recent efforts over the past couple of months have focused on brakes and wheel bearings.

So, your recommendation is to use any old lubricant rather than waste (my interpretation) anti-seize -- "use old oil from oil change" -- except where you have fasteners of one metal being in contact with a different metal. Didn't mean to make that sound like criticism or sound negative.

It seems there are a number of ways that metals in contact can wear, even fail, and I don't know all that much about materials science. So, I looked around and came across terms like fretting, galling, seizing, and others that represent ways that metals in contact can result in bad side effects (wear). Then I looked for information on anti-seize compounds. I can't understand all that I found, but perhaps you can make some sense of it if I past it here for you to read:

A) One solution to the issue of fretting is to use a metal based anti-seize lubricant between the mating parts. Composed of assorted mixtures of aluminum, copper, graphite and nickel powders in a grease base, such lubrication allows repeated assembly and dis-assembly without wear and the elimination of fretting corrosion during use. (Wikipedia)

B) Loctite® brand anti-seize compounds protect metal parts from rust, corrosion, galling, and seizing. They ease assembly and disassembly of slip-fit, press-fit, and threaded joints and reduce friction and wear on critical operating equipment. Formulated for severe industrial environments, these products protect against high temperatures, heavy loads, chemicals, pounding, and vibrating.

Information from Henkel Corp at

http://www.henkelna.com/lubricants-and-anti-seizes-6140.htm

C) LOCTITE® BEARING MOUNT STICK – HIGH TEMPERATURE

A revolutionary method to bond non-threaded, cylindrical metal assemblies, this unique wax-like stick works just like Loctite® Bearing Mount liquids to secure parts, seal joints and prevent corrosion. Replaces clamp rings, set screws and snap rings.

Typical Applications: Bushings, bearings, oil seals, ring gear bolts, differential lock pins, axle bearings, water and power steering pump pullies.
Information from the Henkel Corp at

http://www.henkelna.com/us/content_data/18...Mounts_pg17.pdf


My concerns boil down to just a few:

If I should want to apply a treatment over bare metal to prevent rust and applied grease (lubricant), wouldn't that collect whatever (dirt, dust, rust, etc.) particles that happened to land on it? Would anti-seize do the same? Would anti-seize be any better at preventing rust?

If I have two bare metal mating surfaces that bolt together, what should I smear onto the surfaces before bolting them together? What if the metals are different?

If I want to torque bolts to spec and am looking to the future date when I might have to take the bold out again, what is the best application to put on the threads so I can get the out easily next time?

When I just yesterday hand-tool pressed a front wheel bearing should I have used anti-seize before pressing it in? How about the oil seals and dust deflector?