Extreme axle restoration - good or bad idea?

[volvolugnut]

I will weigh in again to say I would not be worried about strength loss on these thick, solid axles. The car will not be drag raced. The balance will not be changed in any significant way. To get out of balance you need large mass far from centerline at the speeds the axle turns.
volvolugnut

[scot850]

If your axle was running well before say a CV boot split, it is almost 100% certain to be just the same after repair allowing to the quality of the repair work. I have had enough issues with aftermarket axles mostly being awful, and even when they worked having very short timelines until the boots split.

As we know, some of the LH (short) axles have a bare shaft, but then some have an added balance weight clamped onto them. I would doubt that removing a small amount of rust on such a small diameter shaft will make a noticeable difference.

I look at the junkyard offerings and I'm selective to what I pull. I will only pull OE ones that look in good relatively rust free condition and ideally with good boots.

The RH (long) axle for the 2000 NA engines (5 speed auto) is hard to find. I had a devil of a job finding an OE used one about 5-6 years ago. I found 1 offered for sale in North America! It was shipped from East Coast and good old UPS destroyed it before it got here, splitting a boot. Also it arrived with a bad carrier bearing. I fitted a new boot and and bought a carrier bearing and the supplier gave me money back to cover the parts for repair.

Naturally 2 weeks later a 2000 5 speed auto NA came into the junkyard with a really good RH axle. It went on instead. I still have the other axle with a new boot and a carrier bearing to fit!

Neil.

[BlackBart]

OK, I change my vote - clean it up and paint it.

[abscate]

I still haven’t slept since I saw that water pipe……

[scot850]

That water pipe is seriously crusty!

Neil.

[FireFox31]

If you take off too much metal where there's deep rust, is it now out of balance?

Thanks, this is the kind of input I was hoping to get in this thread. I never considered balance. I'll examine the axle closer the next time it's in the air. I think a lot of the variation in surface is from the black powder coat flaking, of which I removed a majority but not all before painting.

[BlackBart]

Lugnut says not to worry about balance, the mass removed is insignificant.

[volvolugnut]

Lugnut says not to worry about balance, the mass removed is insignificant.

The shaft would have to be a turbine speeds to get out of balance from rust pitting.
volvolugnut

[scot850]

+ 1 on that.

Neil.