Rusty Detroit Locker Diff

I've had this thing for years sitting in the original box in my garage and this happens to it. How do you suggest I clean it up? I'm ordering axles soon and want to get this thing ready.

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Emery cloth and a good cleaning, oiling? Most of that looks to be flash rusting. Should not be a problem in a rear differential.

thats a good case study for not cleaning machined parts or unwrapping them from oilpaper until you need them. I have done the same to heads and blocks...cleaned them in prep for a build, then get wrapped up in another project. I don't want to have to clean them all over again so I just use light oil or WD40 to cover them....months later, you see that start to appear. 'tis a right quandry, it 'tis.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Beoweolf on 1/30/06 3:22am ]</font>

Well the faster way than the emery cloth is to get a few wire brushes that attach to your hand drill (a corded drill has more speed and power).
Id also get a good coarse wire wheel for your bench grinder.
Oh and dont bother at all with any of those rust removal solvents. Ive tried a few of them and they all blow crap. Wire wheel or blasting is the best way to go for the home mechanic IMO.
One thing though. get a dust mask and USE it when cleaning. other wise youll end up with iron oxide in your nose. And that cant be good!Good luck!

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thanks for the relplies. I suppose i should cover the holes so nothing gets inside the differential as well.
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Yes a wire brush does heads etc in a drill great! cover your face and hands as the wires are fun to pluck out of your neck!

man i would use my hands and no drill/wire brush. really doesnt look that bad, finesse is better than fast for this piece. oil will do it. is it rusted inside/moving parts?

disassmeble it to check for rust on the innards. It doesn't matter one bit what the outside of the case looks like(except ring gear mounting flange), pay attention to the inside.

It cleaned up nicely, from what i can see the inside seems fine.
Is it easy to put back together if i split it open?
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