repair and restore of front hubs

[rick b]

I am working on cleaning and restoring the front hubs. I soaked both in parts washer fluid that is rated safe for aluminum / aircraft parts. Most of the crud has come off, but there remains two issues: (1) how do I get the metal shiny again? Polish? With what?, and (2) there appears to be corrosion / bubbly stuff in some spots. Should I just grind this off with a dremel?

Thanks. Rick

[classic]

Depends what your after, you can hit the corrosion with wet and dry but then the metal is unprotected, you options are paint with something like VHT or push your studs out and powder coat.

If your really after an original look, push your studs out, media blast and have them re anodized and put your studs back in.

[John Z Goriup]

Front hubs were not coated or plated with anything. If you elect to powder coat ( not at all a good idea in my opinion ) you'll incur extra hassle & cost because you would have to mask the surfaces that are in contact with the brake rotor and where the wheel bolts against the hub, as well as plugging the open ends so you can install bearings. Under no circumstances should the entire exterior of the hubs be powder coated.

Anodizing might make you feel better, but is completely unnecessary..........as I said, original stock hubs were raw aluminum castings. Spray them with GIBBS for long-term corrosion suppression, let sit overnight, remove excess and install.

Attached a photo of my hubs after I bead blasted them with a very fine material that was left in the machine long after it should have been changed. Open ends were masked to cover the inner bore. Any marks, smudges & discoloration are strictly from handling with dirty hands.

Good luck

[rick b]

thanks for the help. I will keep working on the surface and probably not powdercoat.
Rick

[Neunelfer]

Soda blast them.

[Alan.uk]

We strip, blast and anodise them. Most we see over here in the UK are in pretty bad condition. We did get quite far into having them re-sand cast but insurance of the items became the problem. Now we are going to CNC machine some from billet.

Alan

[rcnagel]

Just to make the process more complicated. I'm throwing in another step, push out the studs, re-black the studs, strip/drip, blast, tumble and no anodize.

[M_deJong]

Is there a a solution such as sleeving for worn bearing seats? I picked up an otherwise perfect pair of hubs today that spun the inside bearings. They might be destined to become lamps...

[uai]

Is there a a solution such as sleeving for worn bearing seats? I picked up an otherwise perfect pair of hubs today that spun the inside bearings. They might be destined to become lamps...

If they are not too much out of measure I'd take Loctite and glue the bearings.
The next time you want to change them you'll need heat to dismantle.


Uli