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Posted by D Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:53:12 :
In Reply to: Re: rusted cab and frame posted by Kaegi [24.113.81.122] on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:39:12 :
The electrolytic method in a weak alkali accomplishes the same thing, chemically, as the rust converters, so that is an option for parts that can be gotten into some sort of tank. It also doesn't get into interior parts of things very well, though you can sometimes hang anodes into the interior to treat the innards as well. I did a water outlet elbow that way and it worked great and took all the big rust turbercules out of the inside. One advantage of the electrolytic process is that you don't have to even remove loose rust. All the loose rust will fall off, and then the tight rust will be converted to black oxide, which is similar to bluing. Hydrogen embrittlement is theoretically a concern, but it's only a practical concern if you used the process on springs. I have not heard of anyone using the electrolytic method on a whole body or frame but there's no reason it wouldn't work. The trick would be to devise a tank that would hold it, and some sort of electrodes of suitable shapes. The tank could be all sorts of scrounged things -- stock tanks, septic tanks, even a hole in the ground lined with heavy plastic. It would take a lot of current and a lot of anodes to do the whole thing at once, but it would be easy enough to move the anode from place to place every few hours or once a day depending on how much rust there was, how big your anode is, and how much current you have available, until you'd eventually gotten the whole thing de-rusted.