first functional welding project with 225lx

[revkev6]

I was reluctant to do it as the parts I welded together are over 75 years old and pretty hard to find. I won't find out how well it works until spring but it seems to be much stronger than the setup that broke to begin with. I have a similar drive shaft for my car that I will be welding up as well. the pieces for my drive shaft have been tacked together for quite some time and have some surface rust on them, anyone have a good method of removing it?? I'm thinking a wire brush won't get it clean enough??

[presure2]

I was reluctant to do it as the parts I welded together are over 75 years old and pretty hard to find. I won't find out how well it works until spring but it seems to be much stronger than the setup that broke to begin with. I have a similar drive shaft for my car that I will be welding up as well. the pieces for my drive shaft have been tacked together for quite some time and have some surface rust on them, anyone have a good method of removing it?? I'm thinking a wire brush won't get it clean enough??

maybe a quick blast with a sand or media blaster?
harbor frieght sells a cheap handheld unit that works ok for little stuff.

[pvitor]

Hello revkev6,

How about using some Navel Jelly on it and give it some time, I have used it on several rusted oil pans prior to repairing them and it attacked the rust very well and did not hurt the material cleaned up with some acetone and was very impressed.

[revkev6]

Little update on this project. I helped my buddy get the rearend put back together and in the car but he never finished installing it!

I'm not worried about vibrations as I've seen several of these driveshafts done (although not exactly like this one) and none have been balanced or had vibration issues. It runs perfect true, I made the tube a press fit over the splined coupler and took my time tacking, plug welding then doing the full weld. It was probably 20 degrees in my garage when I welded it, I had a heat gun on it for before and after to make sure it didn't have any temp related issues.