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Cleaning fasteners

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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Well, I can scrub, and sand and polish, blast, coat, and paint all I want but my bike is still going to look a little shabby with rusty old fasteners. I searched the net a bit and the only trick I came up with was soaking them in vinegar over night. So I've got a couple of bolts in a glass gar with some Apple Cider vinegar right now. We'll see how that comes out tomorrow.

Does anyone have any good tricks or methods for cleaning up rusty fasteners?

Dave
 
Yes, get them replated.
Cleaning them up is all well and good, but you'll find they've rusted because the zinc plating has worn off. They'll just rust up again.
Zinc plating is cheap. (I've paid about GBP25 for a whole bike's worth, say USD40). Makes the bike look a whole lot better.
 
i'm a ACE hardware junkie, damn near have ALL nuts and bolts replaced, minus engine casings which i got off ebay
 
Please be careful replacing fasteners.
Most bike hardware is much harder and stronger than anything available in an average hardware store and must be purchased at a specialty "fasteners" outlet. They usually cater to industrial customers who buy by the 100s but I have never been turned down when asking for 1 of these and 2 of those.
You can get any thread, any length in multiple hardnesses and fastener types (socket headed cap screws, phillips or square drive, etc.). You can even go to stainless or anodized if you want.
Most nuts and bolts cost pennies each, even in the best materials.
Check your local industrial park or Yellow Pages.

I have to admit I'm not familiar with Ace but please double check the type you're getting. If in doubt check this site:
http://www.americanfastener.com/techref/grade.htm
 
fasteners

fasteners

i wire wheeled and polished some of mine and found them to already be chromed others i painted. check out hottoppers.com . these are chrome caps to cover your bolts. they list mostly harleys but they do list universal kits :wink:
 
Basically I just want to make sure that they don't taint the things they're fastening after I clean them.
 
Drop in a bottle of Coke over night, the drink not the other stuff.

They'll be nice and shiny in the morning
 
Fasteners

Fasteners

I bought the Eastwood Zinc Plating kit, as well as a vibratory tumbler to clean the bolts. So far, even after degreasing and tumbling, I still have to do some wire-wheeling to get the rust, bits of Loctite, etc off them. I am polishing my case bolts prior to replating them. Wish me luck!

vini
 
I'd like to suggest against the use of vinegar, which is actually acetic acid. Acid being the key word here, you are actually taking off a layer of the metal, and weakening any corrosion-resistant layer. I know this because I am a knifemaker and machinist by trade, and I use many different acids and compounds to create different surface finishes and patinas on my blades. Vinegar is one of them.

As an alternative, I'll suggest using a small felt buffing wheel and some green compound. This setup can be purchased very inexpesively, and you have to admit it'll have many different uses in your bike restorations. If you aboslutely must use the original fasteners, then this is a great way to get all your metal parts shiny and new again. Personally, I'd replace them with aircraft-grade stainless steel. :D
 
Might want to check out the stainless steel discussion here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/viewtopic.php?t=26653

Most of the Suzuki stock fasteners you can see are the weakest, crappiest, softest, cheesiest, nastiest junk imaginable. The strength of the new fastener is not much of an issue -- it's going to be many times stronger than what you replaced.

For many of the fasteners you don't see much of, like axles, brake caliper mounting bolts, etc. Suzuki did use specially hardened high strength fasteners. But for low stress items such as case bolts and the like, they didn't waste one penny on good bolts. Replace at will.

That said, I did recently find that the studs at the bottom of the fork legs had stripped threads on my bike. (Yes, it was a HOLY $---! moment...) I had a heck of a time getting them out beause the threads were about the same hardness as well-aged parmesan cheese. You would think this would qualify as an "important" application, but I guess not. The new studs from the hardware store were made of much tougher stuff.
 
I have an old crockpot, yes crockpot *NOT* crackpot, that I fill with Simple Green. Low heat over night and all the grease, gunk and rust disapears.

*DO NOT* put aluminum in this solution. That is unless you like charcoal colored aluminum.

Your shop will smell like a pine forest on acid!

Allan
 
You are right about Simple Green and aluminium. A helicopter operator in Japan was faithfully washing the landing gear every day with Simple Green. One day, when the helicopter was only a few years old they came to work and found it laying on it's side in the hangar. The soap had worked it way into a threaded rod end that was screwed into an aluminium tube that held the gear. Ate right through it. Manufacturer issued a notice warning people not to use simple green.
 
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