OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Vinegar to remove rust from reel ?

Is it a bad idea to dump my reel in vinegar to remove all the rust ?

I've used the wire wheel & rust removing wheel on my drill but its hard to get into all the nooks.

I used it on the exhaust for 20 hours & it came out nice. Im just worried that it may eat the edge or the axle where the bearing sit ?

It currently looks like this after the wire wheel & a coating of wd40..

Also - This is off a 1960 solid shelf model 40. I had to cut one of the bearings off the reel as it wouldnt budge. Even my home made bearing puller wouldnt get it off. So im going to need replacements. Are the RLS5 units that everyone uses on the model 45 suitable ? Also I'd like to replace the other bearings & they all seem to look similar size (Rear roller, axles etc) - Would they all be RLS5 ?

One more question - The front roller has movement in it - Wiggles around & its not tight like the reel on the bearings - Is that normal ?



Thank you guys...






Before i started with the wire wheel.

Hello Dave0, depending on how much time you have to spare, treating the rust with Molasses would probably be a safer option for the bearing surfaces. As to your question about the movement in the reel i cant help as Im a vintage greenfield guy but im sure one of the regulars like Bonnar-Bloke could help!

Molasses - Havent heard of that one - Thanks Greenfielder ill go find some videos & see how it goes.

Hi Dave0,

I've just done two mowers using a Molasses Bath and it's quite simple to set up. One thing to take into account is that the larger the surface area on the anodes the better it will work and more amps will flow through from the job to the anodes.

I've used a couple of old tow bar tongues that I've sourced as my anodes and I can get up to around 15 amps flowing through which works really quickly.

Vinegar is okay, providing you don't overdo it. Also I would not use it on bearings, especially not if they are rusted. If you soak parts in vinegar for too long it will not only remove the rust, it will also begin to eat into the metal and if left for a week or more will actually begin to weaken the metal. I use vinegar all the time to clean the insides of fuel tanks that have surface rust. Pour it in and soak overnight, then drain the next morning. Then neutralize the acidic residue with some strong bicarb mixed in water and flush out. Then flush with lots and lots of clean water from the tap, and leave in the sun for a day to completely dry out. Of course if the tank is badly pitted inside with rust, the vinegar will eat through these rust spots and leave you with hundreds of pin holes, and then your tank will leak (probably was only a matter of time before this happened anyway!).

Anyway, that's the thing with vinegar as a rust remover, it is okay to use but don't overdo it. Molasses would be the better and safer option, but is damn sticky stuff.

Another thing that works good as a rust remover is steel wool and lots of good old elbow grease. Pour some metho on a rag and keep wiping the surfaces to remove the rust. Then seal.

Whatever you use to remove the rust, the surfaces will then have to be treated with some kind of sealer afterwards, or contact with the air will make the rust re-appear. Sometimes rust comes back within a few hours of cleaning off. It always seems to be the case that the faster the method we use to remove it, the faster the rust returns. I once experimented with HCL (WARNING!!! IF YOU VALUE YOUR HEALTH AND SAFETY, DO NOT USE!) brushing it on a very rusty steel rod and following it up with a high pressure water jet. The jet of water stripped off all the rust from the rod within seconds leaving only shiny, bright metal underneath. But seconds later the rust would re-form.

Hi vint_mow,

Hydrochloric or Sulphuric acid is a topic we really don't want to endorse in any way, shape or form here on ODK, so I'm glad you've highlighted that in Red.

The safest chemical process is definitely Molasses as you mentioned in you post above. Also from a dangerous chemical point of view it's pretty harmless. Basically it's made up from washing powder caustic which isn't going to harm anyone too much. I will say though that the more washing soda you desolve in the water the better it works. No issues with overdosing the small amounts that most "Youtube" videos claim to use.

When I was in the plating game we had very strong caustic based cleaners that you wouldn't want to have on your skin, but washing soda is rather negligible compared to what I used to use on a daily basis.

Using vinegar would be rather costly for the amount you'd have to use to clean a reel or chassis of a mower, thus why Molasses is so cost effective and there's no issues with it going down the drain either. Just don't shove the solids and old paint that remain at the bottom of the bath you make up down there. Let that all dry out and then wrap it up in old newspaper etc. and put it into the landfill bin.


Cheers,
BB.

What about trying draino? It'll certainly get rid of any hair lol.