How do you get rust off bolts?

[Smokin72on20s]

i have a fershly painted fender that i am about to put back on my truck, the only problem is all i have are the original rusty bolts, and i dont really want to put the new fender on with rusty bolts, so my question is, is there anything i can do to clean up the bolts some? or should i just go and buy new ones?

[68w/sbc406]

i have a 3m pastic wire wheel that goes on the bench grinder that i use on old bolts when i have to reuse them

[67chev]

the guy doing all my body work uses the acid that you put in swimming pools...can't remember the name of it, but it is cheap and you just mix a little of it with water and let your parts soak in it over night...come out looking new.

[68w/sbc406]

Originally Posted by 67chev

...acid that you put in swimming pools......

Muriatic acid??? (spelling wrong i am sure)

[67chev]

That sounds right....I know it started with an "M". He just puts a little in a bucket, and adds water....probably a 30% acid/70% water ratio....works like a champ!! go 50/50 if you really want to make sure it works. Like he told me, it is cheap, easy to come by, and does the job well. Good Luck!

[Brainchild]

never heard of muratic acid being used like that,I use a wire wheel also.I may try the acid though.easier is better IMO

[Alexis]

I was also told to use the swimming pool stuff I'll find a reason someday to get that stuff and try it out.

[Brainchild]

I don't need a reason,I need a few $$$

[ZOOMY]

Is that the acid that the "acid dippers" use to do cabs etc. ?

[raphyel]

another inexpensive way to remove rust from bolts it to go to the parts house and buy NAVAL JELLY. It is a phosphoric acid mixture that comes in a pint sized container. Just put then in the there and tommorrow when you wake up the are clean.

[Lippyp]

Over here you can buy a deruster that you actually mix with water, chuck the things in for 24 hours or so and voila, clean steel. It's safe, non toxic, non corrosive, you can stick your hand in it with no problems and it even smells nice! It's made by Hammerite. BTW if you use acid never add water to acid, always add acid to water to dilute it. If you add water to acid it could end up boiling the water with the heat from the dilution reaction and spray everywhere.

[Tynee]

They always said that Coca-Cola will remove rust. Never tried it. If anybody knows who "they" are, ask them.

[Blue Beard]

The acid does a very good job, used it before.

Seen the Naval Jelly work nicely on body panels. And heard it will work on chrome, except you need to clear coat it immediately after...

[TugOwar]

Never used the Muratic acid but I've heard it works very well. Off the shelf I think it is only 10% so it can be used straight but it's much quicker so you have to stay with it.

Pick up a couple of boxes of baking soda and add them to a second bucket of water. When you remove the bolts from the acid drop them in the soda water to neutralize the acid. Otherwise it'll continue to eat at the steel, plus you don't want acid in the holes of that freshly painyed body panel!

FWI, I've heard the Muratic Acid/rust reaction gives off some pretty nasty fumes. Good ventalation and maybe even a respirator are good ideas.

[poff]

Wire wheel and thread chasers do a great job.

[Fred T]

There are several ways to remove the rust, but without a proper finish, the bolts will rust even worse. Painting them is one way, but it doesn't work that well. Best if you plate them with cadmium, but that's not cheap. I would recommend using stainless steel bolts, which will eliminate the rusting problem. I don't recommend the hardware store variety, their strength is unknown. Got to one of the vendors and get them, and assemble with threadlocker. Keeps the threads sealed which prevents galling.

[Yukon Jack]

My body guy was good enough to leave all my hardware out in the rain - they were such a mess I went and bought a stainless steel cab kit - sure was nice using all new bolts to put the cab back together.

Comes in small labeled packages - very convienent.

This kit is from http://www.docsbolts.com/

[cdowns]

i'm with JACK nothing's better than shiney shiney

or the old school way a can of wd-40 a cheap wire wheel($3 or so) elctric drill and a vise , hold bolt in vise spray with wd-40 and apply wire wheel

the thing to remember about derusting bolts is that uncoated, the rust comes back twice as bad twice as fast

[Tx Firefighter]

Fred T is right.

A bolt comes with a protective coating when new. Whether cadium plated or black oxide or zinc plating, whatever.

The point is, if you use acid or a wire wheel or any means to clean the bolt, it's only going to rust even worse, even faster.

The bolt has to have a coating to keep from corroding. It's already rusty, the last thing you want to do is strip the rest of the remaining coating off with acid or brushes and put it back in the truck.

Replace the bolts. Period. I go to Tractor Supply and buy new, cadium plated, grade 8 bolts by the pound. You're looking at less than a 100 bucks to replace all the bolts you'd use in the resto of your truck. It's worth it.

[botboy]

Yeah, stainless or cad plated is definitely the way to go.

Another way I've learned, doing resto work on my VW (with a lot of obscure bolts and castle nuts I couldn't get replacements for) was to throw some sandblasting sand & the bolts/nuts in a rock tumbler and leave running for a day or more, come out shiny and largely rust free.

[poff]

I use anti-seize on all my body bolts and paint the heads. I do use stainless in the high rust areas, like the top fender bolts by the cowl. I use a gel cell battery because I have a 4x4 but it also saves the core support, battery tray and inner fender from excessive rust damage, including the bolts.

[dallas71]

Yukon,
What does the kit use for the J-nut in the inner fenders where they connect to the fender??? Just wondering if they include nuts or j-nuts like stock...

[Yukon Jack]

The inner fenders connect to the outer fender lip with stainless bolts that go into the existing caged nuts (I think that is what they are called) Is that the same as a j-nut?

[Orange70chevy]

I have used the rock tumbler like botboy said and it works well. They come out like brand new.

[Pilgrim]

Phosphoric acid is used on sheet metal as an etching compound before priming. It works on old bolts, changing iron oxide to iron phosphate which you can paint over. Wire wheel and thread chaser, phosporic acid, primer, paint, touch up paint after wrench. One brand name is OSPHO.

Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid and best left in swimming pools and your stomache, or used for taking stains of sinks and toilets. Muriatic acid is too strong for ferrous metal. Breathing the fumes from the bottle or from the bolt will give the EMTs some practice.