Rusted lower 3pt arm extensions-will electrolysis work to help free them up?

[boots 5]

Just phase i heard long ago no offense meant typing is so impersonate cant recieve any of the hidden parts of the human voice

[MarkG 876]

I read somewhere that all the latest penetrating oil is bad if the part doesn’t come loose. The chemistry in the high tech penetrating oil will evaporate and may make the situation worse. WD40 is just a light oil and will soak in better.

[Sparky 243]

16 hours ago, MarkG said:

I read somewhere that all the latest penetrating oil is bad if the part doesn’t come loose. The chemistry in the high tech penetrating oil will evaporate and may make the situation worse. WD40 is just a light oil and will soak in better.

The biggest problem with using any kind of penetrating oil in this particular situation is that it's not even rust that needs broken loose. It's simply dirt. Throw it in a tank of water for a while and they'll come loose.

Travis

[Sresites 12]

Wish I had my sonic cleaner from the navy. Used it to clean teletype machine parts on the ship. That would’ve absolutely loosened the lower link parts. Chemicals used in the process is why I am the way I am. :~)

[pt756 106]

hello went thru the same thing with the 856 a couple of years ago, soaked them in penetrating oil most of the winter, heated jacked and pulled, did not hear of the water thing, finally a guy told me to cut the flat part off the bottom, so took a thin blade and sliced the welds, then they finally let loose, rewelded the flat bar back on, this  was the first ones i could not get loose.  sure was alot quicker than all the heating and pulling and hammering i tried before,

[ksfarmdude 497]

21 hours ago, pt756 said:

hello went thru the same thing with the 856 a couple of years ago, soaked them in penetrating oil most of the winter, heated jacked and pulled, did not hear of the water thing, finally a guy told me to cut the flat part off the bottom, so took a thin blade and sliced the welds, then they finally let loose, rewelded the flat bar back on, this  was the first ones i could not get loose.  sure was alot quicker than all the heating and pulling and hammering i tried before,

Wow alot of work there, can't say I've had anything stuck that tight I couldn't remove 

[J-Mech 1,181]

9 hours ago, ksfarmdude said:

Wow alot of work there, can't say I've had anything stuck that tight I couldn't remove 

Oh, I have!  Gave up on a few things.  The parts were cheaper than my time. 

[ksfarmdude 497]

2 hours ago, J-Mech said:

Oh, I have!  Gave up on a few things.  The parts were cheaper than my time. 

in my experience nothing worse for rust or corrosion things froze tight than equipment used in a feedlot

[pirlbeck 63]

I thought I would give an update on this electrolysis process. It has been a week since I started this and it seemed to be going pretty well at the start, but after 3-4 days things slowed down quite a bit...........the amp draw went down, the bubbling pretty much stopped and the rust slime on the top of the water disappeared. Over the weekend I pulled the 3pt arm out for inspection and the extension arm latch area definitely had less rust build up on it, but anchoring the tractor end and putting a shaft in the ball socket and hitting the shaft with a sledge did not move it at all.

So I put it back in the barrel, added a little more washing soda and for the last 3 days it seemed we were not gaining much. I had a lot going on in the shop, so it was not much of a priority to try something. Tonight I pulled the rebar anodes and they had a pretty good build up of rust on them so I hit them with the pressure washer turbo tip and then wire brushed them. Now the charger is pulling more amps then ever (20 on the hi setting) and it appears we have lots of "cleaning action" going on.

So I guess one thing I have learned so far is that for it to work it needs clean, rust free anode bars. I don't recall any of the articles I read prior to setting this up mentioning the importance of cleaning the anode bars, but I was mostly interested in the initial setup and did not read much farther.

[ArkLa 1086 237]

3 hours ago, pirlbeck said:

I thought I would give an update on this electrolysis process. It has been a week since I started this and it seemed to be going pretty well at the start, but after 3-4 days things slowed down quite a bit...........the amp draw went down, the bubbling pretty much stopped and the rust slime on the top of the water disappeared. Over the weekend I pulled the 3pt arm out for inspection and the extension arm latch area definitely had less rust build up on it, but anchoring the tractor end and putting a shaft in the ball socket and hitting the shaft with a sledge did not move it at all.

So I put it back in the barrel, added a little more washing soda and for the last 3 days it seemed we were not gaining much. I had a lot going on in the shop, so it was not much of a priority to try something. Tonight I pulled the rebar anodes and they had a pretty good build up of rust on them so I hit them with the pressure washer turbo tip and then wire brushed them. Now the charger is pulling more amps then ever (20 on the hi setting) and it appears we have lots of "cleaning action" going on.

So I guess one thing I have learned so far is that for it to work it needs clean, rust free anode bars. I don't recall any of the articles I read prior to setting this up mentioning the importance of cleaning the anode bars, but I was mostly interested in the initial setup and did not read much farther.

I wonder if stainless anodes would work or be more productive then?

[pirlbeck 63]

2 minutes ago, ArkLa 1086 said:

I wonder if stainless anodes would work or be more productive then?

Stainless anodes are not recommended for this reason. Below is a copy and paste from this website.

https://www.instructables.com/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-aka-Magic/

 

NOTE: Do not use stainless steel for the electrodes. As pointed out by a commenter on the intro page (thanks!) "The chrome in the stainless will leach out during the electrolysis and form hexavalent chromium compounds in your electrolyte. These are extremely bad for you." This is true - dont even think about using stainless steel for this project.
 

[Rawleigh99 835]

I have also used my welder set on DC to power the electrolysis in a 250 gallon tote with the top cut out.  Electrolysis is line of sight so I don't know how this will work out for you.  Just soaking it in the tank probably helps.

[pirlbeck 63]

5 hours ago, Rawleigh99 said:

 Electrolysis is line of sight so I don't know how this will work out for you.  

Thanks for the information, I did not know that electrolysis only worked on items located in the line of site. I think I will add a horizontal anode bar and locate it directly above the rusted latch parts.  

[Nebraska1206 153]

On 11/3/2020 at 7:42 PM, pirlbeck said:

I thought I would give an update on this electrolysis process. It has been a week since I started this and it seemed to be going pretty well at the start, but after 3-4 days things slowed down quite a bit...........the amp draw went down, the bubbling pretty much stopped and the rust slime on the top of the water disappeared. Over the weekend I pulled the 3pt arm out for inspection and the extension arm latch area definitely had less rust build up on it, but anchoring the tractor end and putting a shaft in the ball socket and hitting the shaft with a sledge did not move it at all.

So I put it back in the barrel, added a little more washing soda and for the last 3 days it seemed we were not gaining much. I had a lot going on in the shop, so it was not much of a priority to try something. Tonight I pulled the rebar anodes and they had a pretty good build up of rust on them so I hit them with the pressure washer turbo tip and then wire brushed them. Now the charger is pulling more amps then ever (20 on the hi setting) and it appears we have lots of "cleaning action" going on.

So I guess one thing I have learned so far is that for it to work it needs clean, rust free anode bars. I don't recall any of the articles I read prior to setting this up mentioning the importance of cleaning the anode bars, but I was mostly interested in the initial setup and did not read much farther.

I too am giving the electrolysis method a try, but on a smaller scale on a 1256's seat part.  One thing is for sure, you are exactly right, a step that no one mentions is cleaning the sacrificial anode, removing all the built up rust and scale from it to allow the process to continue performing as well as it can.

I'm excited to see how my part turns out, as well as yours.  I'm definitely gonna try something else shortly after this one, just for fun

[R190 176]

On 10/31/2020 at 12:37 PM, Sparky said:

The biggest problem with using any kind of penetrating oil in this particular situation is that it's not even rust that needs broken loose. It's simply dirt. Throw it in a tank of water for a while and they'll come loose.

Travis

x2

[Steve Ruppert 3]

I have used E-85 gas with excellent results / loosens cleans most anything given time / how much time depends on build up

steve

 

[Grayihcowner 13]

I bought a used 7120 a number of years ago, the tractor came out of a feed yard, and I don't think the 3 point was ever used. Those arms were stuck tight, tried several things but they wouldn't move at all. I had other things that needed in the shop, so I cut the plate off the bottom of the arm and drove them down and out. I sand blasted all the parts, primed them and welded it back together, worked great and didn't take long to do it that way.

[nepoweshiekfarmalls 2,081]

I placed an old crescent wrench and a rusty carburetor in the tank of my parts washer for a year.  Both freed up.

[Matt Kirsch 899]

9 hours ago, nepoweshiekfarmalls said:

for a year

That's the thing, it takes TIME for whatever solvent you use, be it parts washing fluid or "penetrating oil" to soak in, if it ever does.

Most people spritz a bolt with their favorite juice and slap a wrench on it. It comes loose, and "Wow that's some great stuff! It's the best stuff ever!"

No! The bolt wasn't stuck in the first place! The Kroil/Blaster/Liquid Wrench/WD40 was all psychological.

I'll give you that it does help on EXPOSED threads, loosening up dirt and rust and lubricating the threads, but it did nothing to free up that bolt.

[TeachersPet1066 549]

Forgot that I put this in the outdoor wood burner to break loose 

[pt756 106]

i see some one else finally had to resort to the cut the plate off idea, last resort for us at the time, and was a lot safer than some of the other methods i tried,

[Sresites 12]

No soaking. Picking and using sawzall blades and hacksaw blades. Even flattened out the teeth edges to fit between the parts. Finally using strong rods and a 4 ton bottle jack with about 30 blows from a small sledge. Total hours about 8. The other side is showing signs of loosening. 

[Sresites 12]

Hour and a half later. This time with a couple spritz of Panther fiss. Probably 50 or more blows with the small sledge.

[560Dennis 1,396]

Be careful with electrolysis, it gives off hydrogen as byproduct. Always unplug before you touch the wire connector, wear face mask, be safe ,or it will blow up ! Don’t have it inside either ! 

[Edsfarms 97]

11 hours ago, Sresites said:

No soaking. Picking and using sawzall blades and hacksaw blades. Even flattened out the teeth edges to fit between the parts. Finally using strong rods and a 4 ton bottle jack with about 30 blows from a small sledge. Total hours about 8. The other side is showing signs of loosening. 

Good Work! Tractor repairs... "90% Persistence, brute force & ignorance 10% intelligence& finesse"