Just bought some NOS Moog tie rods.
They were quite rusty - just surface rust, but all the way down the screw thread. Enough to make me not want to screw them into anything for fear of them galling.
Yes, I could've run an oiled nut up and down them a few times.
But instead, I'm giving electrolytic rust removal a go.
It's apparently pretty easy - rusty metal part becomes the cathode (-) and the carbon stick becomes the anode (+).
Take a plastic bucket. Add a solution of water and Soda Crystals, insert the parts to be de-rusted, hook up your battery charger and walk away.
I've taken care not to let my copper coated croc clips touch the solution, and the tie rods dangling off a steel coat hanger.
I've done a bit of reading, and you can use a sacrificial iron piece to replenish the iron lost to rust, but apparently as soon as you remove it from the solution, the piece will start rusting, so you need to be ready to coat it as soon as it's removed and dried.
Apparently the carbon anode gets round this, and prevents the piece from rusting. Either way, I'm going to give them a coat of hammerite (apart from the thread).
I've just set the system running, and so far nothing's gone bang or caught light, so this far in I'm calling it a victory.
I'll check in the morning to see if I am improving the state of the part, or I'm just going to have to buy a new one after all.
