Axle Cleanup

Saturday: One of the problems on the Blue DHC is a very noisy diff, I have obtained a secondhand replacement rear axle from Dave Aspinall at Anglian Triumph, however this needs a major clean, all the rust needs removing and the axle painting, Mechanically wise there is little I can do without special tools, however I will change wheel bearings as a matter of course and fit new rear cover gasket, then swap over all brake parts when I do the axle swap.

First thing was to remove old rusty brake pipes, brake pads, and handbrake cable and discard, then remove the rear cover and check operation, the diff feels ok, very little play in crown wheels and pinions, half shafts also have no play in them, the oil was quite dirty but expected in a 20+ year old axle. Wondering if to just refill with clean oil or give it a wash out with petrol or paraffin first?

I started to clean the rear cover with a wire wheel on the angle grinder, then gave it a coat of rust cure. Just this one part took around an hour to clean up, so I will investigate a local shot blaster for the rest of the axle, making sure breather is plugged first, I cant face all that wire brushing.