MTFCA Forum

So the long story short is, my wishbone has really deep rust pitting along 12" of the left side. Everything else is perfect. When is it too much and would need to be replaced.

I have it in a tube of evaporust right now so I cannot post current pics but here's what it looked like when I took the car home. It looks worse in this pic than it does after I wire wheeled off the surface to get to the metal. If these tubes were available new, I'd cut this side out and weld in a new one.

This is a part I would not chance. It looks pretty bad from the picture but you will have to be the judge. Given what the part is responsible for the risk might out-way the cost of the replacement. Put a WTB ad in the classifieds and I am willing to bet you will be able to find a good replacement.
Bryant

Beyond use IMO.

The radius rods are hollow, so rust will be likely inside too thinning the wall thickness.

Good used radius rods with good non- egg shaped round ball can be found.

I agree that the portion of rust pictured looks pretty bad, but be sure before discarding an original Model T part. Remove the part, take it outside and sand off as much rust as you can down to the bare metal with 80 grit sandpaper until just the pits remain then keep applying Muriatic acid to it with a 2” paint brush until the rust is totally off to the bottom of the pits then assess it after neutralizing the acid with a solution of baking soda and water. You cannot really determine whether to scrap or not without cleaning it of every bit of rust. If any holes remain where it has rusted through the tube, do not use it. If the tubes are sealed from moisture, I doubt if it is rusting from the inside. Jim Patrick

PS. I would be interested in seeing it after removing the rust.

Here I go again with what I learned long ago..."when in doubt, throw it out"!

Who wants to drive around all day wondering "when"....if you know what I mean. Ranks right up there with questionable spokes.

Oddly enough, the rust was caused by an unopened bottle or muriatic acid that was left under the car. It must have leached through the plastic.

vping wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 14, 2024 12:50 pm

Oddly enough, the rust was caused by an unopened bottle or muriatic acid that was left under the car. It must have leached through the plastic.

I believe you've posted this in the past? Anyway, my advice aligns with everyone else. Throw it away.

With a part that directly affects safety should it fail, I agree with Tim:

"when in doubt, throw it out"!

And I would follow that quote up with, "If in doubt Don't"

Cheers
Adrian

I'll chime in along with the other folks here. It's just not worth the risk of using what is at the very least a part in questionable condition. Source a good one and toss this one aside.

Mostly surface rust and flaky paint. Also flaky rust from above that fell into the wishbone. There's some pitting evident from the first time it was sanded primed and painted by the previous owner. I neutralized it inside and out and primed with a rust encapsulator inside and out.

It's just fine - paint 'er up & go with it !

vping wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:30 pm

Mostly surface rust and flaky paint. Also flaky rust from above that fell into the wishbone. There's some pitting evident from the first time it was sanded primed and painted by the previous owner. I neutralized it inside and out and primed with a rust encapsulator inside and out.

I retract my previous advice. It looks surprisingly good. Happy for you!

Looks great. Congratulations! Jim Patrick

Thanks.

Too bad just the rolled tube isn't sold after market. The ends are fairly sturdy so welding in a new tube could save badly rusted ones. I guess rusting out doesn't happen as often as an egged ball.

I'll post pics when it's completed.

As far as Model T wishbones go they use to be one of the common T chassis parts you could find at T swap meets. I hadn’t been to a meet in a few years but they were readily available. Somebody always had one or two in a parts pile.

Fabricating the tube has me thinking, does anyone know the metals wall thickness of the tube portion of the wishbone?

Looks good after painting.