Rusty Chains

I have all my chains soaking in evapo rust right now. Been 4 years since I used them. So far at 24 hours soaking in a 5 gallon pail the rust is busting up real nice. Bought it at tractor supply and some at advance auto. $21 a gallon

 

before zinc coating became popular we always soaked chains in used engine oil, also shovels, pitch forks, etc... steel needs oil in it.

Might be a good idea to remove rust with one of the methods suggested, but I would also start soaking those chains in oil a couple times a year, then they should never become rusty again.

 

I cant imagine there is anything that will keep your chains from quickly rusting again and WD40 does not stay put very long and actually seems to evaporate rather fast.
Soaking your chains in oil will make you pretty dirty which is what the OP was trying to avoid i believe?
Has anyone tried just getting something like that "Turn rust to primer" spray paint or something cheap and equivalent and just giving the chains a wash and quick wipe down and a spray with something like that. (may have to keep doing it here and there)
FYI: I am sure it wont be very permanent but may cut the filth in half -I dunno.
I also assume that there is no regulation to having spray paint on chains?

 

For some odd reason sand works as a good rust preventer (kinda). I do a lot of plasma cutting and a lot of guys that do similar work use basically a cement mixer without the paddles in it, and use sandbox sand as a abrasive media. After tumbling the parts for a couple mins with sand the parts are clean and wont rust for a couple months, compared to using a ceramic abrasive the parts will start flash rusting overnight. Its like the sand has some oil qualities to it but its not like a oil coating.

 

I've heard the same thing about dragging them down a dirt rd. Never tried it though. x3 on the warning about illegible markings on the chains. I got a written warning because I had one chain out of 12 that he couldn't read the g7 on. After that I cleaned them up a little and sprayed a little paint on the marked links. No money fine but supposedly it carries csa points to the carrier.

 

you guys should put this on tips & tricks for flat beds. Tagging them and making them easy for DOT officer to read is a great idea.

 

[QUOTE="Hang - Man";3891890]I cant imagine there is anything that will keep your chains from quickly rusting again and WD40 does not stay put very long and actually seems to evaporate rather fast.
Soaking your chains in oil will make you pretty dirty which is what the OP was trying to avoid i believe?
Has anyone tried just getting something like that "Turn rust to primer" spray paint or something cheap and equivalent and just giving the chains a wash and quick wipe down and a spray with something like that. (may have to keep doing it here and there)
FYI: I am sure it wont be very permanent but may cut the filth in half -I dunno.
I also assume that there is no regulation to having spray paint on chains?[/QUOTE]
a product called Ospho works well for turning the rust to a primer. You can get it at most well stocked auto parts and hardware stores. Especially the ones that also sell automotive paint. It cost about $15 per gallon. Never tried it on my chained but used it on a lot of the steel I used for building shelves in my shop and on the frame of a trailer that I painted. Works really well.

 

That's why you should have coveralls in your truck if you haul open deck.

 

drag them down the road it will shine them right up.

 

I wonder why I never saw anyone paint them. That would be the ultimate test for paint.

As for WD40, it is not a lubricant. It was designed as a Water Displacement product. We'd spray it inside the distributor cap after running through deep water and the engine dies from water in there. Always worked.

I just have a $5 oiler from Lowe's and keep a little engine oil in it.