I have some leftover parts from my tractor repair that i want to save for "just in case". Many are machined steel and cast iron. There is even a planetary gear set in there. They may be sitting for decades. What should i do to prevent them from turning into an unusable ball of rust? Thanks
Spray a heavy coat of CRC SP400 on them. It dries on as a waxy coating that's kinda annoying to remove, but it's very much meant for preserving metal parts in long term storage. Cosmoline is also basically the same stuff.
Waxoyl type spray that forms a wax coating on it, can be removed with solvent when you need to use the part.
LPS 3 is good but expensive: https://www.amazon.com/2-Pack-LPS-Premier-Rust-Inhibitor/dp/B01N3RZI0J
lrrs
HalfDork
12/19/18 10:43 a.m.
I think it was on you know what tube, that I saw a guy that stored a crank for many decades in a 5 gallon bucket of motor oil. Looked dark so I assume it was used oil. Crank looked pretty once the oil was cleaned off.
44Dwarf
UberDork
12/19/18 10:55 a.m.
55 gallon drum, place a layer of oil absorber matt in bottom, load parts, pour in a gallon of WD40, Seal up the top, remove the small screw port in the lid. Disconnect gas line to Mig welder. run line in to drum and flow gas for a few minutes and screw on cap, shut off gas and reconnect to welder. Bottled gasses are dry and will push out some O2.