powder coating rear beam

[gtmatt]

Hi guys i have took the rear beam and arms of for powder coating , but do i have to remove the arms and press the rubber bearings out , ?? rang a guy today and he said the rubber would melt in the oven ??

has any 1 had the rear beam powder coated with arms in situe ??
as i dnt wana strip the arms of and rubber bearings etc

thanks matt:)

[GTphil]

I would imagine they would have to come off mate:crap: if they are what was on the rear beam from new if you were to take them off the bushes would be ruined anyway and you can't get just the bushes you will have to buy the whole trailing arm I got two for 125 a side:(

[Big Steve - Raider]

From this:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BigSteveT/Raider/Rear%20Axle%20Rebuild/IMG_0993.jpg

To This:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BigSteveT/Raider/Rear%20Axle%20Rebuild/IMG_1063.jpg

Got it all powdercoated as the assembly you see their without getting arms & all associated bearings pushed out ;)

Just make sure you mask up both Hub Bearing Shafts and leave all the necessary bolts in the frame to ensure that you don't have to spend hours cleaning powdercoat out of threads! ;)

[Big Steve - Raider]

More Pics HERE (http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BigSteveT/Raider/Rear%20Axle%20Rebuild/) :coffee:

[GTphil]

That is the dog's mate! Beats paying 125 a side for new arms anyway;)

The ovens are not hot enough to melt the rubber bushes I take it?

[gtmatt]

I dnt under stand how the oven did not melt the rubber ? When they baked the powder on ?

[Hoolio]

More Pics HERE (http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BigSteveT/Raider/Rear%20Axle%20Rebuild/) :coffee:

Bit off topic, but Steve how did you treat the underneath/spare wheel area and also all the rusty fittings in there. Also I assume it's possible to powdercoat the spare wheel frame even with the hinge etc?

[Big Steve - Raider]

Bit off topic, but Steve how did you treat the underneath/spare wheel area and also all the rusty fittings in there. Also I assume it's possible to powdercoat the spare wheel frame even with the hinge etc?

GTPhil & gtmatt. Rubber's a Thermoset so when the bushes are made it's crosslinked & therefore cannot be re-melted like normal Thermoplastics like Polypropylene etc. The ovens that they use to bake on the powdercoat get up to about 150C - 200C I think so when the rubber is in their it does get hot dut it doesn't get burnt as it's not a naked flame on the rubber it's just HOT.

If a flame had to be held on the rubber during the curing process for the Powdercoat then their would be a risk of the rubber burning up & you'd have to hope that Renault decided to put flame retardents into the formula.

But the most important thing though is that if you split the rear axle to powdercoat it then it's a real @rseache to re-assemble everything so bung it all in & get it done :D


Hoolio : Everything that coudlnt be removed from the car was painted with POR 15 making sure that you follow the 3 stage process that they recommend Etc. As for the spare wheel tray after the powdercoating, that was left with a little bit that didn't get coated so I touched it up with POR 15 again ;)

[Hoolio]

Thanks, all useful info.

[gtmatt]

Thanks Steve that advice ,think power coater was covering his back cheers again pal