Banjo rear end clean up. Sand blasting do's and dont's

I have a 36 rear end that had 39 juice brakes and wide fives on it. I have the radius rods off and the brakes and backing plates. I am going to get this thing cleaned up for storage for a future project. Can I remove the driveshaft and torque tube and then cover the opening and cover the ends to prevent sand getting in and have it blasted and not expect to get abrasive inside? I dont know the condition of gears except that i can turn the axle using my fingers on the axle nut and it turns the driveshaft. Feels super smooth. Dont want to ruin it if its good.

 

Like going to the beach sand intrudes everywhere. Being that it's going to be under high pressure I would almost guarantee it to get inside.

 

I guess if it does it wont matter much because when and if I Use this someday I will have to open it up to inspect everything anyway right.

 

It does matter, since you may have a perfectly good rear that needs no attention.
However, don't disconnect the torque tube from the banjo. Sandblast it all together as one unit. But first cover the front of the torque tube and the speedo gear opening with a big Coke bottle and duct tape it tight around the torque tube. Leave the brake drums on but duct tape all around the perimeter opening where the drum and the backing plates meet. Use plenty of tape and keep your blasting away from these areas. Then blast it with compressed air until all remnants of sand are gone. When you're all done remove the duct tape and clean those areas with solvent. That is how I cleaned the chassis of my 40 many years ago. I also taped off the top of the steering column, but left it bolted to the frame for blasting.

 

Thanks Fordy. I will do it that way. I will just have to clean up the front of the torque tube in a more controlled method i.e. Wire wheel in a drill or something. Then pull the brakes and have them blasted at a later time.

 

basically once a axle is taken off the road the major rust issue stops , if you can wire brush the big chunks off and if you blast only do it away from the tube ends ( center out ) so you do not force the abrasive into the seals or gaskets ( try to bounce it away from the openings ) we blasted a axle after we pulled the shafts, stuffed fine thread rags into the pipes and drove expansion plugs into the holes then put a super heavy bead of silicone around the plug ends , and still found some abrasive in the tubes , not the big chunks but the fine dust . and we flushed that out with lots of solvent from the center back out and then mopped the tubes out . in the end it was like the dirt that came thru the vent from driving , do not forget to put a light layer of paint back on the tube after you wipe it down with solvent /brake clean to stop surface rusting .

 

Plan is to either wipe down and then paint or else apply a coat of commercial rust prohibitive like is used on injection molds. Maybe i will see if a wire wheel in a drill can clean it up good enough.

 

you can use the 3M abrasive wheels with good sucess as they do not dust off like sand and also cut better than a wire wheel or sandpaper , plus it will clean up any weld spatter too

 

I tried to cover EVERYTHING and still got sand into it.