My wife screened 50 pound bags of sand and filled the tank of the sandblaster. In total, we used 700 pounds of sand to clean the front and rear axles and the tie rod. 700 pounds!
As I wrote in a previous post to this blog, this type of sandblaster costs under $100 and comes with everything that you need except for the sand. A filling funnel and protective head shield were included with the sandblaster.
I did not use long pants and a long sleeve shirt as I normally would have (should have!) worn for sandblasting. I was careful to make sure that most of the sand would not ricochet back to me. Occasionally, I was peppered by sand. Take note of the fan which aided in blowing the dust away from the work area.
After sandblasting the three pieces, I used lacquer primer to keep rust from forming on the freshly cleaned steel. Bare steel and iron will rust very quickly if not sealed quickly. In fact, I tested the sandblaster the day before and because of the morning dew, the test area showed signs of rust.
The entire sandblasting process took about four hours. It took an additional hour to put the tools away and clean the sand from the driveway. We were exhausted!
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Enjoy the Ride!
