Rusty Parts 2019-09-14

Earlier this summer I picked up a small Bolens ST125 riding mower for $50 off Kijiji. Yes, I know Kijiji sucks donkey balls, but it did get me the tractor I guess. Anyways, I had a hard time getting the blades off the deck since the hardware was basically rusted solid. Here's what the bolts and plates looked like after Mike helped me get them off:

Before.

I found various humans who presented digital opinions that vinegar would strip all the rust off of parts like these by just soaking them for a day or two. Well, I really like the idea of just waiting for a day or two rather than going looking for replacement hardware to mount blades on some deck that is a few decades old. So, here's what I did:

Before.

To be continued...

Update 2019-09-15:

Well the vinegar is now pretty dirty and the parts are looking a little bit cleaner, but I would not say they look "kickass". Back in the drink for another day they go!

After one day.

Update 2019-09-17:

It has been three full days that the parts have been in the vinegar and frankly they look better. Are they "brand new looking"? No. But they do look a lot better than they did. If you are a paid mechanic doing work for customers, there is no way you have time to wait for a process like this. However, if you are a cheap prick like me this really does help clean up your rusty parts. Now I gotta go buy some new blades, cause I am not gonna put them in a vinegar bath.

After.

Update 2019-09-17 Part II:

Okay, so I figured I would go back out and run the wire wheel over them just to see what they looked like afterwards. I spent about one minute per piece on average and this is what I got. I hope this is the last photo. :-)

UberAfter.

Update 2019-09-21 Part III:

Okay, so I measured the blades and they were 18.5" long. I bought some 19" blades at Crappy Tire, thinking that I could grind 'em down a bit if they were too big. Turns out they were only 17.5" long. So I took 'em back and got some 20" blades which I figured would be 18.5". Turns out they're too long. So fuck it, I'm gonna try the vinegar trick.

The blades

The parts in the drink

Update 2019-09-24 Part IV:

Well the blades (and the other various parts) sat in the vinegar for a few days and this is what the mowing deck looks like now. I admit that using the wire brush alone probably would have cleaned things up a bit but I think the vinegar made it easier and faster while doing a better job.

I think this is worthwhile eh