The diff was cleaned using a combination of physical and chemical methods. A wire brush and electric drill took most of the gunk off – spraying it everywhere (you probably don’t want to do this near the clean laundry). Then a mixture of boiling water, household detergent and paraffin was used to get rid of the final bits. Once it was cleaned, it was given a coating of light oil to prevent rusting. This should be easy to remove prior to painting.

Stripping the front uprights:
When the uprights were stripped, one of the wheel-bearings remained attached to the hub. It seems it is a third-party wheel bearing (SKF), and it was very firmly in place. Wanting to get stuck into cleaning, I got impatient with this bearing and instead of asking for advice on how to remove it, I just went ahead. Needless to say this ended badly – with a damaged hub that will likely have to be replaced.

“Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.”

Al Franken, “Oh, the Things I Know”, 2002

B