Bead-blasters ruin everything?

[Andrew Pullin]

OK, so, here's my latest dilemma:

I handed my wheel spindles over to a machine shop to get the bushings replaced, and I asked them to bead blast them for me, but I didn't think it through completely.

Now, the surface on the spindle where the grease seal for the wheel bearing would normally seal has a matte finish, which seems like it'll wear the seal out very quickly.
It looks like this:
http://andrewpullin.org/hearse/pictures/spindles/spindle1.jpg
Whereas it used to look like this:
http://andrewpullin.org/hearse/pictures/front_suspension.JPG
Oops!

I should be able to fix this just by polishing it up with 1000 grit emory paper? I guess now that I say it, it seems pretty obvious ... I guess I'm just looking for a reassuring opinion.

And all the other surfaces seem non-critical, with respect to having the matte finish. Yes? If not, please let me know!

[pauldridge]

In my humble opinion it shouldn't be a problem unless they used diamonds to blast?  Naturally I try to protect surfaces such as this when I bead blast, but rarely successful.

And, I never, ever beadblast anything with ball bearings or any sort of bushings that I won't be disassembling.  No matter how hard you try to seal out unwated areas, that grit always manages to get inside, and will render a ball bearing set useless in a flash.

Ask me how I know

[dadscad]

For just polishing metal, I have found it is best to use Crocus Cloth. It will not leave any scratches in the finish.

[Brad Ipsen CLC #737]

Andrew, I think you are okay.  Check the inner race to the inner bearing.  It has the seal surface on it, not the spindle.  The proper way to do this job is to tape off all of the spindle in any case.

[Thor]

Dadscad is right!

  1500 grit or finer wet/dry paper with some kerosene and you take off the nibs - leaves a nice polish for any seal.

  Soda Blasting does similar, but on a much finer basis - cover your delicates with duct tape or equivalent.

Thor
(Randy B)
#26162