Cleaning inside rusted forks?

[Roadrunner]

I usually fill a squirt ketchup or mustard bottle with some slightly diluted Rustoleum inside my frames, tape up the holes, roll it around for about 10 minutes then drain the Rustoleum. Not sure if it helps, but makes me feel better, but...open to ideas on how to clean heavy scale and rust out from inside a fork. You basically have an L shaped piece of 7/8" or 1" tubing sealed at one end ( crimped at the axle end) with opening on the top ( near where throttle or brake would go.) The only flexible drill shaft extension I can find has a big chuck on the end that won't fit. Open to suggestions on how to get round wire brush in, around the bend and out or any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[ogygopsis]

Hello Runner, If the crimped end doesn't leak I'd stand the handlebars and forks upright and fill the entire tube with "evaporust". It does a wonderful job of dissolving rust. If the crimp leaks you can temporarily seal it with RTV silicone or something similar. My forks were open at both ends so I put a rubber cork in the lower end and filled the bars from the opposite end. After that I put them in the bead blasting cabinet and ran #80 glass beads through them. Washed them out with acetone and filled them back up with rustoleum rusty metal primer and then drained them. Like you it made me feel better knowing the insides of the tubing were rust proof. Ogy

 

[Steve73]

I can say from experience evaporust works great. I usually dilute it with a 1 to 1 ratio with distilled water.

 

[Roadrunner]

Thanks, will be my weekend project.

 

[T-Town Mini]

You could also try using a rust sealer like POR-15 to stop the rust.

For cleaning inside the tubing...take a look at some Gun cleaning brushes/rods etc. Something like that could be adapted to connect to a drill motor. One cleaning kit from Otis uses a cable for pulling a brush though the barrel...it might get around a bend in the tubing.

Just an idea.