Thinking about restoring my HLA pallet forks

[nerwin]

This is the pallet forks that came with the tractor. But It's looking a bit rough and I'm thinking it could be a fun project to scrape off the peeling paint and clean up the rust and give it a fresh coat of black enamel paint. I do have issues with the locking pin things on the tines and they are really difficult to slide back and forth so I'm thinking a fresh rebuild and fully grease everything it should be a really nice set of pallet forks.

I wanted to make this post so I can share some pictures of the progress I make on it and welcome any advice.

I'm sure others wouldn't bother but I wanna put my own scratches on it! Seriously though, just wanna fix the rust.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

That is a nice set of forks!

Scraping the paint off... HAHAHA your funny.
That is more than likely 2 part or baked enamel.
Unless I'm completely wrong ( wouldn't be the first time) and it's just cheap paint that's not bonded well.

If the "paint" can be scraped off and it's thick it's not paint, it's powder coat, and that is a real bear to work on.
I don't think it's Powder Coated.

Have you ever use roloc wheels and a die grinder or rust remover disks for a grinder?
Or even better a Soda blaster (my favorite) or Sand blaster.
That would be the quickest and easiest way to get anything loose and rust off of it and prep it for new paint.

If you don't take the latches apart, Oil the pins and slides don't grease them.
If you do take the latches apart then use grease, pack it around the spring to make it last a long time.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Scraping off the loose paint bits and removing the rust (not easily done if you don't want to see rust again) is a good idea. The corrosion will continue under the good paint otherwise.

On my tractor frame the paint is mostly good and the paint is tough to get off, so I am debating if I only treat the rusty bits and leave the good parts alone. I think this would be a time saving option.

If I want to clean everything I use CSD disks in an angle grinder on the good paint parts and then sandblasting on everything followed by a chemical rust remover (phosphoric acid, 30-40%).

Nice pallet forks, I would certainly do something to stop the rust and grease everything and make them usable again.

 

[Motion]

Disassemble, sandblast, powder coat then rescratch as desired.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I have a set of 900# HLAs for my BX23S, it's powder coat 'paint'.PITA.
However If you want to have fun ,come on over, and 'practice' on mine !!!
every month or 2, I just spray 2-3 light coats of gloss black enamel, then spray rustcheck on the rails,forks...wherever slidey things slide..... looks GREAT for 3-4 days, then...back to 'normal'
PC paint is a run around to avoid HUGE 'environmental' charges up here. Heck a gallon( well 3.78 Liters) of oil based paint is now $100 CDN.

 

[JimmyJazz]

This is the pallet forks that came with the tractor. But It's looking a bit rough and I'm thinking it could be a fun project to scrape off the peeling paint and clean up the rust and give it a fresh coat of black enamel paint. I do have issues with the locking pin things on the tines and they are really difficult to slide back and forth so I'm thinking a fresh rebuild and fully grease everything it should be a really nice set of pallet forks.

I wanted to make this post so I can share some pictures of the progress I make on it and welcome any advice.

I'm sure others wouldn't bother but I wanna put my own scratches on it! Seriously though, just wanna fix the rust.

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