Can you give advice on restoring a Tonka truck?

Question

It is rusted. What do I use to get rid of the rust before I paint it?

It's really rusted and I want to give it to my grandson, it belonged to his uncle (my son, his mom's brother). I'm not being cheap; I'm recycling!
I could sell it even if it is all rusted out?

FYI Sam, the toy is not made of cast iron...but would the brillo pads work anyway?

Answer 1

Try steel wool pads or even Brillo steel wool with the pink soap they take rust off of cast iron. Hope this works for you. And so you know, it's a great idea!

Answer 2

Metal Tonka Trucks

Answer 3

Old Tonka Trucks

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Can you give advice on restoring a Tonka truck?
It is rusted. What do I use to get rid of the rust before I paint it?

Answer 5

I just restored a 1976 Mighty Tonka metal dump truck. It was pretty rusted, especially the bed from sitting in the shed with a pile of dirt in it for 10 some years. I followed the instructions from EBAY's tonkatoyman. His method worked like a charm.

Yes, you will be working with muriatic acid, but just follow his safety advice, (rubber gloves and goggles) and in no time flat you will remove all the old paint and rust from your truck. Sandpaper, scraping, rotating brushes, etc, all scratch the metal. I found that a 66 quart plastic tote (16.5 gallon) with lid, filled with about 10 gallons of water and one gallon of muriatic acid (which you can buy at Home Depot by swimming pool supplies) works great.

Summary method: Take your truck apart; suspend all pieces on coat hangers in the solution for about 24 to 48 hours; carry the parts on the coat hanger onto your driveway and with "jet-setting" on your garden hose nozzle spray the part. The rust and paint flies right off and any remaining acid is completely diluted. For the most stubborn pieces of paint that do not come off with the garden hose, spray with a can of paint remover; after a few minutes, gently brush the paint remover over the paint until all paint is lose; dunk back in the solution for a few hours, and hose off again. All paint should be gone and you should have bright steel. Do not put aluminum parts in the solution.

Be sure to dry the part and primer right away, otherwise the bright metal will start to rust. (it will not rust in the acid bath.

Once the parts are primered, paint at your leisure.

Answer 6

Old Tonka trucks in good condition, even if there is some rust can be valuable, 30, 40, 50 bucks. Painting it will ruin any value in it, but if you are just trying to make it look better, try steel wool on the rust....not too coarse...and then wipe down with mineral spirits before painting as there are oils in the steel wool.

Answer 7

Raven, ALL the answers are good ones however, Stephane's suggestion of using trichlorethelene is NOT a good idea. Tri-Chlor is on the EPA's list of hazardous materials. It is a chlorinated hydrocarbon and any excess must be treated as hazardous waste and NOT be thrown into your regular household trash. Additionally, as an INDUSTRIAL hazardous waste it is NOT acceptable by most Household Hazardous Waste Programs. This will leave you with an expensinve option of trying to find locate and get permission to use an industrial hazardous waste system. The SAME result can be obtained by washing the sanded truck in dish detergent and hot water in the kitchen sink, and drying it thoroughly.

BB,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 8

I would advise against it. If it is really rusted....then there are probably sharp edges. Probably not what you would want to give a young child. If it is an older child, then probably putting WD40 on it to slow down the rusting is the best bet. Painting it will devalue the toy.

Answer 9

Sand it - under pressure - then trichlotethylen - have masks and strong ventilation