Drawer Slide Corrosion. Any ideas?

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SixOverland

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Last summer we took a cross US trip from the dry west to the humid east. We were told to use white lithium grease to lube up drawer slides, but now we’ve got some corrosion. Suggestions for cleaning this off? And... was white lithium the wrong choice? Anyone experience this or have a solution?
 

North American Sojourner

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Just like a tool box in a garage, the change in temp from day to day will test your ability to keep it clean. I don't think there's any way to absolutely coat the entire slide, nor do I think it's necessary.
Unless it's binding, lube it and let it fly. LOL
Zim

EDIT. White lith is okay. Spray silicone is okay too but collects dirt.
 

smritte

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I would be interested in what corroded them. East coast salt air? I have three sets between my vehicles, some are over five years old. No corrosion that I've noticed. I had to pull out the ones in my M-100 sometime ago due to dirt build up, but that's it.
 

grubworm

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i used to operate ROVs offshore and they were in and out of salt water daily and corrosion was a definite problem. ive used a lot of different products and wd-40 worked fairly well for some things...the "wd" stands for water displacement, so it is actually more for that than a lube. another good product i used was from LPS. its designed to address corrosion. white lithium grease will help some with corrosion, but is designed as a high temp lube that is made to stick to what its applied to. i find that products like the white lithium grease can also trap moisture and cause problems. the LPS works great, but needs good prep before applying,
i've been in south louisiana for 30 yrs and EVERYTHING corrodes quickly here...cant stop it, but can slow it down a good bit

cleaning corrosion is tricky. you can use an acid like navel jelly and dissolve the rust, but you will also dissolve the surrounding finish and open up the metal, which leaves it more prone to corrosion if not immediately primed and coated. i go with a product that converts rust. the rust converter neutralizes the rust and converts it into a coating that can be painted over. i use rust converter all the time on all my outdoor equipment...mover decks, etc. you can prob find a small bottle on amazon or an auto store.

 
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MOAK

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Curious, I live in the humidity of eastern Pa. To my knowledge the sliders in my trailer and the pair inside the cruzer are stainless steel, or I assume they are stainless because they have yet to show any corrosion. Other than that, what grubworm says.
 

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I’ve always used a spray product manufactured by Krown. They make a rustproofing spray that looks a lot like the waxoil Land Rover used in their earlier years. There’s a bit of paraffin mixed in with it to help with adhesion. You would still need to occasionally clean the fine debris that would stick to the slide but, you would have to do that with any lube/rustproofing you used.

Just my thoughts.

Oh P.S. I use this on electrical connection to help waterproof them as well.