How to Repair Rust / Pitting on a Rod, Actuator or Cylinder

With rust and pitting in a rod or roller, the primary question is the extent and depth of the pitting areas on the rod. Often times, we see rods that are completely covered in rust, such as the one shown.

However, the rust is not deep and has barely attacked the base metal. In this case, the repair is actually just a standard re-chrome process, which includes preparation grinding before plating. For rods where there are localized areas of deeper pitting, these can often be individually ground and repaired with TIG welding. If the rod has large percentages of its surface area with deep pitting and rust, such that significant amounts of grinding would be needed to remove the rust, the rod may not be salvageable.