[Shop-talk] Cleaning up machined surface for oil seal

[PJ McGarvey]

I'm experiencing an oil leak where an axle CV flange is sealed against the
transmission.
I'm linking to an ebay listing for a replacement axle flange that I'm looking
to purchase, and so people know what I'm talking about.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/360969530778?item=360969530778&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
For history, I had the trans refreshed, and new axle oil seals were installed.
While it was out, I also repacked CV joints and noted that both axle flanges
on the trans had some corrosion and pitting directly on the surface that rides
in the oil seal.  Figuring it had lasted this long with no big leaks I was
aware of, that cleaning it up and reinstalling would be fine.  New axle
flanges are $200 each for this particular transmission, so I didn't jump at
the chance to buy new ones, and didn't think it'd be a big deal.
So either the new seal is just failing (it was after a track day), or whatever
I did to clean up the surface made it worse, or just Murphy's dumb luck and
it's leaking more now than before.

My question is, if I purchase the axle in the ebay listing and it's not as
perfect as hoped (the seller said the items is already boxed up) once I look
at it, how could I go about "touching up" the machined surface - basically
where the rusty part meets the shiny part in the ebay pics.
short of buying a lathe (hah!) and machining it down a hair, can I chuck this
shaft into a drill press or something and polish it somehow to get a nice,
even and leak free seal?
Thanks-PJ