Degreasing Parts

[DoubleL]

For about 3.50 a gallon...the best cleaner in the world....albeit not environmentally friendly....is nothing but gasoline......just don't smoke around it AT ALL. Nothing is faster....drop them in a jar of gasoline...use a stiff bristle brush...swirl around a few seconds...pull out...wipe off...rinse again in cleaner gas...clean as a whisltle..as they say... that goes for hubs too!

 

[Nagant]

I don't believe any of the products mentioned thus far are environmentally friendly but gasoline scares me. It does work great as a degreaser and it works fast. The fumes are to volatile and thus dangerous for me to use as a cleaner. A static electricity spark alone can set it off.

 

[tonygameboy]

I'll stick to Dawn and Simple Green.

 

[Bicycle808]

Yeah, nothing is 100% environmentally friendly, except leaving it dirty.... but I feel pretty good about palm, coconut, and rapeseed oil mixed with potash and water--- pretty danged cheap, too, when I buy the ingredients in bulk. And not even slightly flammable. But, very time-consuming to make it.

 

[pick]

Carb cleaner in the gallon can works great also. You can use it over & over for a long time. I have one I have used for years. Comes with a little basket that stays in the can. Just put parts in & let em set. When clean, remove parts & put the lid on tight & you are ready for the next time.

 

[tonygameboy]

There are plenty of alternatives out there. I just had the two handy and tested it after spending 30 mins trying to clean out the bearings with a brush.

 

[Bicycle808]

I think that most any product/method will work, if you keep at it. And, I bet we can all agree that it's a good feeling when you take some gummed-up, greasy old bits and make them gleam. Seems to me that older parts, especially bearing races/cups/cones, were just better/harder decades ago. I cringe when I think about how, BITD when I was just starting to wrench on bikes, I'd be more likely to replace something than clean it, when half the time it was prolly just dirty. (I still tend to replace things that are damaged and/or seriously pitted...)

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I use brake cleaner here too. It's quick.

 

[QuickSand]

Purple Power Degreaser!

 

[Nubby]

There are a few things that you can do without acids or other nasty stuff that will mess up your material. You can put it in boiling water with some salt (about 3 spoons) and strips of alluminium foil, or you can put it a night in lemon juice, but I reccomend vinegar becuase it has the same effect as the lemon juice, but it's less aggressive.
We have a steam tractor and a steam lorry, so lots of grease and oil, but after these tricks they are as shiny as a bold man's head polished with bowling wax.
(the aluminium foil works best for the shiny effect, the vinegar for degreasing)

 

[whitefiretiger]

I may have to try the aluminum trick.

 

[Nubby]

It does not work on all materials, the trick was actually thought of to clean silver. But it works on a lot of other materials too, but sometimes not... It works really well for when your material is dull.

 

[whitefiretiger]

I've got lots of random parts around that are dull I can try it on.

 

[jamesdart]

purple power. I use it so much for car projects I keep it in a pump sprayer.

 

[Mike G]

That Purple Power is a scale model builder trick for removing paint and chrome (albeit not same level chrome as dealt with here) from plastic parts... just don't leave it in too long. Remove the old paint with a tooth brush after soaking for awhile. Never tried it on metal painted parts... yet!

 

[Dale Alan]

I use Dawn and Simple Green by themselves,never thought of mixing them. Do you use full strength Simple Green,or is it diluted ?

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

I used the Simple Green/Dawn dish soap mix for all my parts on my Spaceliner. Everything came out SPOTLESS!

 

[whitefiretiger]

So I tossed some parts in white vinegar when I meant to toss them in simple green first. They do have rust but got ahead of myself. Well not feeling like switching thing out I decided to mix some dawn with the vinegar & parts.
I just checked a little bit ago and the grease is off the parts from what I can tell.
Going to let them soak and hope the rust cleans up too.
If this works out this may be a good one step option.

 

[whitefiretiger]

Ok update time.
Decided to pull the parts at 10 hours to see how they were looking.
Not too shabby

Wish I had taken before pics as these parts had plenty of rust and grease to start.
Maybe I can get before & after shots on different parts later.

As a note these are 1969 parts that had been on a bike setting outside for years.

 

[Dale Alan]

Not bad at all,looking good.