grease removal

[Black Widow Tackle]

what do you guys use to remove grease?  Thanks

[Norcal Pescador]

SuperTech Brake Cleaner from Walmart, but I do all of my spraying outdoors - nasty stuff! Toothbrush and rags.

[Black Widow Tackle]

do you use that stuff on shielded bearings too?  And do you have to remove the shield of the bearing to get the grease out?

[kamuwela]

i use wd40 in a tupperware bowl with a screen bowl on top to hold small parts. get a solvent brush from your local auto parts store, wd40 at home depot run's 14 bucks a gallon. no bad smell, cheaper then brake kleen. you can always use carb or brake kleen for final washing.

[Norcal Pescador]

do you use that stuff on shielded bearings too?  And do you have to remove the shield of the bearing to get the grease out?

It's an aerosol, so yes the bearing shields have to come off. After I use the brake cleaner I use the canned air for computers to blow them dry. You're going to get a lot of responses because there are so many different methods out there ....... stand by! 

[Alto Mare]

WD40 works great for me, It cleans and protects, can't beat that!

[kamuwela]

look under penn tutoriols 50t written by kamu. half way through you will see a pic of my parts cleaner, home made but works for me

[Bryan Young]

I just wipe off the old gease and in tight places, I use an old tooth brush.  Then I brush on marine grease.

For bearing that I want open, like spool bearings, I take off shields, spray carb cleaner, flip, and spray carb cleaner.  I have a small compressor than spray off excess grease and carb cleaner and give a little blow to see how well the bearing spins.  Alan taught me to spray a light lubricant, like WD 40 then blow with compressed air and really see how the bearing spins.  If it spins well, then carb cleaner and compressed air again to dry off cleaner in bearing.  Then the bearing gets dipped in TSI301.

For bearings, like spool bearings for trolling reels other bearing in the reel, I fill them with grease with Alan's bearing packer http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=870.0.  I just realized that Alan's pics of the bearing packer doesn't show a bearing filled with grease via the bearing packer.  Will take shots the next time I'm there to post.

[wallacewt]

remove the shields,find a correct drill bit  that will fit the bearing.reverse it in the chuck.stick in a jar of white spirits and hit the go button.takes 20 secs;clean as,hold the bearing,hit the go,now its dry.spray a little lube,hit the go, finished 30 seconds tops.all the ball races are lubed.bearing was old one just for demo.

[josa1]

Hi Folks!

I've used most items noted above.  I think the problem we all have is that the components of modern greases are difficult to remove, this is probably a good thing.

One time when visiting Carl Newell's facility in Glendale a nice lady in the repair department told me they only used Dawn dish washing liquid to remove grease so I tried that.
I found that it worked but took a little too long for my liking.  So.....I modified that cleaning technique by using WD40 AND Dawn followed by just rinsing in water and blowing off all parts with air supplied by my handy dandy Auto Zone air compressor.  The results were spotless parts, covers, plastics, etc.  Obviously, this took a long time but I'm an old retired guy so time I have!
Finally, one day while rummaging around the paint department of Home Depot, I found a product made by Klean-Strip called Paint Clean-Up that noted in the uses verbiage "Also good for degreasing tools" so I thought I would give that a try.  Man, was I impressed! It removes all the greases that I use quickly and efficiently.  I wash parts in this solution in a glass bowl and use the little flux brushes commonly available at Home Depot.  It's no longer available at my Home Depot so I ordered off the Net.  It comes in 1 quart cans.  Product NO. is QKPC94001 which is shipped from Memphis, Tn.