Soaking greasey parts

[Noviceman]

Hi...If this was addressed please let me know where....I am fairly new to this reel hobby and wondering why I havent read anywhere about soaking the greasey reel parts in gasoline?    See mineral spirits, simple green and few others.   Have used Gas for wheel bearings for trailers campers etc and always worked well.  always done outside etc... Other that flammable what is the consensus?    thanks as always for help

Jim from Wisconsin

[akfish]

Non-toxic Simple Green works for me.

[Crow]

  I was a heavy equipment / farm equipment mechanic for over 50 years, and, I too washed a lot of parts in gasoline....and saw (or heard about) too many "accidents" using it. I do use fuel oil (diesel fuel) or kerosene for parts washing.....but only "outside"....for reel parts (or other small items that I want to do "inside") I use either simple green...or one of the 'Zep" products, as they "don't stink up the place", do a very good job, are more "enviourment friendly", are easier to dispose of, and, actually last quite a while....a gallon will clean a LOT of parts .

[sdlehr]

This has been addressed somewhere here, I believe I asked the same question a few years ago.

Mineral spirits works just fine, is relatively non-toxic and non-explosive, although it is highly flammable. I have a bottle of Naphtha on the bench but don't use it often. Naphtha is basically gasoline without the additives. There are too many toxins in gasoline, and it's too flammable to keep around when a good soak in mineral spirits for a few hours will work just fine. I have been known to start with mineral spirits and switch over to Naphtha when I decided I was in a hurry... but then I have to dispose of the Naphtha or the mineral spirits, and I never do that correctly and feel guilty when I don't. It should go in with the used oil from an oil change, but I'm not that well-organized.

Sid

[festus]

Is Simple Green more effective than distilled vinegar?  A gallon of Simple Green is about $12, a gallon of vinegar about $3.

[akfish]

Vinegar isn't very good for grease; it's good for corrosion if used carefully. For just grease, I like Simple Green.

[Crow]

   A little trick I use occasionally....when there is a really a "dried on" grease accumulation, is to spray it down with WD-40 (which, for all practical purposes, is mineral spirits)....I may do that several times, over several hours, and THEN throw it in the Simple Green. The WD  sort of "softens" the crusty grease.

[Noviceman]

Sounds like Simple Green is widely used....is this an overnight soak mostly or couple hours or ??

[Crow]

I've left things in overnight....mostly because I forgot them !.....with no damage to anything, but, generally after an hour, or so, I pull stuff out, look it over, and use an old toothbrush on the "bad spots", then toss it back in..if needed...usually 2-3 hours does a good job, for me.

[Noviceman]

Do you soak the ball bearings in simple green also??

[foakes]

We all need to be careful with mineral spirits -- but I use them because they are quick, effective, and fairly economical.

For small metal, steel, brass, bronze, SS, steel parts -- they get dropped in a glass jar containing Lacquer Thinner.  After about 10 minutes -- they get rinsed with fresh water -- then sometimes SG for the finished cleaning.

I also use a lot of Simple green -- cut 50/50 with water.

Also use a lot of the purple Zep degreaser.  Do not use this with your bare skin.  Make sure if it gets on your hand -- you rinse right away..  Never use on painted or bare aluminum parts.

Ultrasonic cleaner speeds along the processes on all of these degreasers.

This is all I ever use -- nothing else is needed.

Vinegar, like Bill sez -- just stops the salt corrosion from the green Verdigris effect.  Doesn't remove grease.

Painted parts, anodized, plastic, nylon, etc. -- just gets SG very carefully.

Best,

Fred

[Tiddlerbasher]

Bearings - I would go for a solvent - IPA, acetone, naptha, regular gas - anything that will flush old oil/grease and crud out of them. I tend to use IPA, not because it's the best solvent for grease because it aint! But it is one of the safer solvents and doesn't tend to damage plastics (some bearings have plastic cages/retainers).
Probably the most important reason my wife quite likes the smell

[George6308]

I use Penn Reel cleaner.

[Noviceman]

THANK YOU TO ALL....TONS OF GOOD INFORMATION.....I DEFINITELY KNOW WHAT FORUM TO GO ON FOR EXPERT INFO..

[handi2]

Please dont use gasoline. My brother was badly burned using it for cleaning when he was young. If it hadn't been raining that day he would be in a lot worse shape.

Mineral Spirits is the #1 cleaner for grease. It can be used over and over and still work faster and safer than anything else.