best way to clean up a clutch disc?

Clutch disc or brake discs/drums, just put enough pressure on it to get a mating surface to spin (squeaking and squacking) and do it till it cleans up.
Works on dry, rusted interfaces and on wet brakes on an '88 Ford tractor with wet brakes and 900 hrs due to sitting for long periods.
 
Rinse it off with paint thinner then soak as long as possible in alcohol. That should get a lot of it out. But, no guarantee that it still won't grab or slip.
 
if the disc's are not worn out you could spray them with brakeclean and keep repeating a few times. it will eat the oil.if the disc's are worn down best to reline or replace. oil on a clutch disc will make the engagement jumpy.
 
You will never get the oil out of a clutch disc, or break linings. break clean will clean the surface, but when it gets hot the oil will come to the surface. It's best to replace, after the oil source had been eliminated. Stan
 
(quoted from post at 15:36:55 02/07/20) if the disc's are not worn out you could spray them with brakeclean and keep repeating a few times. it will eat the oil.if the disc's are worn down best to reline or replace. oil on a clutch disc will make the engagement jumpy.

I find that if I spray on Brakleen and blow it off with air several times, it seems to clean it pretty well.
I've done this on clutches and even brake shoes a few times over the years.
Of course, it probably doesn't get all of the oil out and it will probably come back to haunt you the first time the clutch (or brake shoe) gets hot from normal or heavy use.
On the other hand, my Allis WD has a rear main leak and the clutch gets pretty oil soaked at time especially when working on steep hills. Funny thing, it will slip like the dickens sometimes but when I work it real hard it seems to burn off and stop slipping.
It never seems to "chatter".
I intend to replace that rear seal and am looking forward to seeing just what that clutch disc looks like.
 
I used to clean motorcycle clutch plates by heating them with a propane torch and wiping the oil off. After I got all the
oil off I could. I then rubbed them on the sandy garage floor, cleaned them off and reinstalled. I did this several times
when they got oil soaked
 
With both tractor brake shoes and clutch discs......I do multiple spraying and drying with Brakekleen......then I fire up the charcoal grille and get them hot.....residual oil comes to the surface and is still mixed with BrakeKleen so it evaporates pretty well......repeat if necessary.
 
I cleaned them up with paint thinner. Worked pretty good. The clutch is not on a tractor, its on a old small geotech drill machine, vh4d Wisconsin and T9 transmission
 
(quoted from post at 11:53:14 02/07/20) You will never get the oil out of a clutch disc, or break linings. break clean will clean the surface, but when it gets hot the oil will come to the surface. It's best to replace, after the oil source had been eliminated. Stan

Wanna do the job twice?

Listen to 37 Chief
 
That tractor would have had a button clutch which is made from several pucks or buttons riveted to the clutch plate . Oil dosent soak into the ceramic material they are made of. That is the good news but oil will make them slip really bad. A full face clutch made of pores woven material will absorb oil and hold it for a very long time and the typical symptom is chattering on engagement . When working on these oil related clutch problems you must be certain that you have eliminated the source of the oil before investing in new parts.
 
Depends on how much time I have. I like to just bury the disc or linings in a bucket of floor dry and stir them once in a while. If you have left floor dry on a concrete floor for very long, you can see what it will do.
 
Clean with a Steam Jenny a couple of times, brake clean a
few times and blow off with air or if you aren?t in a hurry as
mentioned covering the disc up in speedy dry and leave it for
a few days, moving it around in the speedy dry occasionally.
 
I have baked brake shoes in the oven before 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Worked ok. Wife warning! She will notice and supper will have a slight 90 weight taste for awhile. By the way you may have to cook your supper.
 
I have scrubbed in clean solvent followed by steam cleaning, a brake clean flushing and laid out in the sun for a couple of days. Clutch and brake shoes too.
 
They have brake clean that is for the pads not
brake parts cleaner I used that on a 4020 clutch
disc and that was 17 years ago still on the same
clutch . The rear main seal went out and soaked the
clutch With oil
 
In an old VW repair manual I read that if you soak it in white gas (Coleman fuel) and then light it on fire the heat will draw out the oil and burn it off. I tried this trick on a car with a good clutch but bad rear main seal leak. The clutch was slipping because of the oil so I removed the trans, fixed the leak, burned the clutch disc, reassembled. It was like new. I soaked and burned several times.
 

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