Best Way to Clean Tractor Parts?

I just took the engine and clutch out of my JD 2520. So, I have lots of parts to clean. What have people found is the best method, degreaser and tools, for the hobbiest?

What about the water based oil eater and degreaser tanks? Other recommendations?

Thanks, Paul

No "best" way. Mostly, get as much off as you can with a pressure washer first. Then use brushes, scrapers, wire wheels, whatever, with kerosene before taking anything apart. Better to get as clean as you can before dis-assembly, less chance of getting dirt into places you don't want. I never was a fan of sandblasting anything that isn't going to be totally dis-assembled, gets in too many places you don't want it. Mostly a lot of dirty work.

Search the archives on the "Paint and Bodywork" forum.

Gordo

oven cleaner and a pressure washer. Be creative with small parts (send the wife shopping and put them in the dishwasher). Those little household steamcleaners are nice too.

Dave

Depends on how much extra cash you have to PLAY with. The best money i ever spent was on a L A Charger hot water pressure washer with the down stream injector and i used concentrated Mr. Clean mixed with water , i would buy the stuff that one bottle would make five gallons and i would put five bottles into fifteen gallons of water in a plastic drum and suck out of it . You can not believe how well 1850 psi and 195 degree water will clean with a little soap . Made my job a lot easier when i would clean a tractor BEFORE i started to work on it . The customers did not even complain about the Extra hour charge on the bill for cleaning and some even would bring there tractors down just to get then cleaned off once a year.That one hour charge paid for the the pressure washer

Hard to beat just plain old gasoline and a paint brush for cleaning parts

got to be safer methods than using gasoline! bill m.

there probably is a safer way than gas, but nothing works as quick or well, the only catch is you got to be smart enough not to blow yourself up with the stuff, i just finished a 1946 ford, which had sat for 10 years, and probably had no attention for 20 before that,it was a mess, what worked the best was scrape off as much as possible using putty knife, screwdriver, ect then soak the part in gas for a couple of hours, then using a NYLON brush outside any building, the parst would easily come clean, even seemed to soften up the old paint, of course no idea what the old paint was, it had 4 different paint jobs when it got here

(quoted from post at 10:58:57 12/19/10) got to be safer methods than using gasoline! bill m.

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Mineral spirits will "get-er-done" and is a lot safer than gasoline, is not obnoxious to smell, and won't dry out your hands either. Plus, it doesn't evaporate into thin air before you get the parts clean.

When I was a kid, I always cleaned parts with gas, since it was cheap and effective, and we always had some available.

Now it scares the heck out of me! Gas can and will flash extremely easy. And if you have gas on your hands when it catches fire, what do you do then? Stick your hands in your pockets to put out the fire? At best you will lose some of the skin off of them. At worst, you will need skin grafts or even die. And if you are inside, the building will probably burn down.

The only way I would use gasoline as a parts cleaning solvent is outside, in a well ventilated area where a fire might only hurt the parts I was cleaning and the container I was using. I also would have a 5 gallon bucket of water a little distance away, to save my hands if there was any chance of gas getting on them.

I used to have a barrel with a removable top that I kept some solvent in for soaking parts. The solvent inside was a mixture of mostly diesel, but had most any other waste solvent I had added--some gasoline, some alcohol, some paint thinner, etc. It worked pretty well, but finally the barrel corroded a hole in it and leaked the contents out, making an awful mess. I don't think I will do that again.

I have had pretty good luck using diesel as a parts cleaning solvent. It won't flash and works fairly well. If I need to, I use spray carb or brake cleaner to finish the cleaning, but always do that spraying outside.

Gas is just too dangerous for this old man! If you choose to use gas, good luck!, you may need some.

I use Brakeclean buy the case and a brush. Hoss