Degreasing axle housings

[wrndln]

Has anyone had any luck degreasing axle housings by pouring a degreaser inside of the housing. I was thinking of sealing the outside end of the housing with electrical tape (or something like it) and pouring in a degreaser and let it sit for a few days. Has anyone tried doing this and where the results good? I don't have an easy way, like a solvent tub, to do something big like an axle housing.

[Kurt in NJ]

I have used a wood plug, and a stick with a rag wired to it to swab the inside.

[Glenn C.]

For all the trouble and mess you are going to go through, you would be better off to remove the two inner seals, and take the housings, along with all the other rear end parts to a shop that has a hot "caustic" or dip tank, to get them cleaned. They will wash everything well with hot water, after dipping. $50 - $80 bucks for the batch.

Ready for priming when you get home.

[wrndln]

The outside of the housing will definitely need sandblasting as they are pretty rusty and I am fairly sure the dip tank wont get rid of the layer of rust. I have a pressure sandblaster that will do the outsides just fine. I was just hoping to let the "degreaser" do the work and save me a mess with rags, etc. I didn't want to try the degreaser method and have it not do the job. Actually I only have one of the housings to do as I had the first one done by a friend with caustic tank which turned out well, but he lives a ways away form me and I didn't want to bother him again.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I would cap the end as you mentioned, then pour in some gas. I used a large bottle brush fastened to a 3 foot wood dowel, or length of threaded rod to scrub Charlie's rear axle tubes and torque tube.

Harbor Freight has a pretty good assortment of brushes.

[wrndln]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Thanks, Tom. I was hoping for a lazy way to do it, but your method is probably the quickest.
Rusty

[Gerard]

Don't laugh , when I was young and had no money but wanted to clean the bell,s I took some old rag's stuffed the bells with it and poured diesel fuel in the bells and let the rags absorb the diesel fuel. a cigarette lighter did the rest and for a while I had two smoking / burning chimney's this to the displeasure from my neighbours.
After the fire / smoke was gone I cleaned them out with a pressure washer.
Had to clean the street also . But I had bells cleaned spic and span.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Gerard

Don't laugh , when I was young and had no money but wanted to clean the bell,s I took some old rag's stuffed the bells with it and poured diesel fuel in the bells and let the rags absorb the diesel fuel. a cigarette lighter did the rest and for a while I had two smoking / burning chimney's this to the displeasure from my neighbours.
After the fire / smoke was gone I cleaned them out with a pressure washer.
Had to clean the street also . But I had bells cleaned spic and span.

Just tell your neighbors it's part of an ancient religious ritual.

[Roger V]

I used to take them to a steam cleaner but he went out of business. The last time I used a rod with a large washer attached to the end to scrape the thick coagulated stuff that wouldn't disolve. Then I attached a regular wire brush to a piece of angle iron and brushed with kerosene. Worked for me though a little messy.

[Reds34]

Just be careful if you use something that is volatile. Don't want to have any accidents.

Red

[Craig Lewis]

All of the ideas listed above will work.
I prefer oven cleaner for this job as it penetrates & softens the really baked on crud.
A rod with a washer bolted to one end helps for scraping.
The dollar store oven cleaner seems to work better than Easy off, at half the $

By the way ... we sandblasted mine outside as a complete unit before ever dissassembling it.

[Brentwood Bob]

I used a rubber stopper I bought at Ace Hardware. plugged the axle with the stopper, then filled with lacquer thinner. Let it set for overnight. Then I used a round toilet bowl brush bolted to a piece of pvc pipe for a scrub brush. Saved the used thnner to clean the exterior of the housing. A "Home made and Handy" solution. Didn't have the money to get the hot dipping done. Bob

[Geo. H]

You guys have no creativity! After the solvent and the scraping and all the rest, I finished cleaning mine in the bath tub. Oh, and my wife was out of town. It's been about ten years, and she still doesn't know.

[cannon]

geo.h

you are one BAVE son of a gun!

[kenparker]

We had a club event seveal years ago. Set a 20 galon garbage can on top of a propane fired "fish cooker". Set three bricks inside on the bottom of the garbage can, then about 5 gallons of water and a box of TSP. Set the axel housing in on top of the three bricks and lit the cooker. Took about 5 minutes for the water to start boiling and the axel housing acted like a percolater. 10 minutes later the fire was turned off and the housing was removed from the cooker and she was squeeky clean on the inside - and outside. The second housing put in and fire lit again. We did several tht day. Fun project but very dangerous IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL. But crossing the street is dangerous if you are not careful.

[RB]

I found a 12" long handled swab for cleaning under toilet bowl rims at Ace hardware for a very nominal price, the poly/cotton type swab head is approximately 4-1/2" in diameter. I secured the handle of the swab to a 36" threaded rod using two hose clamps, set the housing vertically in an oil drain pan with a half gal. or so of mineral spirts & swabbed up & down. Each stroke would resaturate the swab untill clean, used compressed air to dry off & repeated till satisfied with the level of cleanliness. Additional option would be to use a water soluble cleaner or detergent & hose it down again air drying with compressed air. I prefer to use cleaners on a sunny day where the item can be air dried as well. Take care, Ron

[Mikeinnj]

Never, ever use gasoline to clean parts. You may get away with it a number of times but it just takes a tiny spark or static release to set off a horrific scene........

[RonC]

Short of using parts cleaner chemicals, this stuff works really well at degreasing parts. The best part is it is non-flammable and can be done right in your basement. no fumes! You can't be in a hurry because it does take a while (hours or days) depending on how greasy the part is. They sell it at HomeDepot.
http://www.simplegreen.com/products_pro_hd.php

[txmerlin]

So is this a regular maintenance item, or just something you do when you are rebuilding the rear end?

[wrndln]

It is only needed when the rearend is rebuilt like I am doing now.
Rusty Nelson