[Farmall] cleaning solvents

[Robert L. Holtzer]

Hi, Bob!

I bought a gallon of carb cleaner a year or two ago -- probably from Kragen 
or NAPA.  Haven't checked on it lately.  It has a substantial amount of 
methylene chloride, one of my persona favorite cleaners.  Like most potent 
solvents, it has to be treated with a lot of respect.

When I oven-cleaned the F12 I just hosed it off with water.  It left a bit 
of red stuff on the ground which dried and was easily scraped up.  The lye 
component not consumed in the process will react with superficial soil -- I 
could see no adverse effect.  Given that the weed growth has not subsided 
in the immediate area I am doubtful there is any problem.

Lacquer thinner and methylethylketone are both quite volatile but easily 
retained in a screw top can -- such as the gallon can they come in at Home 
Depot.  MEK is classified as a hazardous material as I recall -- don't 
remember the category however and my DOT handbook is 120 miles away at present!

I liked cleaning solvent for general parts cleaning.  Got it at my local 
fuel dealer in Elk Grove.  Unfortunately any residuals had to be (legally) 
disposed of at a hazmat site.  Kerosene does pretty good but not as well as 
cleaning solvent.  Both are largely hydrocarbon based.

Tetrachloroethylene in pressure cans is really great for smaller stuff and 
also as a final spray on primer to remove any oily stuff prior to 
painting.  I used carb cleaner containing this chemical.  It has been 
increasingly difficult to find and the non-chlorinated material is not 
nearly as good.

I wonder if any ATISers are using hot steam cleaning??

Bob Holtzer

At 11:04 AM 8/26/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>After reading all your suggestions I started checking around a little 
>more. I find that around here you can't even get carb cleaner in gallon 
>containers any more Nothing that is large enough to hold a dip screen or 
>tray.  I'm wondering about lacquer thinner or MEK. Doesn't it evaporate 
>quickly, unless in a sealed tank? And lastly, if you spray on oven 
>cleaner...lets say to a greasy casted part 1' by 1', how are you cleaning 
>it off? Where does all the gunk go?
>
>bobcurrie
>greenwood, CA
>
>
>>I tried oven cleaner on the front wheel of the F12, John.  It was amazing 
>>to watch -- the stuff lifted most of the paint with the first 
>>application!  I gather oven cleaner is largely lye or sodium hydroxide so 
>>it is best handled with chemically resistant gloves and goggles/glasses.
>>
>>Bob Holtzer
>>
>>At 02:07 PM 8/23/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>>>I've found that oven cleaner works pretty good, gotta let it soak a while
>>>and sometimes on really badly caked stuff it takes a second shot.  John
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: "Bob Currie" <tractors at foothill.net>
>>>To: <farmall at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>>Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 8:49 AM
>>>Subject: [Farmall] cleaning solvents
>>>
>>>
>>> > Seems like as far back as I can remember, we've always had a 5 or 10
>>>gallon
>>> > tank of some kind to clean the greasy parts when we took things apart for
>>> > repair. Soaking them overnight and then using a hand brush to remove the
>>> > crud usually did the job. Within the last 5 years, I've noticed the
>>>solvent
>>> > that I buy has less and less potency  and won't clean much of the
>>> > grease.  The 55 gallon drum where I buy my solvent now says "mineral
>>> > spirits" on it.  The guy at the parts house just shrugs and says "that's
>>> > all we can get now days".  I'm wondering if it like this all over the
>>> > country, or just out here in California where the EPA runs everything?
>>>And
>>> > what solution seems to work the best?
>>> >
>>> > bobcurrie
>>> > greenwood, CA
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>> >
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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