How to Clean Grease Gun?

[Dalton2250]

Hello,

I'm wanting to switch to a different grease in my grease gun. So I assume I'll need to clean the gun. How would I go about doing this?

I'm switching from Finish Line mulit-purpose teflon grease to Rock n' Roll Red Devil to re-grease my DMR V8 pedals.

The only thing I have as a degreaser is WD40, if I was to say, blast it with WD40 then thoroughly rinse it with hot water, would that be ok?

Cheers

Si

[nfmisso]

(06-21-2011, 05:02 AM)Dalton2250 Wrote:  The only thing I have as a degreaser is WD40, if I was to say, blast it with WD40 then thoroughly rinse it with hot water, would that be ok?

no. WD40 is not a de-greaser.

isopropyl (medical) alcohol is probably the best compromise in terms of effectiveness, safety and availability.

[Dalton2250]

(06-21-2011, 10:45 AM)nfmisso Wrote:  

(06-21-2011, 05:02 AM)Dalton2250 Wrote:  The only thing I have as a degreaser is WD40, if I was to say, blast it with WD40 then thoroughly rinse it with hot water, would that be ok?

no. WD40 is not a de-greaser.

isopropyl (medical) alcohol is probably the best compromise in terms of effectiveness, safety and availability.

Hello Nige, you do get around this forum don't you old chap!

Hmmm, strange, I cleaned/degreased my pedal bearings in WD40 last weekend as recommended by this guy -

http://steveukmtb.wordpress.com/dmr-v8-pedal-overhaul-cup-and-cone/

Then I rinsed them in hot water (didn't have any IsA), re-greased them and they're fine.

It's probably about time I invested in some IsA, but as a specific degreaser, which one would you recommend? There are a lot out there after all.

Cheers pal

Si

[Bill]

Sometimes when I am strapped for cash I use totally awesome which removes stubborn oil and gunk up grease. There are other "green thumb" (environment friendly) products out there that work wonders on petroleum and residue left behinds that works great. One time I really had nothing else and no money I used Dawn dishliquid in hot water on some parts then immediately rinsed AMD dried some parts. Again that method is not really recommend because of the water part can contaminate the new grease.

[nfmisso]

(06-21-2011, 10:55 AM)Dalton2250 Wrote:  Hmmm, strange, I cleaned/degreased my pedal bearings in WD40 last weekend as recommended by this guy -

a week is not long enough to tell.....WD40 is a Water Displacer in a solvent; it leaves behind a residue that is not removable with water.... this residue may adversely interact with the intended lubricant resulting in a mess, this will take months or more to happen.

reality is that bicycles are not a difficult lubrication challenge, and for most of us olive oil would work fine. our application is relatively low temperature and low pressure.

This fascination with expensive lubricants is money down the drain. A cheap ($3- US) tube of marine grease for boat trailer wheel bearings will work as well as any of the fancy expensive greases.

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(06-21-2011, 12:24 PM)Bill Wrote:  Sometimes when I am strapped for cash I use totally awesome which removes stubborn oil and gunk up grease. There are other "green thumb" (environment friendly) products out there that work wonders on petroleum and residue left behinds that works great. One time I really had nothing else and no money I used Dawn dish liquid in hot water on some parts then immediately rinsed AMD dried some parts. Again that method is not really recommend because of the water part can contaminate the new grease.

Dawn is actually one of the best grease cutting chemicals you can get. If you follow that up with a standard dish washer cycle (hot dry) with no soap after thoroughly rinsing to remove the Dawn, you'll end up with clean, dry parts - steel may corrode, but stainless and aluminum and most plastics will be fine. Dawn rinsed off hot, followed by IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to dry the parts works well for steel too.

[Duroon]

Rubbing alcohol does a good job of cutting grease and evaporates pretty quickly after the job is done.

[nfmisso]

(06-21-2011, 07:31 PM)Duroon Wrote:  Rubbing alcohol does a good job of cutting grease and evaporates pretty quickly after the job is done.

Rubbing alcohol is IsoPropyl Alcohol.....

[GeorgeET]

Lots of great degreasers out there. In automotive stores you can pick up Gumout Carb Cleaner, or Barryman, this one is very strong so be careful not near paint, labels etc. Also some specific degreasers for parts washers.

Simple Green works good too , and its not as nasty as others, although it sure smells.

In hardware stores you can get the old standard kerosene, also denatured alcohol is very good. In a pinch gasoline works. Be careful with all the above, follow manufacturers safety directions..

Not to sure about rubbing alcohol, its cheap anyway. For small parts my watchmaker uses Ransom Lighter fluid.

[Dalton2250]

So what you're all saying here really is that there isn't one degreaser that's 100% recommmended and 100% reliable?

Has anyone ever tried any of the ones from the mainstream manufacturers like Pedros or Finish Line etc etc?

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(06-21-2011, 07:39 PM)nfmisso Wrote:  

(06-21-2011, 07:31 PM)Duroon Wrote:  Rubbing alcohol does a good job of cutting grease and evaporates pretty quickly after the job is done.

Rubbing alcohol is IsoPropyl Alcohol.....

Correct! Although I've heard rubbing alcohol tends to be more around the 70% mark for medical use where as the stuff guys like us would need is the 99% premium variety.

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(06-21-2011, 01:52 PM)nfmisso Wrote:  

(06-21-2011, 10:55 AM)Dalton2250 Wrote:  Hmmm, strange, I cleaned/degreased my pedal bearings in WD40 last weekend as recommended by this guy -

a week is not long enough to tell.....WD40 is a Water Displacer in a solvent; it leaves behind a residue that is not removable with water.... this residue may adversely interact with the intended lubricant resulting in a mess, this will take months or more to happen.

reality is that bicycles are not a difficult lubrication challenge, and for most of us olive oil would work fine. our application is relatively low temperature and low pressure.

This fascination with expensive lubricants is money down the drain. A cheap ($3- US) tube of marine grease for boat trailer wheel bearings will work as well as any of the fancy expensive greases.

---

(06-21-2011, 12:24 PM)Bill Wrote:  Sometimes when I am strapped for cash I use totally awesome which removes stubborn oil and gunk up grease. There are other "green thumb" (environment friendly) products out there that work wonders on petroleum and residue left behinds that works great. One time I really had nothing else and no money I used Dawn dish liquid in hot water on some parts then immediately rinsed AMD dried some parts. Again that method is not really recommend because of the water part can contaminate the new grease.

Dawn is actually one of the best grease cutting chemicals you can get. If you follow that up with a standard dish washer cycle (hot dry) with no soap after thoroughly rinsing to remove the Dawn, you'll end up with clean, dry parts - steel may corrode, but stainless and aluminum and most plastics will be fine. Dawn rinsed off hot, followed by IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to dry the parts works well for steel too.

Thanks Nige, I never knew that about WD40. I don't think it's going to cause any major problems really, I mean now I have actually used WD40. Hopefully not anyway.

It is interesting to find out several people's perspective on this topic I must say! I'm always learning something from this website.

Si