Seafoam for Degreasing Diffs

[SixStar]

Has anyone used Seafoam for removing silicone oil/lube residue from their diff parts? It's easy to get and relatively affordable. I was really disappointed by brake cleaner, it didn't do much of anything for really getting the gunk off.

 

[Overpowerrc]

Old tooth brush helps

 

[SixStar]

Yeah I have a few old dollar store toothbrushes but usually I use a denture brush, longer bristles and more of them with a little brush on the other side.

 

[slick2500]

Has anyone used Seafoam for removing silicone oil/lube residue from their diff parts? It's easy to get and relatively affordable. I was really disappointed by brake cleaner, it didn't do much of anything for really getting the gunk off.

Find a product called Naphtha, it can be found by the paint thinner at Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, Ace Hardware True Value ect. Place all of your diff parts in one of these things https://www.target.com/p/stainless-..._pla_df_free_online&CPNG=Kitchen&adgroup=70-5 put some Naphtha in a jar and place the tea infuser into the jar and let it set for about 5-10 min then give it a good stir.

 

[SixStar]

Cool I'm fairly familiar with naphtha and other solvents like denatured alcohol, paint/lacquer thinner, etc. Bed Bath & Beyond sells a tea infuser/diff dunker for like $3.50 if anyone needs one on the cheap. The strainer parts is about the size of a golf ball so you might need to do 1/2 the gears at a time for each diff.

 

[arrmadillo]

Never threw a toothbrush away in years, good for automotive and motorcycles too! ?

 

[SixStar]

I used to get fistfulls of them free at work and I gave most of them away. Been kicking myself for that since getting into RC at the end of last year/beginning of 2020. I wish it was easier to get the greasy skanky grime off of them after you've scrubbed a few planetary/satellite gears.

 

[arrmadillo]

I used to get fistfulls of them free at work and I gave most of them away. Been kicking myself for that since getting into RC at the end of last year/beginning of 2020. I wish it was easier to get the greasy skanky grime off of them after you've scrubbed a few planetary/satellite gears.

Gasoline works wonders. ?

 

[MrTitanium]

Acetone works for me, but rather use Simple Green solution in my ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[Flames77]

I use a parts washer with good ol mineral spirits. Matter of fact I put my gears under the stream and pretty much cleans itself after a couple minutes!

 

[jondilly1974]

I just boil mine in jet fuel in a pressure cooker

 

[SixStar]

While I'm sure that is extremely effective, I do not have a spare pressure cooker and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate the smell of boiling jet fuel permeating my apartment.

 

[DoNoHarm]

Any plastic safe brake cleaner works perfectly fine no need to waste money

 

[SixStar]

The brake cleaner i have doesn't work worth a crap. It melted the bottom of a Solo cup so it was clearly not as "plastic safe" as claimed. Though it did nothing to the composite diff housing so idk.

 

[DoNoHarm]

The brake cleaner i have doesn't work worth a crap. It melted the bottom of a Solo cup so it was clearly not as "plastic safe" as claimed. Though it did nothing to the composite diff housing so idk.

What brand. I use Wurth for rc stuff. Eats up all the oil. 3M burns through plastic (but is super effective at cleaning actual brake dust and stuff for those wondering) carquest burns plastic too.

 

[SixStar]

O'Reilly store brand brake cleaner. Non-chlorinated.
Evidently Würth makes three kinds of brake cleaner, standard brake parts cleaner, low VOC BPC, and non-flammable BPC. Which one is the one you're using?

 

[DoNoHarm]

O'Reilly store brand brake cleaner. Non-chlorinated.
Evidently Würth makes three kinds of brake cleaner, standard brake parts cleaner, low VOC BPC, and non-flammable BPC. Which one is the one you're using?

Tf if it can’t dissolve our little rc differential grease I bet it sucks at actually cleaning brakes.

 

[SixStar]

Yeah probably. Never tried it for that purpose so I couldn't say personally. I just know it doesn't work worth a damn on silicone diff oil, which is what I bought it for assuming brake cleaners are basically all the same. Clearly I was mistaken and my local Lowes was sold out of naptha and acetone. I'm about to just say screw it and get some Seafoam from my local auto parts store. At least if it sucks for degreasing diffs I can still use it in my Blazer to clean the injectors. Maybe it will work really well since its intended purpose is to dissolve deposits of carbon and hydrocarbon sludge on various engine components.

 

[jondilly1974]

I was using naphtha yesterday to clean some old 500k out and even that was struggling to cut it. Maybe I need one of these ultrasonic cleaners after all. ??

 

[SKUNKWORK SC]

I use an old gun cleaning recipe that works pretty good, and you can use it indoors.

1 part Dexron ATF, GM Spec. D-20265 or later.
*

1 part Kerosene - deodorized, K1
*

1 part Aliphatic Mineral Spirits
*


1 part Acetone, CAS #67-64-1.
*
For me it works pretty good without the acetone, I made a gallon of it and probably will never run out.
And it's cheap!!