How to Clean a DIRTY Transmission and Transfer Case (6 Viewers)

[dkroth]

Bought an H55F for my BJ42. I won't be installing it until next year, but I'm trying to clean it up for storage. It's got 25 years of grease, dirt, and sand caked on it.

Have any suggestings for getting it clean?

My plan is to soak it down with Gunk engine degreaser and take it over to the DIY car wash and blast it off. Some of this crud is a half inch thick!

Any better ideas?

 

[dkroth]

I'm going to cover the shift hold, breather and output before proceeding...

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I used some simple green applied several times, allowed to soak and then hosed off. It also required some old fashioned scrubbing with a scrub brush. In the end it turned out well.

A pressure washer is a great idea but keep water out of the inside.

 

[craptabulous]

a steam cleaner will having it looking brand new. change the oil afterwards , if your storing it. soaking it and scrubbing with a wire brush at the car wash will also help .

but a real steam cleaner will make short work of that and it will turn out beautiful .

 

[destin]

use a spackle knife, nix the big s***.

hose with marine clean, scrub with a wire brush repeat

before-ish

afterish

now

 

[Gus]

Gunk works well, go overboard sealing up exhaust and intake ports and any other place you don't want water. A scraper and wire brushes also work well cutting through the thick residue, then go back with a brush and a green scrub pad to get the last of it.

 

[KLF]

Are you taking it apart? Or just swapping it in?

When I pulled the R151F out of the parts truck, it was about like that, pretty nasty. But I already had plans to completely rebuild it, so I took it all apart (keep the parts organized in muffin pans), then I took the cases to a local trans rebuild shop and asked them if they would put them in their parts washer. Did it for me no charge, despite me offering to pay several times. Then I bead blasted the cases at a buddy's place. Then a good coat of primer and 2 coats of Rustoleum brushed nickel paint.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

I've found that a cup wheel on a 4.5 inch angle grinder strips-off gunk down to the metal quite well. Messy process though!

Good luck!

Alan

Bought an H55F for my BJ42. I won't be installing it until next year, but I'm trying to clean it up for storage. It's got 25 years of grease, dirt, and sand caked on it.

Have any suggestings for getting it clean?

My plan is to soak it down with Gunk engine degreaser and take it over to the DIY car wash and blast it off. Some of this crud is a half inch thick!

Any better ideas?

 

[Plowboy]

I tapped into the hot water line coming out of the water heater. Using a hot water hose, I reduced the end of a triggered nozzle down to 1/8 inch (old steel brake line). Simple Green soak for 30 minutes. Then using the home made jet spryer, the small hot highpressure stream of water from the waterheater strips anything off.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

oven cleaner from dollar store, stuff eats paint off too!

 

[Pin_Head]

Oven cleaner is surprisingly effective. Don't leave aluminum sitting in it for long.

 

[tyama]

I used a pressure washer and simple green, but doing it with cold water got some stuff off. Hot water/steam would be better. I like the scrapper for thick stuff with a wire brush or steel wool. If you use kerosene or paint thinner it'll cut through the junk pretty well. The kerosene stinks but if you pull parts off and dip them in a bucket with kerosene it works pretty fast. Good luck!
ty

 

[dkroth]

Thanks for all the input, guys.

I started on it last evening with some diesel (hey, I've got a tankful of it in the BJ!), a plastic putty knife and a parts brush. What a freaking mess! I put 8'x8' of plastic down on the garage floor and lined that with newspaper to suck up the runoff. I made some headway, but a lot of that cr-ap is really baked on there.

I'm going to pick up some Gunk and Simple Green today (maybe Purple Power, too). I have hot/cold water in the garage so I'm going to crank up the water heater and connect my wimpy electric pressure washer. I planned to take it to the local DIY carwash - make a mess in their stall instead of my driveway. But I think I got enough of the bulk off last evening to make it manageable.

Destin, I called my local automotive paint supplier to get some of that Marine Clean. It has obviously worked well for you! This past Tuesday there was a HUGE fire here in town. Someone torched the Family Dollar. It was a 4 alarm fire. Bad news is the paint supply warehouse is/was right next door to the Family Dollar and the fire marshal hasn't allowed them access to their building yet! Bad timing.

Actually, on second thought, I'm just gonna throw the tranny in the van and head for New Hampshire. KLF, I'll leave it with you for the winter and you can retore it for me! Strong work on that R151F.

 

[allan man]

Not a tranny or TC but heres the result of a oven cleaner from the dollar store combined with a 1800 psi pressure washer.....

 

[TRoss]

I wouldn't recommend purple power unless your going to restore the trans/tc right away.... it's very corrosive and difficult to rinse completely, in my experience anyway.

Good luck with it!

Hey KLF, nice work on the 151 & tc... you'd make Marlin proud!!

 

[dkroth]

I wouldn't recommend purple power unless your going to restore the trans/tc right away.... it's very corrosive and difficult to rinse completely, in my experience anyway.

Now you tell me!

Went to HD looking for Simple Green and found Zep Industrial Purple Cleaner and Degreaser. It's designed specifically for cleaning greasy, grimy industral equipment. It worked well on the tranny/transfer, but I did notice it starting to react with the aluminum. So I used it sparingly. AFTER I was done I read the label - "not for use on aluminum, brass..."

Used the Zep in conjunction with my weak-ish electric pressure washer hooked to household hot water. The results are nice enough. But I still have a long way to go to play in KLF's league. Based on my experience, I'd say 90% of the work was done by the pressure washer. Next time I'll use Simple Green for a less aggressive approach. The Zep did a good job cleaning the oil spots of my driveway that have been there all summer.

 

[TRoss]

Looks good!

If your going to store it, might spray'er down with LPS3 or equivalent.

 

[Teebag]

Strip it and wire wheel its ass..

 

[amaurer]

All you have to do is wait until your goes out for the day and then borrow her toilet brush...

 

[Rigger]

This is a great thread! I love looking at all these "clean machine" pics!

I went to the coin-op car wash a while ago and went after my '40 with just basic high pressure sudsy hot water. That alone will do a pretty good job, but it is messy! I wore my grubbies and some safety glasses.

It never occurred to me to remove the hump inside the truck to help clean up those hard-to-reach areas. Destin's pics were a forehead slap moment for me! I think I'll try that next. I could pull that metal off, and then head back to the car wash!